First post, by wiretap
- Rank
- Oldbie
Specs:
Iwill ZMAXDP Barebone Chassis
2x AMD Opteron 250 2.4GHz/1MB (OSA250CEP5AU)
2x1GB Corsair DDR-400 ECC (CMX1024RE-3200 Rev 4.1)
ATI Radeon HD 3650 1GB AGP 8x
Broadcom BCM4318 Wireless-G (Mini-PCI mounted on the bottom of the motherboard)
1TB Western Digital Green SATA HDD
16x Sony IDE DVD-ROM
Custom 400w FSP FSP400-60FGGBA Power Supply w/ dual 70mm Bgears b-Blaster 70mm fans inside the OEM power supply housing
Hexus Review: https://www.hexus.net/tech/reviews/systems/87 … -iwills-zmaxdp/
Backstory:
I have always wanted one of these computers, ever since I had my first Shuttle form factor PC -- the MSI MEGA 180 -- I just couldn't afford the Iwill since I was a senior in high school and I had to buy a car to commute to college. I found the dual socket solution inside a tiny case like this fascinating. From what I understand, these Iwill ZMAXDP computers were mainly marketed towards graphics designers. Most of these computers haven't survived, mainly from the power supply cooking itself. All CPU heat is exhausted through the power supply via 2x 70mm high speed fans blowing through it.
Some of you may have seen some updates in the "What retro activity did you get up to today?" thread.. But I finally have my Iwill ZMAXDP fully up and running. When I initially got it, it looked brand new. The seller on Ebay said he lightly used it. That was an understatement. It didn't even have a spec of dust inside, not a scratch or scuff on it. Well, I was using a molex splitter to get GPU power to the Radeon HD 3650 since the OEM power supply cable harness wasn't long enough to reach with the DVD-ROM plugged in. It turned out that the molex splitter had a high resistance connection, blowing the power supply.
I replaced the capacitors and fuse inside the power supply, only to plug it in and have it blow again. There was likely a short in one of the MOSFETs. I wasn't going to go through the trouble of desoldering a ton more stuff, removing the PSU heatsinks, and hoping the MOSFET replacement fixed it all. So, I looked at the interior size of the power supply and thought I could fit something better in there. An Enhance 200w Shuttle power supply I had on hand fit perfecly inside. (PCB only) I took note that it was a Short Flex-ATX design, and started searching for a better part that could power two 89w Opterons, with 24-pin ATX + 8-pin EPS connectors. That lead me to the FSP FSP400-60FGGBA power supply. It turned out that it fit perfect, the wires routed nicely, and it had more power than the original power supply. (400w vs 300w)
So, I installed the new FSP power supply board and it wouldn't boot. After quite a bit of troubleshooting, I thought the CPU's might have been fried since I had seen a similar failure mechanism like this before. I ordered two new Opteron 250's ($7ea), installed them, and the system booted right up! It is even slightly quieter, since the replacement fans have a lower decibel rating for around the same airflow. Still, once this thing is up and running for a few minutes and sees some load, it is loud. By loud, I mean a hairdryer on a lower speed setting.
Pictures
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Original display at a tech show:
Front:
Back:
^--actually has 10/100/1000 LAN
Inside:
Pictures upon arrival:
New power supply fitted inside the existing power supply housing:
New fans:
Interior shot before the heatsinks get installed:
Heatsinks:
Graphics card:
Installing Windows XP Pro SP3:
More to come...