IBM PC SERVER 315
Mar 10 '00
My husband recently bought this product and since I will on occasion need to use it I sat down with him one night to go over what I should know about this product.
So here goes:
The IBM PC Server 315 comes with 32 MEG of EDO ECC 168-PIN RAM. Also included in the base model is an 8X SCSI IBM CD-ROM and Adaptec 2940 UW SCSI (Small Computer System Interface—very fast.) adaptor.
This comes with internal 50-PIN cabling and an internal 68-PIN connector as well as an external 68-PIN connector.
The Adaptor Card is pre-configured and has automatic termination.
The “brand new PC Server 315 comes with a single Pentium Pro 200 Processor which is adequate for a small office. My husband installed an additional 32 MEG of RAM and it runs the Window 98 Network nicely.
We purchased the Server at auction at Bargain Bid.com for $325.00. The machines that he's seen at BargainBid, Ebay or Ubid usually seem to run around $380.
The model comes with no hard drive, therefore, no operating system. He also installed a 1 GIG IBM, 2GIG Seagate, and a 4.3 Compaq made by Fujitsu—all SCSI.
The Case:
The case is a medium sized tower with six available slots in the front capable of handling three 1/3 height drives and one ½ height drive. The other two slots include the CD-Rom and the Floppy drives, which comes with the machine. Getting access to install the hard drives requires removal of the SVGA Card, which is preinstalled, or at least makes it easier to install the hard drives. But he also, be sure to reinstall the SVGA Card into PCI slot 1 or 2. These are considered primary PCI slots, which is a requirement for that card. The slots available are PCI, ISA, and SHARED.
Prior to installing the hard drives, the system booted up fine with the Win 98 disk. But once my husband had moved the SVGA Card to a bottom slot for the convenience of installation, he found the mouse had locked up. Fortunately, IBM has an extremely complete website with answers to “everything.” After spending several hours browsing through the site, he found the item concerning the primary and secondary PCI slots.
After moving the SVGA card back to Slot 1, all the problems cleared up. All in all we find it to be a very well made machine, with fabulous support from IBM.
It’s easy to work on and an excellent machine for the money.
Cons:
The machine came with no manual, but the user manuals are downloadable from the IBM site. Even opening the case for the first time was an experience. There’s a little clip you push, then can slide the case backward. All in all we are both happy with this product.
Since it’s a SCSI system, this machine is recommended for people that “really” enjoy computers as a hobby or at least have some means of support. Most systems on the market use IDE type interface.
All in all this is a very nice unit for the SOHO (Small Office Home Office.) It has plenty of available slots for things like network cards (NIC) and plenty of room for additional CDROM and hard drives. The advantage of SCSI is that you can daisy chain external SCSI devices together at a later date. This means that adding on a CDRW is just a matter of connecting a cable externally to the machine. Thus far, we have found the IBM PC server 315 to be a superb product.
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Member: Marie Roy
Location: Connecticut
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