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Should i overclock a server?

B

Budwise

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 7, 2004
Messages
1,834
I am about to start building a server for my moms dental office (my stepdad is a dentist). I ordered an Opty 170, 2X512mb sticks of Gskill PC3200, a DFI UT NF4 Ultra-D (Newegg On Sale), 2X80GB Hitachi Deskstar SATA II drives for RAID, an OCZ Powerstream 520, and an XP90C with a rather higher speed fan. Would it be worth it to OC it to 2400 and rop the ram down to stock with a 166 divider. Or maybe go up just high enough to bring the ram back to 200Mhz using a 180 divider? These very small overclocks i wouldnt think would be a problem at all for this opty and DFI. Would it be worth it or should i just leave it at stock?
 
I wouldn't recommend it. I hosted servers for a few years, and it really isn't necessary, nor worth the risk.

Obviously, you're asking a biased crowd though. If its a mission critical server, leave things how they were ment to be. I'd imagine the server is gonna have relatively low load on it, so what's the point?
 
there should be no reason to o/c it, being in a dental office they will probley never run any demanding programs on it, and servers, inless in a heavy workload inviroment have very little overhead, I know some people still running 486 servers (with linux) it really depends on what there useing it for.
 
good points. Well i ordered two 170's anyway, one for me, one for the offce. Of course i'll have to try out both and see which overclocks better and of couse that one will magically be in my computer... I guess you guys are right, i'll just run it at stock cuz they would prolly never stress it out anyway...
 
one thing i would recommend is maby more ram tho, servers in most uses are ram hungry and that will make a decent diffrence, like if it is a domain server i would drop 2 gigs in it for pice of mind, that way it will also be a little future proof, like if they want to have it handle office email later on top of whatever it might be doing now having the extra ram will count.
 
Overclocking is probably the wrong choice, especially considering how it voids the warranty.
 
For a server, you would really be better served with a 940 Platform and ECC RAM unless the server is doing practically nothing. Get a dual core Opteron 940 and 1GB of ECC RAM and you would be better off. That is purly my opinion though.


But also, don't overclock, especially because it is a server.
 
Overclocking can make a system unstable, why risk crashing the server when it already has a powerful enough proc in it?
 
no, its no rackmount, but for this office it is a server. They needed something stable yet fast and not too expensive. So dont go threadcrapping saying "Thats not a server"...
 
OVER CLOCK THE MOTHER FOOFOO TO THE MAX!!! [H] STYLE!!! W0000000000 [insert tard smilie here]
 
The point is that if you had bought a server motherboard (with server features, like managability and high-throughput I/O), you most likely wouldn't have the option of overclocking at all.
 
The use of the PC is what determines what it is called, Server is used in a server aplication, ie. file server, anyone can take a normal PC hook it up install server software or a server os and call it a server. A workstation, ie. a computer made to handle CPU and Ram and Graphic intensity with no issue, for 3d rendering and Photoshoping and Video editing. You PC - Personal Computer ie. Your everyday computer that you are looking at the monitor of right now. This is not meening to threadcrap, just to verify
 
I don't recommend you do so, it's a server and #1 priority is stability, plain and simple.

And to that person who said it isn't a server ... you are wrong, i can buy a voodoo, alienware, or build a custom PC and install my OS of choice renderring it a PC or server.
 
iSkylla said:
For a server, you would really be better served with a 940 Platform and ECC RAM unless the server is doing practically nothing. Get a dual core Opteron 940 and 1GB of ECC RAM and you would be better off. That is purly my opinion though.


But also, don't overclock, especially because it is a server.
Click to expand...


i second this, especially the REG ECC ram
 
well, for this dental office, this is gonna be a bad mofo for what they do. I chose DFI because out of any motherboard i have ever had, it has by far the most stable voltages i have seen. As long as you know what you are doing, its probably IMO one of the most stable mobo's you can get for the end user. Im prolly gonna load up Windows Server 2003, and let it just stretch its legs over the weekend before i install it in the office next week. Thanks to all those who didnt bash my "Server" build :) I was havin a bad day yesterday, so the comment that "Thats not a server" kinda got my blood boiling a little more than usual.

-Budwise
 
What services will you be having this bad boy serve?

Also since you are installing this in a business I hope you are installing a legit licence. If not the business can be liable should microsoft audit. Altho unlikely for a small business it can happen.
 
Can I ask what the server will be serving?
i.e. files, webpages, application backend, domain controller, etc.
Not sure if it was mentioned already, I just skimmed the previous posts.
 
