Gaming Rig -> File Server conversion?

[TeeJayHoward]

It's that time again... I'm fooling around with the notion of buying a controller and putting my drives back in a RAID-5 setup.

My concept:

1) Sell the 7800GTX. What does a file server need a card like that for, anyway?
2) Buy a PCIe 16-port controller card, like the HighPoint RocketRAID 2340.
3) Get another CSE-M35T-1B for the drives currently sitting on my dresser.
4) ???
5) Profit.

My questions:

Will my BFG motherboard support having a controller like the 2340 in the x16 slot and no video card? (I've got a PCI 4MB card I can use to set it up)
Will the 7800GTX sell for any amount of money to make it worthwhile?
I've got 4GB of RAM in this machine. Is 3GB of DDR500 worth anything these days?

This machine used to be my gaming computer. Now, it's stuck in another room serving files, and it feels like a waste.

 

[Farva]

Yes that RAID card will work in that motherboard.

You don't need a high end video card for a file server, you don't even need 2GB of memory, you should be able to suffice with just 512MB.

 

[TeeJayHoward]

Yes that RAID card will work in that motherboard.

Thanks.

You don't need a high end video card for a file server, you don't even need 2GB of memory, you should be able to suffice with just 512MB.

I thought I demonstrated my understanding of that already with the following in the original post:

What does a file server need a card like that for, anyway?

 

[Ockie]

You can use that raid controller in your x16 slot with out any problems... toss a x1 or a PCI video card in there and you should be all set.

 

[Dew]

I use Cirrus Logic PCI cards in my fileservers. They work fine in conjunction with RR2320's in PCIe x16 slots.

 

[TeeJayHoward]

Thanks everyone. What should I ask for the 7800GTX and 3GB of RAM?

 

[drizzt81]

give the ram to me. For free
You should still get a good price on the GTX (maybe $150-$200?) and there are quite a few people left that are still running DDR.