A Look Inside

Once we removed the top cover, which was easily done since we only had to deal with four screws, our eyes focused immediately on the open-frame PSU. Since height is limited, a very small PSU had to be used.


The DPS-100AP is a PSU of incredible quality, capable of delivering 100 W at up to 50 °C ambient. Even some very expensive ATX PSUs aren't capable of doing so and are restricted to 40 °C for full power delivery instead.


The transient/EMI filter would be complete with an additional X capacitor, and although it doesn't feature an MOV, we spotted four parts which look to be gas discharge tubes. These have the same functionality as MOVs, but the latter are to be preferred in PSUs.


An NTC thermistor offers protection against large inrush currents. There is no bypass relay for it, and to be frank, we didn't expect one in such a small PSU.


The PSU's bulk cap will last for ages since there are normally 2,000h caps in this stage (APFC converter). Because of the PSU's low capacity, a single APFC FET and primary switcher are enough to cope with the task. The single bridge rectifier is also strong enough to meet the unit's demands, even with 115 V input.


The combo PFC/PWM controller is an DAP019A IC; it is apparently custom made for DELTA, which is also why there is very little information available about its specs and features. It looks as though it supports OTP (Over Temperature Protection) and all other necessary protections, which has it act as a supervisor IC and perform PFC/PWM duties.


The main transformer is quite large for the PSU's low capacity.


In the secondary side, a limited number of high quality caps filter the +12V rail generated by two STMicroelectronics SBRs (Schottky Barrier Diodes). Since this PSU is only 80 PLUS Silver rated, there is no need for a synchronous design in the secondary side.


Soldering quality is very good, something we have come to expect of Delta's implementations.

Now that we have analyzed the server's power supply, it is time to take a look at the parts housed on the system's mainboard.


The LED board at the front is connected to the mainboard through a ribbon cable.


There is no need for active cooling because of the Marvell Armada 385 88F6820's low 5W TDP. The system's RAM is soldered to the mainboard, which makes upgrading it impossible. The RAM modules are by SK Hynix, and their model number is H5TQ4G63CFR. Each of these has a capacity of 512 KB, which makes for a total of 1 GB.


One of the voltage regulator modules on the mainboard is controlled by a RichTech RT9199. We also found a synchronous buck converter on the mainboard, a TPS53515.


An Altera 5M80Z Complex Programmable Logic Device, or CPLD for short, stores the server's configuration.


The BIOS battery and system's speaker are installed close to each other.


We spotted a PIC16F1829 8-bit micro controller on the mainboard.


Two Marvell Alaska 88E1514 Ethernet controllers take care of the Ethernet ports.


Here's a voltage regulation module that uses a Texas Instruments TPS535151 step-down (buck) converter.


The trio of fans is by Sunon. Their model number is MB40201V2 (40 mm, 12 V, 0.6 W, 6200 RPM, 7.7 CFM, vapor bearing).