General purpose file server build: Servnerr-2

[nerr]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
- General purpose file server. I hope to run SSH, SFTP, VNC, uTorrent, Dropbox, Source Dedicated Server, Apache + PHP, as well as having this server run backup jobs for two other PCs in the home, as well as my laptop when I'm around. It's basically going to do a little bit of everything.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
- Probably a ceiling of $500, but I'd like to keep it down as much as possible I suppose. It can go over with shipping and tax, and I won't mind.

3) Where do you live?
- Jackson, MI.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
- An entire build, minus an optical drive, and a graphics card (will use old ones for setup)

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
- LG IDE DVD drive
- ATI Radeon X300 PCI-E graphics card

6) Will you be overclocking?
- No, most likely not unless performance is really really lacking.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
- Not applicable; I have a 17" monitor I can use for setup and that'd be it.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
- Before August 2009.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
- I doubt I'll ever need RAID, but I suppose it could be handy should I ever really decide to deck this thing out. For the time being, I'll likely just run one or two HDDs in it in a non-RAID mode, but I would like enough SATA ports available to add more.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
- Yes, being a student I'm able to get Windows Server 2003/2008 for free, and will likely use Windows Server 2008, unless I'm recommended something else.



Now that that's done, haha... I've created a build I believe is fairly decent, and should be able to easily run a lot of what I'll be asking it to. Some people have recommended I get a cheap quad like the Q8200, but I think that'd be overkill, even on a game server for TF2.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=8797434

Thoughts on this are appreciated, but if you've got something much better in mind, I'd love to hear it. Thanks!

 

[tiraides]

Why not go with a quad-core? Since you're considering a computer that will be doing a little bit of everything -- and, sometimes, several things at once -- a quad-core is great for multi-tasking. Consider the AMD Phenom II, which was recently released:

$70 - Antec Three Hundred case & Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU combo deal
$192 - AMD Phenom II X4 920 & Corsair XMS2 2x2GB DDR2 800 combo deal
$80 - Asus M4A78 Plus
$85 - WD Caviar Green 1TB HDD
=====
$427 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

You could also go with a dual-core or tri-core solution that would perform about as well as (if not better than) the Core 2 equivalent:

Dual Core
$70 - Antec Three Hundred case & Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU combo deal
$188 - AMD Phenom II X2 250, Asus M4A78 Plus & OCZ 2x2GB DDR2 800 combo deal
$85 - WD Caviar Green 1TB HDD
======
$343 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

Tri-Core
$70 - Antec Three Hundred case & Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU combo deal
$189 - AMD Phenom II X3 710 & Asus M4A78 Plus combo deal
$47 - G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2 800
$85 - WD Caviar Green 1TB HDD
======
$391 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

I pretty much used the same base in all three builds, but the beauty is that you could use future Phenom II processors with the Asus board that I chose. The Intel Socket 775 line-up is a dead end in terms of future upgrades. The Antec EA380 power supply is more than enough for your needs. Though I would recommend a different HDD for a performance build, the Caviar Green 1TB HDD is just fine for your server.

 

[Master Bob]

I pretty much used the same base in all three builds, but the beauty is that you could use future Phenom II processors with the Asus board that I chose. The Intel Socket 775 line-up is a dead end in terms of future upgrades.

I concur, though going with the DDR2 offers a similar predicament.


DDR3 based board:
$215 - AMD Phenom II X3 720 + ASUS M4A78T-E
$29 - Crucial 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
$70 - Antec Three Hundred case & Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU combo deal
$85 - WD Caviar Green 1TB HDD
Subtotal: $399

All I did with this build is swap out tiraides DDR2/DDR2 mobo/ Older Phenom III with the more current versions. The only problem is that to save money I went with a single stick of 2GB of DDR 1333. Add $36 if you want to get 4GB (2*2GB) DDR3 1333 (you can save ~$8 if you go with some cheaper DDR3).

What I like about this build is that your using the latest processor architecture and socket, as well as the latest RAM standard. Theoretically speaking this should allow you, in the future, to just pop in a newer CPU.

The question you'd have to ask yourself, if going with an AMD Phenom, is whether or not DDR3 would be worth it. As far as I know, there isn't really any difference in performance with a DDR2 build vs a DDR3 build, but perhaps in the future their will be a more noticeable gap.

 

[nerr]

Edit: At first I was skeptical about packing so many high power parts into a file server, but seeing the deals I could get on all that added power have completely turned me around. This looks great! Here's my current Servnerr-2 AMD build:

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=10414151

Two questions though.

