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Help me build a SFF server

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PrkChpXprss

Gawd
Joined
Nov 7, 2003
Messages
837
Hi SFF fans!

I've been tasked with the job of building 3 budget SFF servers, all identical. This will be in a small office so they don't want to have 3 loud space heaters distracting the nearby workers. If you can spec a system to do all of the following, you are definitely a [H] SFF Guru.

Here are the client requirements, in order of importance:

  • SFF (matx NOT mitx, small footprint and/or height -- stackable cases? I like the SG01 Evo)
  • Must be Windows 2003 Server AND Linux compatible
  • Low noise
  • Low power consumption (must run 24/7 and doesn't want alot of heat)
  • 2x SATA drives in RAID 1 (low number of users, but constant read/write activity ala SQL Server and storing of images). No, this is not a pron server :p
  • 2GB RAM minimum, 4GB preferred.
  • Dual core, or single core / hyperthreading CPU minimum.
  • RAID 1
 
What? No ECC?

It's pretty easy nowadays. Mine runs Myth and Lotus Domino and has the specs you mention (and uses ECC memory :)
 
We will certainly do ECC if the board supports it, but it wasn't a *requirement*. These are going to be development / testing / staging servers.

What are your system specs (including brands and model) ?
 
Well, it sounds like your requirements aren't that hard to meet. You can go Intel or AMD on this one. There are lots of motherboards out there that are uATX, have 2x SATA RAID capabilities, no active NB cooling, four DIMM slots, and onboard video (so you don't have to worry about sticking a video card in. Here's a list for LGA775, and here's a list for AM2. Linux compatibility shouldn't be a big issue on either side, although I'd be a little more confident in an Intel chipset.

I'd suggest a low-end Core2Duo on the Intel side or the 35W EE Athlon X2 3800 on the AMD side.

As for a case, I did a build in this case for a family member, and was very impressed. Decent power supply, pseudo-tool-free drive bays (you screw studs into the hard drive screw holes, and then slide the drive in--it's really slick and easy to use), nice-looking exterior, and although it doesn't have a quiet 120mm fan in the back, the 92mm fan that's included isn't bad. I've also heard that the Lian-Li cube-ish cases aren't bad, although they would drive up the cost by a fair amount.
 
As a suggestion for your HD's, use either Samsung Spinpoints or WD 500GB drives. They're both pretty quiet IMO.
 
I can confirm that, indeed, SG-01 (Evo and non-Evo) do stack. The feet standoff just enough.
 
FYI, the Asus mATX boards have ECC memory support and can take up to 4GB and that's what's in my build. As others have mentioned, your build is fairly trivial nowadays...
 
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