Seeking advice for server build

[nerr]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Home server, needs a bit of crunching power for media transcoding and code compilation
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Maximum of $700, without hard drives, shipping included.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Kalamazoo, MI, United States.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Case
CPU
RAM
PSU
Motherboard

Everything except hard drives and keyboard/monitor/mouse/etc.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Reusing some hard drives, keyboard, monitor, mouse.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Not likely, being that this is a server build.
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
N/A
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
In about one month.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
8+ SATA ports (3Gb/s is fine), onboard video, gigabit LAN.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I'll be running Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS 64-bit.


As you can see, I'm in the market to build a new home server to replace my current one. I will be taking the hard drives from my current one and moving them into the new one, and replacing them as needed. I want the new build to have some decent processing power for the purposes of transcoding audio/video, as well as running Minecraft or Source dedicated servers. I'd say CPU and RAM are most important.

Thanks in advance for your help! Let me know if you have any questions, and I'd be happy to answer.

 

[Dangman]

Any chance you can buy the CPU and mobo (assuming they cost $365 to $480) before June 1st?

 

[nerr]

Any chance you can buy the CPU and mobo (assuming they cost $365 to $480) before June 1st?

Yep, I can do that!

EDIT: Also, did some research yesterday, and here's a preliminary build I came up with. The PSU is out of stock, but that's not an issue right now.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=14657614

 

[Dangman]

Still not a good build even if the PSU was in stock. The CPU, SSD, PSU, and motherboard to an extent aren't good choices. Especially the SSD.

I recommend this setup instead:
$365 - Intel Core i5-3450 CPU + Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H Intel Z77 ATX Motherboard
$80 - 2 x G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$63 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU
----
Total: $408 shipped.

The motherboard is a tad pricey but I recommend it for two reasons:
1) It has an Intel NIC which are known to be far more reliable, stable, and faster than the common Realtek NICs you see elsewhere. Since you're hosting game servers, you definitely want a fast and reliable NIC
2) It has 9 SATA ports.

As for the case, while the Fractal Design Arc Midi is a good case, the problem is that it can only support up to 9 drives. For the best bang for the buck value, I recommend this case setup:
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite Black ATX Case
$24 - Cooler Master STB-3T4-E3-GP 4 in 3 Device Module w/ 120mm Fan
---
Total: $74 shipped.

The above setups allows for 12 hard drives. That should easily meet any planned future expansion.

 

[nerr]

The modifications you've made seem great to me. One question though: is there a better option for the system drive? I use less than 10GB on my root partition for the operating system, and I want to keep it off of my data arrays. Should I look into a small hard drive instead, or perhaps a different SSD?

EDIT: What about an Intel SSD? Are those still king as far as performance and reliability?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167120

Thanks again for the help!

 

[bastage]

I have one of these . as the system drive in my home server for the same reasons. Mine is running Fedora (amahi)I havent seen any issues at all & I kind of question how necessarry GC even is on a server of these sorts as the writes should be VERY VERY limited (I am guessing mostly when rebooting which is about a bi-monthly thing).

 

[nerr]

Yeah, I had seen that Corsair drive on Newegg as well. How long have you been running it, and did you make any special optimizations to run it? I managed to kill a cheap Kingston SSD after a few months so I'm a bit leery. I think it was probably journaling that did it in.

 

[Dangman]

The modifications you've made seem great to me. One question though: is there a better option for the system drive? I use less than 10GB on my root partition for the operating system, and I want to keep it off of my data arrays. Should I look into a small hard drive instead, or perhaps a different SSD?

Here's my thoughts: The SSDs with a good price per GB (basically a $1 per gig) are often of really low quality. The SSDs that are of good quality are often a tad overpriced below the 120GB to 128GB size. I really wouldn't go with small hard drives as their price to performance and per GB are pretty crappy.

EDIT: What about an Intel SSD? Are those still king as far as performance and reliability?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167120

Thanks again for the help!

Intel SSDs are not king as far as performance is concerned but they're king in terms of reliability generally. Other good options for SSDs are the Crucial M4, Plextor m3, Intel 520 series, and Samsung 830 series.

 

[bastage]

Yeah, I had seen that Corsair drive on Newegg as well. How long have you been running it, and did you make any special optimizations to run it? I managed to kill a cheap Kingston SSD after a few months so I'm a bit leery. I think it was probably journaling that did it in.

Its been running for 6 months or so, but I also bought it used so its got more wear on it then just that.