Fujitsu Primergy TX120 S3 review

In a world of bland black cubes, Fujitsu’s Primergy TX120 S3 stands out. This entry-level server is the size of a small desktop PC and runs almost silently, yet it’s packed with plenty of server-specific features.

The slimline unit can be placed flat on a desk, or upright using the pair of adjustable stands. For security, the front panels can be key-locked shut, blocking access to the front ports, disk drives, power switch and expansion bay.

The TX120 S3 squeezes a lot into a chassis less than 100mm thick. It supports Intel’s Xeon E3 processors, with five options to choose from. The price above includes a 3.3GHz E3-1240, but Fujitsu also offers lower cost Pentium G620, Celeron G530 and Core i3-equipped models.

The base model has room for two internal cold-swap LFF SATA hard disks, but this review system came supplied with the quad-drive SFF hot-swap bay option. This cage supports SATA or SAS hard disks, but must be ordered with the system since it isn’t a field upgrade. For SATA drives you can cable the backplane to the embedded SATA port, where the C202 chipset supports mirrors and stripes.

The review system came with a pair of 300GB 6Gbits/sec SAS SFF drives and the optional LSI PCI Express RAID card, which adds RAID5 and 6. There’s room for more: even with the LSI card in residence, you have two spare PCI Express slots and a 32-bit PCI slot.

The hot-swap cage doesn’t take up much room at the front, and along with the low-profile DVD-RW drive there’s a spare 3.5in bay. This can take an extra backup device; Fujitsu offers USB DAT tape or RDX drive options.

At the top of the front panel, you’ll find a power button, a pair of USB ports and a status LED panel. This provides visual cues to network and hard disk activity, system errors and problems with critical components.