home hardware/server advice

I have way to many boxes at home (12).

Most of them are older slower machines. Sure this is nice if I need to bring something up for testing etc.

But I am ready to upgrade and get rid of all this stuff.

I would like to eventually get 2 servers that are beefy enough to satisfy all my needs with out spending 10k.

I don't mind spending around 1k on each of them. Sure I would love some dell 2950s but I just can not and will not pay that much on a box that doesn't make me any money.

These machines will not be used for gaming ever. But it would be nice to virtualize several other operating systems if I need and have a decent amount of storage.

IF anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.

Oh ya I don't need monitors or any of that kind of stuff either. Just the most memory, cpu, and storage space I can get for the money.

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Comments

liven

I am not afraid of lesser known brands if they come with warranty.

And I can spend more money if it is really worth it, perhaps up to 2k.

hypnotoad

Intel just cut prices on quad-core machines by 30-50%, and DDR2 is cheap if you don't want ECC. SATA is the way to go unless you need SAS.

I was in the server-buying mode for a while until I realized for 99% of stuff I do at home, SAS and ECC and redundant power supplies is overkill.

I just spent 1100 and got a quad-core with 8 gigs RAM and 3 500 gig SATA drives. Is it a server? Well, yes and no. I skimped on the redundant power supplies, SAS drives, and the tape backup unit, so it doesn't compare to the 2950's.

Antec 4U rack case & powersupply - $220
Seagate 500 Gig SATA Drives 32 meg buffer/7200 RPM - $100 each

dynamik

So how much do you want to spend?

Why don't you just build something from scratch on Newegg?

Look how easy it is:

COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Black/ Silver Steel ATX Full Tower 209.99

TYAN S2696A2NRF (SATA) Dual LGA 771 Intel 5000X Extended ATX Server Motherboard - Retail 379.99

3ware 9650SE-4LPML PCI Express Lanes: 4 SATA II Controller Card - Retail 319.99

PC Power & Cooling S610EPS EPS12V 610W Continuous @ 40°C Power Supply - Retail 109.99

Intel Xeon E5410 Harpertown 2.33GHz LGA 771 80W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80574E5410A - Retail 279.99 x 2 = 559.98

Kingston 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 FB-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) ECC Fully Buffered Server Memory Model KVR667D2D4F5/2G - Retail 89.99 x4 = 359.96

Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3500320NS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM 129.99 x 4 = 519.96

Total 2459.86

8 cores with 8gb of ram. Why would you need two?

You could put some 4gb sticks in there if you wanted to max it out. It takes up to 8, so 2gb sticks will only take you to 16gb total

liven

Well I the boxes don't really have to be servers per say.

But to me a box that I don't sit at like a workstation is more like server to me.

liven

nl wrote:

Intel just cut prices on quad-core machines by 30-50%, and DDR2 is cheap if you don't want ECC. SATA is the way to go unless you need SAS.

I was in the server-buying mode for a while until I realized for 99% of stuff I do at home, SAS and ECC and redundant power supplies is overkill.

I just spent 1100 and got a quad-core with 8 gigs RAM and 3 500 gig SATA drives. Is it a server? Well, yes and no. I skimped on the redundant power supplies, SAS drives, and the tape backup unit, so it doesn't compare to the 2950's.

Antec 4U rack case & powersupply - $220
Seagate 500 Gig SATA Drives 32 meg buffer/7200 RPM - $100 each

Sure it is not a 2950, but the machine you listed sounds very much like what I am in the market for.

I don't need redundant power, suci, and tape backup.

liven

dynamik wrote:

So how much do you want to spend?

Why don't you just build something from scratch on Newegg?

Look how easy it is:

COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Black/ Silver Steel ATX Full Tower 209.99

TYAN S2696A2NRF (SATA) Dual LGA 771 Intel 5000X Extended ATX Server Motherboard - Retail 379.99

3ware 9650SE-4LPML PCI Express Lanes: 4 SATA II Controller Card - Retail 319.99

PC Power & Cooling S610EPS EPS12V 610W Continuous @ 40°C Power Supply - Retail 109.99

Intel Xeon E5410 Harpertown 2.33GHz LGA 771 80W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80574E5410A - Retail 279.99 x 2 = 559.98

Kingston 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 FB-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) ECC Fully Buffered Server Memory Model KVR667D2D4F5/2G - Retail 89.99 x4 = 359.96

Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3500320NS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM 129.99 x 4 = 519.96

Total 2459.86

8 cores with 8gb of ram. Why would you need two? You could put some 4gb sticks in there if you wanted to max it out. It takes up to 8, so 2gb sticks will only take you to 16gb total

I hear ya man, I have done this before. But it is has been a while for one, and two typically I have some sort of compatability issue with some piece of the hardware.

dynamik

I laid it all out for you. No excuses

I forgot the PCI video though. That board doesn't have it on-board. You probably have that lying around though (same for CD, keyboard, mouse, etc.)

