n00b question?

[stain.]

aside from the OS, what is the primary differences between a server (where be it a blade, rack, or plain box) and a regular pc?

 

[RoBo]

Faster NIC, Faster HD, More RAM, often dual Proc

 

[LANm0nk3y]

Not much, it all depends on what you're using or trying to acheive. As stated, "server" is to perform a task of serving. A print server could be just a regular pc with a Server OS. If you're going to have a DB server (Oracle, SQL, MySQL), then you'll probably need dual proc and lots of memory and hard drive space (speed of each component will vary depending on your needs as well).

 

[Dan_D]

It depends. There are many levels of server in terms of intended purpose and hardware configurations as well as price.

Many entry level servers are just desktops with a different case and less software. Some also contain drive controllers, SAS or SCSI drives, redundant power supplies, hot swappable components, multiple processors, different types of memory and all kinds of other things. They often don't ship with an operating system either. Desktop PC's normally ship with some form of Windows on them.

 

[engiNURD]

aside from the OS, what is the primary differences between a server (where be it a blade, rack, or plain box) and a regular pc?

theoretically speaking? Reliability.

 

[RoBo]

I forgot one, HEAT, or well lack of it

 

[silent-circuit]

Motherboard layout, too. You're very unlikely to find a lot of PCIe 16x slots on a server board, for example, but may find (more or less unknown outside of the server realm) PCI-X slots.

Many use ECC RAM.

Oh: and they're insanely expensive. A good server motherboard costing upwards of $500 is common.