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Haven't posted to HardForums in years, but I know this is the place to go. I am looking to build a whitebox ESX beast. I have parts picked out, which will allow a good initial start and allow for lots of expansion. Here is what I have in mind:
Motherboard - ASUS DSEB-D16/SAS
CPU - 2.33 Ghz Harperton Quad-core Xeon (E5410)
RAM - 16 Gb (4x4Gb Kingston FBDimm, DDR2 667)
Powersupply - Thermaltake E0131RU 850W (EPS12V)
Hard Drives - two 1 Tb Western Digital SATA (16mb cache)
Case - Chieftec Bravo BA-01B-B-B Full Tower case
Dual 120 mm fans exhaust
Maybe 120 input form the front (using a fan adapter for 5.25 drives)
multiple 90mm fans for cool air in
So what I am thinking is, do I need another quad core CPU? OR should I wait til I have mroe RAM? Should I use the onbaord RAID, or buy a Zero Channel RAID card or a full blown RAID card for my SATA drives. The eventual plan is fully populated RAM of 64 Gb and two Quad core CPUs, as well as 8x 1 Tb SATA drives all configured in mirrored pairs. However, until I get a raise or a bonus, this is going to be a future build. So, if I start off with a pair of mirrored 1 Tb drives, a quad CPU and 16 Gb of RAM, is that a good start for a home build of ESX server? Any suggestions? Am I crazy? (oh wait, yes I am).
As a certain side note, if I get this server qith one or two Quads, I plan to use it to help out Distributed Computing team, which I have not done in the past year or so..... So, maybe going all out with the CPUs is a good idea? Thanks, I look forward to any comments!
Medieval
Motherboard - ASUS DSEB-D16/SAS
CPU - 2.33 Ghz Harperton Quad-core Xeon (E5410)
RAM - 16 Gb (4x4Gb Kingston FBDimm, DDR2 667)
Powersupply - Thermaltake E0131RU 850W (EPS12V)
Hard Drives - two 1 Tb Western Digital SATA (16mb cache)
Case - Chieftec Bravo BA-01B-B-B Full Tower case
Dual 120 mm fans exhaust
Maybe 120 input form the front (using a fan adapter for 5.25 drives)
multiple 90mm fans for cool air in
So what I am thinking is, do I need another quad core CPU? OR should I wait til I have mroe RAM? Should I use the onbaord RAID, or buy a Zero Channel RAID card or a full blown RAID card for my SATA drives. The eventual plan is fully populated RAM of 64 Gb and two Quad core CPUs, as well as 8x 1 Tb SATA drives all configured in mirrored pairs. However, until I get a raise or a bonus, this is going to be a future build. So, if I start off with a pair of mirrored 1 Tb drives, a quad CPU and 16 Gb of RAM, is that a good start for a home build of ESX server? Any suggestions? Am I crazy? (oh wait, yes I am).
As a certain side note, if I get this server qith one or two Quads, I plan to use it to help out Distributed Computing team, which I have not done in the past year or so..... So, maybe going all out with the CPUs is a good idea? Thanks, I look forward to any comments!
Medieval
