4 servers, $3000

I

InorganicMatter

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Need the boxen only. Must be genuine Intel, becuase the boss said so! Think cheap. 1GB memory, HT processor, no optical drive, Raid 1. Go!

UPDATE​

It seems as though my boss got realistic. The new specs are $3000 for 2 servers, and Windows 2000 server, which we already own many copies of.​
 
you gave no specs as to whether you are running database, fileserve, application... whether you need a rackmount or standalone, or what kind of OS you intend to install.


www.dell.com


go!
 
Windows 2000 Server, possibly Windows 2003 Server. Database, accounting machine, file server, all of the above, we are replacing all our servers.
 
How many people and how big are the databases? Are we talking something that needs a 100GB tape backup or 3 floppies to rebuild? If you are asking us here for pricing and reccomendations do you feel comfortable building something that is on 24/7 or are you looking for leasing space?

From what you are relaying to me it all depends on how big your company is as to how many and what kind of server(s) you need.
 
sac_tagg said:
Windows 2000 Server, possibly Windows 2003 Server. Database, accounting machine, file server, all of the above, we are replacing all our servers.
Click to expand...

Windows 2k3 = 5 User : $300 a pop for a legal version.

that leaves you $450 a pop for servers. + the gigabit switch that you are going to need to interconnect them all.

So.. I guess it's gonna be 256mb celerons right?

What you are asking for is impossible to do legally.


PowerEdge SC420 Intel® Pentium®4 processor, 520, 2.8GHz, 1MB Cache, 800MHz FSB 428FSC [221-6701] 1
Operating System Windows 2003 Small Business Server, Standard Edition SBS2K3S [420-3957] 11
Memory 1G DDR2, 400MHz, 2X512MB,Single Ranked DIMMs 1G2D4S [311-4134] 3
Keyboard NO KEYBOARD OPTION N [310-3281] 4
Monitor NO MONITOR OPTION N [320-0058] 5
Primary Hard Drive 40GB, Serial ATA, 1 inch, 7.2K RPM, Hard Drive 40GS [341-1024] 8
Floppy Drive NO FLOPPY DRIVE N [341-1564] 10
Mouse NO MOUSE OPTION N [310-0024] 12
Network Card Onboard NIC OBNICS [460-6604] 13
CD/DVD Drive 48X, Compact Disk Drive, 680M I, Half Height, Black, for PowerEdge SC CD48X [313-2680] 16
System Documentation Electronic Documentation EDOCS [310-5919] 21
Hard Drive Configuration Onboard SATA, 1 Drive connected to Onboard SATA Controller MSATA1 [310-5634] 27
Hardware Support Services 1 Year Basic Plan 1BASICU [950-7000][960-1305][900-9054] 29
Installation Support Services No Installation Assessment NOINSTL [900-9997] 32
Mail- In Rebate None NONE [463-1832] 81
TOTAL: $1,176.00

This is *after* a 270 rebate.

The included optical drive is only about $30 of the system price. It's not "removable" from the configuration.
Assuming you could pull it, you are at $1140 a piece, before rebate. .. that makes for $4,560


Oh, wait.. raid1

make that $1265 or 5 grand for raid1 40gig 7200rpm drives.
 
That price..I'd suggest dual Xeon P3's off Ebay. It's about all you're going to get. I picked up a dual 750mhz, 1 gig ram, raid 1, scsi 2gig hard drives x4 for 320.00 shipped.
 
How's this for a build:

PCP&C Turbo-Cool 425 ATX-Deluxe - $150
CODEGEN 4U Rackmount Chassis - $80
Intel D925XECV2 Desktop Board - $195
Intel 64-bit Pentium 4 3.0GHz - $260
2GB Corsair Value Select - $418
eVGA GeForce 6200GT PCIe - $108
120GB Seagate Barracuda SATA with NCQ - $94
Pioneer DVR-109 - $74

Total Cost ~ $1400

Now, I know this setup looks like a desktop more than anything, but really, price is everything to us. The big PSU is for reliability, and the 64-bit proc is obviously for future-proofing. Comments?
 
