Packaging and Accessories

I realize that most of our readers are not in the market for an über-expensive system clearly meant for professional use; however, Comino's goal here was to show the scalable platforms the GRANDO RM-S and RM-L are. The liquid-cooling aspect was of personal interest, and it was all the more piqued when a freight truck stopped by to drop off a ~55 kg pallet that had a large wooden crate and the longer, separate box seen above. I will spare you the unboxing experience since it's not very photogenic, especially when done by a single person struggling through the experience even though Comino makes it easy with six long Phillips-head screws securing the lid of the wooden crate. The system is in a thick foam compartment with the various accessories in side cutouts, and a product manual on top is the first thing you'll see and read.


The product manual is comprised of two double-sided sheets printed on thick glossy paper placed inside a clear folder, with the first being a quick start guide (online copy here) that walks you through the startup, monitoring, and shutdown sequences of the system using the Comino two-button and display controller setup. It also mentions heading over to this page for customer support and further technical documentation, including a much more detailed user manual, remote monitoring utility, and the warranty terms. The second sheet is effectively a specification sheet that also acts as a quality check and assurance summary, and we then get to all the piled up accessories. Many of these are add-ons for individual components in the GRANDO RM-S, such as the ASUS WiFi antenna and add-in M.2 adapter that come with the motherboard, or the installation hardware for the optional handles on the back and front of the chassis if sliding this into a 4U slot in a server rack. The only items I used were the three power cords, and all three have the UK plug for my region with an integrated fuse. The small USB drive provided by Comino contains the various drivers for the used hardware.


The handles on the back are for a full Supermicro rail kit contained in the other box that arrived on top of the wooden crate, and the user manual describes the installation process. Given I only have this system for a limited period of time and don't have server racks at my place, I chose not to go through the kit. The photo is just to show that it does ship with the GRANDO RM-S, which in turn comes heavily wrapped for further protection in transit.