I actually just learned about the new power supply standard when I built a couple like that here. It's definitely a lot to keep up with when you don't do it on a regular basis.

liven

Ya I used to be a big time hardware junkie... But it is very hard to keep up.

It blows my mind how every time I work a younger tech they always seem to know every last detail of the new hardware.

Feels like forever since I was completely up to speed. I mean I have the overall gist of it down, but not the nitty gritty like I used to.

Then again it has been at least 3 or 4 years since I built a box from the ground up..

hetty

Theres nothing like the excitement of building a brand new custom build. For me anyway.

cisco_trooper

Grab a couple cheap SuperMicro Servers...

SuperMicro.com

blargoe

If you're just doing a robust lab with VM's, you should do OK with 1 or 2 cheapy multi-core processors, 4-8 GB RAM, and a big disk from whoever has storage on sale this week. "Server" class hardware should not be necessary at all

The last time I had to spec out desktop hardware it was cheaper to get it from Dell than it was to build my own. There are sites on the Internet with the current coupon codes for the major manufacturers - techbargains.com is one that I know about - where you can get a great deal.

How many VM's are you wanting to run, what are you going to do with them, and are they going to be constantly in "production" and running simultaneously?

liven

Its hard to say exactly what I will do with them. I am used to having a dozen or so machines at my finger tips to try, play, build, expand etc.. what ever I want. I have a fairly robust home network that is pretty much self contained.

I am think I would have 4 to 5 constantly running VMs but they never really be under a very high load.

I was pretty much under the impression that I would be able to buy a prebuilt machine for around the same price as building my own.

Back in the day when I first got into computers professionally it was much cheaper to build your own then buy one pre built. But those days seem to be long gone.

I am pretty much aware of what my technical needs are, I was hoping folks would chime in like NL did stating that firepower he got and how much it cost him. I spec hardware all the time for all kinds of projects so I am not worried about that part. The issue is at work I have a VERY large budget to purchase with. At home the budget is tiny.

dynamik

liven wrote:

I am pretty much aware of what my technical needs are, I was hoping folks would chime in like NL did stating that firepower he got and how much it cost him. I spec hardware all the time for all kinds of projects so I am not worried about that part. The issue is at work I have a VERY large budget to purchase with. At home the budget is tiny.

I just got a new laptop: http://www.techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=209292#209292

It was a little under $2k with Vista Ultimate and Office. Last night I was running four Server 2003 Machines, two XP machines, a Vista machine, and a few Linux machines. Everything ran flawlessly, except when there was a lot of disk activity (i.e. booting up a few machines, couple AD promotions, etc.). That's a lot of activity for a single disk. I have an old WD Raptor that I'm going to put in an external enclosure, and connect via an eSATA ExpressCard, and move a few machines over to that.

I also use e6600 core2duo machines at home and at work with 4gb of RAM, and I get a ton of VMs going on those as well. You could probably build something comparable for $750-1000.

HeroPsycho

I build my own as well.

I'm about to rebuild mine, and look how little you can spend for something decent.

(US dollars)

Intel Quadcore Q6600 $190

8GB PC6400 DDR2 $150 after rebate

DFI IP35 chipset mobo with 6 SATA ports $115

4x Western Digital 640GB dual platter hard drives (will use RAID10) $109 x 4 = $450

Obviously, I have quite a bit of existing hardware already, but the entire upgrade is only costing $900. When money is tight, BYOB is a great option.

rfult001

running similar to above, q6600, 8GB, etc.. spent $700. I have 6 machines running in VMWare now (server 2003 ent, std, and web, 3 xp pro all on AD; this is my MCSA lab) and I still can't get this thing to lag. This thing is a beast!

Talic

Are you guys worried about power consumption when it comes to home servers? Or just go for pure speed?

I'm thinking about just setting up a cheap laptop and using eSATA external drives. Maybe something with a dual-core Pentium with a decent amount of ram. It may seem like a poor man's server but it should do pretty well as a domain controller and a file server. I would think 2 Core 2 Duo machines can pick up some slack for VMware stuff (other machines I have).

HeroPsycho

I go for performance on this kind of machine. The way I see it, one machine powerful enough to run your entire lab uses less power than spreading your lab across three machines. Not to mention it keeps me a little further out of the wife's dog house, and she's not thrilled as is when I have 9 PC's with just the two of us (my main machine, her machine, Linux firewall/router, VMWare server, Windows Home Server, game server, laptop, MCE machine, beater hooked up to digital piano for MIDI sequencing).

The upgrade I mentioned above should hold me over for a few years. Compared to my current Opteron 165 OC'ed solution, this doubles my RAM, massively increases my disk i/o, doubles my processor cores, and the new processor also has virtualization optimizations.

Can you say massive performance/capacity increase?

hetty

I agree with HeroPsycho, its much better to get one powerful machine with an efficient power supply and with multi-core CPUs, as most will reduce power and core usage when its not being hammered. The inefficiency of older power supplies over a couple of machines can add up to be a huge waste.

Laptops are different though.