dual core opteron: for webserver and HTPC

[MrPete]

Heyas,
I've never built a machine from scratch and am preparing to do so. I have a few small clients that are serviced off a very old PC setup as a webserver; I'd like to move them over to a faster machine which will double as my HTPC -- tivo, DVDs, etc.

I don't need bleeding edge, but I think I can accomplish this with a solid dualcore proc like the opteron 165. I'm really not interested in anything that would destabilize it, so while oc'ing is not out of the question, it's not a real concern. Maybe oc the opteron to 2.2 tops. Leaving it at 1.8 would probably be just fine.

What suggestions can you give me on everything: board, memory, HDTV tuner + regular tuner, video card, etc.

I have not set a budget but would like to keep it low while getting at least fairly decent components.

Thanks for your ideas...

 

[purelithium]

If that's all it would be doing, then that's fine.

For the webserver, I currently run my site on a P3 933 with 128mb ram. If all it's going to be is a light-medium use, you shouldn't need much more than that. In fact, you're not going to notice any difference I used to have my server on my X2 and it's just as fast on the P3 now as it was on the X2. I picked my server up for CAD$60.

That way, the server is separate from the HTPC, and there's less chance of a lockup when dealing with complex software.

 

[MrPete]

Yeah, I'm currently running an old AMD k6-2 @ 350Mhz! 256Mg ram. And the webserver does just fine. My main complaint is the super-long recompile time when I'm developing on it. (I build java apps)

I run about a dozen sites on it.

It's tough to justify spending a bunch of dough just for the webserver cuz I don't really make much $$ off of it. It's more of a dev box for my skillset development.

But I figure it's high time I upgrade, and I can justify going much higher quality if it can double as my HTPC.

I would think that with the dual core I wouldn't have much problem with system lockup.

I'm more curious what board, brand of ram (probably 2G, maybe just 1 to start), tuner cards, and video cards people like.

Really, I'm mostly looking for advice on a good, solid, reliable board that will allow for future upgrades. Again, not top of the line, but quality and reliable.

 

[MrPete]

nobody's running a dual core opti, or rec's on a board?

 

[michaelahess]

That's an interesting combo for a single machine. Why don't you dev on the new machine you want, and just copy it all to the web server? I've got a pentium 333 with 256 and it runs 4 sites, 2 forums, a seperate java web server with a few small apps, and it never has problems. Oh and a chat server.

 

[fluxpunk]

Just out of interest what upload speeds do you guys get in the states?

It sucks atm in the UK if your very lucky and live in one of the big cities you get a whooping 512k, but 80% is 256k which really does suck you cant have a web server

p.s u could have a webserver if you wanted your website to look like somthing from 1993

 

[purelithium]

I run my site from home off of my home connection. It pretty much maxes out at 80kb/s up. Check it out, the link is in my sig. It runs off of a P3 933 and a simple 80gb IDE drive(overkill) but it could just as easily be run off of something much less powerful.

 

[fluxpunk]

Sites quite neat, with 256k upload i think we only get around 26kb/s up

just out of interest do you cap each connection? or do you just let everyone share the connection?

 

[purelithium]

For my personal network, or my ISP in general?

 

[fluxpunk]

i mean for you webserver do you limit the connect for everyone say a max of 10 kb/s each or is it open?

Just i dont know which way i would go about it for mine cos of low speed connection. I heared that if you dont cap it and someone with a fast connection downloads they can own the priority over everyone elses speed, havent tested it yet thoug

 

[purelithium]

It's open. I haven't noticed any slow down, as there's probably only a max of 2-3 people accessing it at a time.

 

[MrPete]

I have cable internet, supposedly I have 256k up, but like purelithium it's more like <100k.

I may upgrade for $10/month to the 768k up.

It's possible one of my sites will take off and need to support something like 100 users at once. In that case I'm going to want more than my old webserver, particularly for the RAM.

Still looking for advice on the mobo!

 

[purelithium]

no I actually have something like 768kbits up, but that translates into an absolute max of about 96kbytes/s but I average about 80kbytes/s.