New Server Build

[Lord Nassirbannipal]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Server which will host music, movies/tv shows, pictures, and backups of games and software. It will also act as a torrent/download box and stream music and video to other computers in the house.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$350, and yes.
3) Where do you live?
Philadelphia
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Motherboard, Processor, HDD's, Optical Drive
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Antec Smart Power 500W, two WD 320GB IDE(I've had them for a while and they still work with no issues, so I figured I'd just throw them into the box for extra storage), RAM and case
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
N/A
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next month
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
I was thinking about JBODing the two 320BG IDE's with a RAID controller card I bought a few years ago just for the hell of it, but beyond that, nah.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, Fedora 12 and XP Pro SP3


So far, I have this in mind

Motherboard

Processor

HDD

Optical Drive

......plus the parts listed above.

Total comes to $294 with shipping included.

I plan on having Fedora as the host OS with XP Pro in a virtual machine. Mouse, Keyboard, Speakers, and Monitor won't be necessary as I'll be administering it remotely.

Any thoughts/suggestions welcome.

 

[Dangman]

I'd recommend this setup instead:
$111 - AMD Athlon II X2 245 CPU + GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Would save you about $25. In addition, the Truepower I and II series as well as the Smartpower series were well known for their above average death rates due to a poor choice in caps and cooling design. In more specific terms, Antec/CWT specified/used caps (Fuhjyyu caps) that did not respond well to heat. Unfortunately, Antec made the decision to have the PSU fan only ramp at really high temps in an effort to keep the PSU quiet. However, just medium to high temps were enough to screw up the caps so really high temps were murderous. Over time, this degraded the quality and performance of those PSU series.

So I recommend replacing the PSU, especially if you hear a squeal, whine, or any odd noise coming from the PSU. Those are usually the first signs of those particular PSU lines dying. So if you do hear a squeal, whine, or any odd noise, that's enough grounds to replace the PSU.

So I recommend this PSU:
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU

 

[Lord Nassirbannipal]

Thanks, Danny.

I'll definitely keep in mind what you said about the Power Supply. I just thought I'd use it since it's worked without any problems for the last four years(it's powering the machine in my sig, I was going to put it in the server and replace it with an Antec Earthwatts 380 or 430), but if it starts acting up, I'll go with the Corsair that you suggested.

 

[engiNURD]

Hm... I suggest you put the Corsair in your sig rig and the EA380 in the server, assuming your sig rig will be needing more power than your server.