Cracking Open the Adaptec Snap Server 520

Front view

Here is the front down view of the Snap Server 520. There are a lot of LEDs flashing when this server is in the rack.

Rear view

Ports

Two USB connections and two Ethernet connections. You can also see VGA out.

Power supply

The power supply is swappable and includes a bay for a backup power supply. Note the handle.

Rivets

Much of the Snap Server 520 is riveted in place. (Red ovals) However, the front face plate is removed easily by way of side locking mechanisms.

Slides

The slide rails are what make the server mountable in a rack. One screw and sideways tug and they are removed.

Underside

Closeup

The obligatory power specifications.

Specifications

This is the specification page from the product page on the Adaptec Web site.

Side view

Removing the slides reveals some screws, but we don't actually need to fiddle with those to get into the case.

One lone screw

This single screw is all we need to remove to get inside the Snap Server 520.

One, two

After removing the screw (oval), you press the tabs (arrows) and slide the top of the case off.

Big motherboard

The motherboard is fairly straightforward. Several of the major parts of the Snap Server are marked.

Transistor

The chip marked with the arrow in this photo is listed as a transistor. My assumption that is has to do with the clock cycles, but I would welcome any additional input.

Flipping

Flipping the previous image 180 degrees gives us a better look at the chips. One of the chips marked with the arrow is an 8 Mbit LPC Flash Memory chip that acts as the Firmware Hub for the Snap Server. The ATI Rage XL chip is the graphics controller. Since this is a server, only basic graphic capabilities are required.

BIOS

This section of the motherboard houses some of the BIOS components.

Flip it over 180

As you can see the BIOS is made by American Megatrends.

Internal connections

Here we get a close look at the IDE and SATA drive connections.

Ethernet

I could use some confirmation from the experts out there. I am thinking the chips under the silver heat sink are Gigabit Ethernet controllers. What do you think?

CPU and RAM

Here we get our first good look at the heat sink that sits on top of our CPU.

Say hello to your fans

There are 10 fans lined up side-by-side. Servers work hard and it is important to dissipate as much heat as possible.

I got the power

Not only does this section of the Snap Server control power from one supply, it also must monitor for a second power supply.

Power supply

The power supply module in our Snap Server slides out and can be switched if necessary.

The edge

The edge connections makes the process easy.

Standard memory

Adaptec ships the Snap Server 520 with 512MB of RAM, but with three more slots, the amount of memory can be upgraded as necessary.

Heat sink

That is one large copper heat sink.

A CPU

Removing the heat sink reveals a chip with a ton of thermal paste on it.

AMD

This is the AMD Operton processor.

More paste

I know the AMD CPU chips run notoriously hot, but does it really need all this thermal paste?

Faceplate removed

Removing the front faceplate reveals a bank of four hard drives.

Swap drives

Simply pull the lever and out slides the hard drive.

By the numbers

A few of the more pertinent serial numbers.

Maxtor

Our Snap Server 520 shipped with four 250GB Maxtor SATA hard drives.

On edge

The front faceplate uses another edge connector to make all of those LED indicator lights work.

A snap

The Adaptec Snap Server 520 is your basic standard rack mountable server. According to plan, there is very little wasted space to be found inside the case.