• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

SFF Home Server

R

RamHawk

n00b
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
8
Just wanted to get a few comments from the SFF forum guys and gals about a system I am wanting to build. I have everything but the MB, RAM, and CPU. I am wanting to replace my existing home file server (pent 4 1.9GHz - 423) with a new server but a machine that I can also use as my home media PC. No overclocking needed. Not going to use it to play games... but if I wanted, I could always just add a nice graphics card and then I'd be good to go. Just going to serve out MP3's, movies, file storage, FTP and HTTP server. May even use it to serve LAN games.

I think I have narrowed my motherboard search down to the Intel BOXDG965OTMKR. Has everything I want except for e-SATA connector on the back. No biggie. Anyone have any comments on this one? I was looking for a board I could upgrade to the Quad-Core CPU's when they eventually fall to $20 or so..... a LONG time from now. :) I was wanting SATA HDD's, Firewire, USB, RAID 0, more than 4 GB of RAM, and Socket 775. I've found this board for $122 + shipping. If I wanted to turn this box into a gaming machine then it should be pretty easy.

What about memory... I don't want to buy cheap slow memory but I'm not sure what the best for quad-core would be.... or what is even necessary. Any suggestions? Again, no over clocking here. Since it is just a home media server, would the slower PC2-5300 be good enough? Would I see a difference in that and the 800 HMz memory? I can't go up to 8 GB if I go to 800 MHz so I'll probably be stuck with the PC2-5300 anyways. I guess if I convert it to a gaming machine, I'd have to just save up and get the faster RAM. Maybe it will be cheap in a few years when that happens anyways.

Processor price seems petty compared to the price of memory. I may not go C2D yet but I'd like to just get going on this and get it all installed. Don't want to spend $ on a non-C2D processor just to upgrade later on.

I do tend to use the server as a workstation sometimes (like now as I type). I'm running MS Win2k3 Server and will install the same OS.

Other things I already have:
MicroFly - Black w/ windows. Looks really cool and I only paid $20! Woo hoo!
Ultra 500W V-Series - Free after rebate. Woo hoo!
2 x 500 GB SATA HDD's that I'd like to have on RAID 0.... if it helps the performance.
IDE DL-DVD burner + IDE DVD-ROM
SCSI DDS4 Tape Drive (in 3.5" floppy bay)
SCSI DLT8000 Tape Drive (external)
1 GB LAN home network.
Adaptec Ultra-160 SCSI controller (PCI)
KWorld TV Tuner (PCI) - Free after rebate. Gonna use it as a cheap PVR.

I've got some blue LED fans and light sticks. Wish I had something to make them slowly pulsate with the activity of the system. I think that'd be cool.

Thanks everyone!
 
Will this server be attached to a HDTV? If not, you'll be fine even with a low-end CPU. I would, however, recommend that you avoid a Prescott and instead opt for something that runs cooler. If you plan to record a show while you watch something else, I would recommend something dual-core. If all it's doing is video encoding/decoding, you won't need tons of RAM either. Probably even 512MB would be plenty, and certainly 1GB would be more than enough.
 
Yeah, no HDTV... yet. But would like to go ahead and prepare for that.... maybe next year. I'm just gonna use the on-board video for now since it is just a server. If I convert it to a gaming machine down the road then I'll dump in a decent video card and disable the on-board. I think I'll still go C2D E6300 since it is under $200 retail. That should be plenty of power. I'll just populate with 2 GB of ram (2x1 GB) and that will give me room to grow another 2 GB later on.... if needed. Thanks for your input!
 
The E6300 is a fine choice--low power and high performance. If I were in your shoes, though, I'd save the $100 and only put 1GB in. Nothing in your HTPC is going to require that much RAM, and you won't see any impact on performance using single-channel.
 
True, 1 GB should probably be enough. Not sure what memory speed I should get tho. Would I even see a difference in the PC2-4200/5300 vs the PC2-6400/8000? Especially if I am not overclocking... Depends on what deals I can find out there.
 
RAM speed actually doesn't seem to make a big real-world impact on performance (I thought otherwise until someone pointed me in the direction of some benchmarks), so the cheaper 533 RAM should be fine.
 
Nice article on the memory benchmarks. Yeah, it sheds a lot of new light on the real-world performance. Since I'm not overclocking, this would basically duplicate what I would do every day. Thanks for that link.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top