Server priority #1 is stability, so I would never overclock a mission critical server. Sure, might be fine, but its not worth risking a crash like on a workstation.
 
yes, we will be using a legit license as they have a patient who works at MS who is gonna get em a good deal.

It will be running a program called Dentrix. There are 8 computers throughout the office who all have Dentrix installed as a workstation, and only the server stores all the actual information while the workstations constantly go to the server to bring up all the info. All the workstations have on them is the program itself, no patient info etc, only the server has that info. Its not a huge job, but they need a bit more than the old P4 they are running right now. They are also very concerned of course with having a good backup, which explains the RAID array for a good mirrored backup. Basically, its a bit of a networking headache and a chore to make sure all the computers stay up to date as far as AV and MS Updates. The employees really dont have any clue about computers, so its really up to me to explain everything very simply.
 
in that case I would sugest getting a good switch , not just a hub. and ya ecc ram + posably 2 gigs of it depending on how the program works, ( I have worked with database programs that go over the network and in my case they all did amazingly better with more ram. the more the better , bolth login/access times and genral program stability / running, however I do not know how that program oprates. also mirriong is good but I would also sugest some sort of phisycal backup depending on the type of data, like a dlt drive and having a fire proof box to store the backup disks/tapes in. ( havent worked with pro backup stuff in a while so if DLT stuff is way out of date sorry :p ) and you can have it set so every morning they just pop in a new tape and cycle it every week or 2.
 
A daily offsite secure backup would probably be a good option since the server will be hosting patient records, if not offsite, then in a fireproof box in the office.
 
Budwise said:
I am about to start building a server for my moms dental office (my stepdad is a dentist). I ordered an Opty 170, 2X512mb sticks of Gskill PC3200, a DFI UT NF4 Ultra-D (Newegg On Sale), 2X80GB Hitachi Deskstar SATA II drives for RAID, an OCZ Powerstream 520, and an XP90C with a rather higher speed fan. Would it be worth it to OC it to 2400 and rop the ram down to stock with a 166 divider. Or maybe go up just high enough to bring the ram back to 200Mhz using a 180 divider? These very small overclocks i wouldnt think would be a problem at all for this opty and DFI. Would it be worth it or should i just leave it at stock?
Click to expand...

Don't overclock.

Put in lots more RAM. At least 2GB, 4GB if it fits in the budget.

When you say RAID, I sure hope you mean RAID 1. Don't even think about 0 on a server. I'd suggest much larger drives, 2 x 250 makes much more sense for a server. 80 GB of storage just isn't enough for a general purpose server, especially if its running Windows. And don't forget to include some form of backup.
 
i checked the server to see how much HD space they were using, and only a measily 20GB lol. So i think the 80GB's will be enough. They gave me a budget to work with, and i went a little over anyway, so 2GB would have really put me way past.

Also, they do either a daily or weekly offsite backup via the Dentrix software and the Dentrix company intself. They also have an external HD that they make backups every few days and take it home with them.

The whole network is on big Linksys router...
 
uupsetme said:
The use of the PC is what determines what it is called, Server is used in a server aplication, ie. file server, anyone can take a normal PC hook it up install server software or a server os and call it a server.
Click to expand...
For weak applications, it won't matter. For applications where the server needs better reliability, becomes mission critical, or needs the performance, users of the server will see the difference very quickly.

In practice, you want to use the right tool for the right job. A serious server needs features that are not found on desktop- or workstation-class motherboards.
 
for this application i think you WOULD be best buying a "server" type mother board from Tyan / SuperMicro - their stability will blow DFI out of the water by far - since you dont need the O/C feature you can get good Tyan boards for $200 range possibly cheaper.

You want reliability, dont buy off the shelf workstation / desktop boards for serving clients / applications.
 
the parts are already on their way. I dont think expensive server specific parts are really necessary for this build though. I think it will be plenty stable.
 
MrGuvernment said:
You want reliability, dont buy off the shelf workstation / desktop boards for serving clients / applications.
Click to expand...
Absolutely.

D3v01D said:
Set it up to fold for the [H]ord!!!!
Click to expand...
Sometimes, I wish someone would set up a server to spell-check for the [H]orde.
 
Well bets of luck,

but advice for future - when you are installing a mission critical system that will be used in day in possibly night, dont go cheap and buy DFI boards and suhc, they are not made nor tested to do the tasks you are planning for this server.
 
well, i'll keep you guys posted on the build and maybe add a few pics... :)
 
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