Get something with onboard video, ditch the 64bit CPU, and put the extra money into a second harddrive, or a RAID5 array if you can afford it.
 
sac_tagg said:
How's this for a build:

PCP&C Turbo-Cool 425 ATX-Deluxe - $150
CODEGEN 4U Rackmount Chassis - $80
Intel D925XECV2 Desktop Board - $195
Intel 64-bit Pentium 4 3.0GHz - $260
2GB Corsair Value Select - $418
eVGA GeForce 6200GT PCIe - $108
120GB Seagate Barracuda SATA with NCQ - $94
Pioneer DVR-109 - $74

Total Cost ~ $1400

Now, I know this setup looks like a desktop more than anything, but really, price is everything to us. The big PSU is for reliability, and the 64-bit proc is obviously for future-proofing. Comments?
Click to expand...


* 4 = $5,600 and you still haven't added the Operating system

Oh.. just saw the update :)

Ok.;. first things first.

1) - You do not need a performance video card, or even an "entry level" video card for a SERVER. Consider a motherboard with integrated video, since, if you use your server correctly, you'll NEVER BE LOOKING AT IT LONG ENOUGH TO CARE.

2) That is a desktop configuration. No question. - There are all sorts of things wrong with this config. What do you need dvd burners for? Don't tell me you are going to trust your important files on a corporate server to dvd disks.

Stop thinking desktop - Think Xeon, Integrated video, 64 bit PCI-x gigabit...
 
ok, that sounds like you don't build servers a lot, but do a lot of workstations...
Hmm, ok, since you are updating "all" of your servers (what you gonna do with the old ones? Give me a few free? Please? ;) ) take a look at the old ones configuration compared to the jobs they are assigned to - to get the idea of what is needed to replace them.
4U - does that mean they will be rack mounted? If not, well just use a more "standard" server case. How reliable do they have to be? You may need to have redundant (two power supplies in one - think of it as Raid 1 for your power) powersupplies (here is an I-Star example: http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20050228/power_supply-25.html Heck read the entire article - decent in its info.
Use a server board for server apps - you may want the ability to go dual processor for those boxen that need it. Also, you may need 66mhz pci bus for raid cards etc.
Here is a link to Tyan's zeon server boards to look hard at - notice that most have graphics onboard, seperate 33mhz and 66 mhz pci buses, some have scsi raid, some sata raid, and two gigabit lan controllers. http://tyan.com/products/html/xeon.html
Note: some boxes will do just fine with a measly celeron on duty. It just depends on thruput, hard drive space, and cpu performance need. Again, look at the older servers and compare them to the standard desktop of the same era to get a fix on what you need, as your boxes will prolly be 4 different setups.
You may want to do some research on opterion boxes and see if your boss changes his mind - as in some cases the opterions may perform as good/better at a lower cost.
But anyway, before building anything, look at Dell - and see if they can beat your price (and they come with warranties...)
 
It all depends on what you needs the servers for. If you need a small-workgroup file server, you can buy any old desktop, slap in a RAID card and a few hard drives and be done with it. If you actually need the CPU power for number-crunching databases and the like, you may want to consider a dual-processor setup since many server-side apps are multi-threaded.

If it's a exchange server for <100 people...again, take a desktop, slap in a big hard drive and call it a server.

I agree with the integrated video...but DVD backup offsite is a good idea..although it will be costly. You may want to consider a few USB hard drives instead..in the long run, they'll be cheaper than burning DVD's @ $.50-$1.00 each. The external hard drives can be moved offsite for secure backup.

However, that all being said, I would recommend buying a pre-built, pre-tested server. Because then you're ass isn't on the line if all the computer parts you built don't *exactly* like each other too well and take a crap on you. Believe it or not, when you buy Dell, IBM, etc, you're also paying for the stability and compatibility testing they do on those things.
 
FYI - if you need a lite/baby server for one of your 4, look hard at this deal:
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=sc420sapp&s=bsd
you can configure it a bit too - starts with a 325J cel and 40gb sata drive (tho there is a free upgrade to 160gb) it starts at a mere $229 (and don't forget to get your free mouse and keyboard too)
Further you said you want rack mount servers - click on the orange writing "Instant Savings - up to $1,000 off select Servers & up to $500 off select Systems!" to see the rack mounted servers (1U-4U) that are also on sale until 3/16...
 
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