First, it's been suggested to me multiple times before, so I'm curious about the possibilities of using RAID 1 with two 1TB disks for mirroring. Are most motherboard RAID controllers decent enough to permit RAID 1 usage? I'm not going for all-out performance here, this is more a matter of data redundancy and security. I estimate I only have about 700GB worth of data to store at the moment, and I don't see that number increasing much any time soon. If it does, I could always remove my 1.5TB drive from its external enclosure and throw that in this rig as well. Thoughts on motherboard RAID 1 though?

Second, I'm curious about which operating system I should throw on here. As I said before, I have easy access to Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 for free, and I think this machine would be plenty powerful to run either one. However, I do also recognize there are alternatives to Windows out there. Some have recommended a Linux or FreeNAS based system, but I really have very little experience with either one, so that would be slightly problematic for me. I suppose it could also be a great chance to learn though! If I chose Ubuntu Server for example, I know there are packages out there that could probably work just as well if not better than their Windows counterparts, but if something breaks... I'd be clueless how to fix it. Any thoughts on this situation? I suppose I'm willing to learn, but I was planning on installing Windows Server 2008 and Ubuntu Server on VMs on this machine to experiment with.

 

[tiraides]

The question you'd have to ask yourself, if going with an AMD Phenom, is whether or not DDR3 would be worth it. As far as I know, there isn't really any difference in performance with a DDR2 build vs a DDR3 build, but perhaps in the future their will be a more noticeable gap.

Personally, I don't believe that DDR3 is a necessity for this server.

Right now, there isn't enough of a performance difference (IMO) to justify DDR3 at this time. In a year or two, possibly, but if the OP were to get a lot of RAM now (and for his needs, 4GB is more than enough), he wouldn't need to get any more RAM. Since the OP is building a server, which can be built from practically anything, he doesn't need DDR3 RAM.

Two questions though.

First, it's been suggested to me multiple times before, so I'm curious about the possibilities of using RAID 1 with two 1TB disks for mirroring. Are most motherboard RAID controllers decent enough to permit RAID 1 usage? I'm not going for all-out performance here, this is more a matter of data redundancy and security. I estimate I only have about 700GB worth of data to store at the moment, and I don't see that number increasing much any time soon. If it does, I could always remove my 1.5TB drive from its external enclosure and throw that in this rig as well. Thoughts on motherboard RAID 1 though?

Second, I'm curious about which operating system I should throw on here. As I said before, I have easy access to Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 for free, and I think this machine would be plenty powerful to run either one. However, I do also recognize there are alternatives to Windows out there. Some have recommended a Linux or FreeNAS based system, but I really have very little experience with either one, so that would be slightly problematic for me. I suppose it could also be a great chance to learn though! If I chose Ubuntu Server for example, I know there are packages out there that could probably work just as well if not better than their Windows counterparts, but if something breaks... I'd be clueless how to fix it. Any thoughts on this situation? I suppose I'm willing to learn, but I was planning on installing Windows Server 2008 and Ubuntu Server on VMs on this machine to experiment with.

1) Check out the GenHard FAQ for more information on RAID in general and RAID 1 in particular. A RAID configuration, in general, works best with identical drives. IIRC, most onboard controllers are good enough for use with RAID 1.

2) Your plan on server OSes is a good plan. Now's a good time to brush up on your knowledge of Ubuntu Server.

 

[Master Bob]

Are most motherboard RAID controllers decent enough to permit RAID 1 usage? I'm not going for all-out performance here, this is more a matter of data redundancy and security.
...
Thoughts on motherboard RAID 1 though?

Second, I'm curious about which operating system I should throw on here.

Concerning RAID: remember RAID is not backup, not even RAID 1. RAID is all about uptime. It took me a while to finally understand that, but it's true.

On the operating system: if you want to get into a *NIX, what better time to do it then on a fresh system. There's plenty of help you can get on whatever distro you use IRC channel and forums.

Personally, I don't believe that DDR3 is a necessity for this server.

Right now, there isn't enough of a performance difference (IMO) to justify DDR3 at this time. In a year or two, possibly, but if the OP were to get a lot of RAM now (and for his needs, 4GB is more than enough), he wouldn't need to get any more RAM. Since the OP is building a server, which can be built from practically anything, he doesn't need DDR3 RAM.

Oh, I completely agree. My only point was that the same logic that ruled out the LGA 775 socket in favor of the AM2+/AM3 socket applies to the AM3/DDR3 in favor of the AM2+/DDR2, but there is a point where you have to just say enough is enough.

EDIT: In reference to your newegg wishlists, what I like to do is make one main wishlist with all my "standard parts," ie in this case HDD, Case, PSU. Then I make separate lists for the different CPU/MOBO/RAM combinations I am considering; that way you can easily see the difference in price between each of your potential builds.