The current machine is an old Compaq EXS 1.8 GHz with a RamBus 512 M RAM, and a hefty external raid system.  
 
It was upto now just a file server, and IIS Server (static PHP) with some database aspects (MySQL).    
 
I've noticed it bouncing off the CPU monitor quite a bit and we are looking at moving to SQL Server with some dot-net products (DotNetNuke, and a new commerce product also dot-net).
 
Most days we get 100+ hits and usually 10 page views.  Expected goal of 200-300 hits a day with 15-20 page views.
 
Now we are looking at a Xeon system, and the first question is what level should we go with, as from what I understand the moterboard config has different levels (like 4 ram chips or 8 chips capacity).  And thhe other is should I be looking at a high end Dual, or a low end quad (they are the same price).
 
Second question - The target OS is Windows 2000 Adv Server, so would it make sense to have 2, 4, or 8 gigs of Ram, with it.  
 
And suggestions would be great as the price range varies greatly on these.
 
Cheers,
Quentin J Sarafinchan
www.TotalGarage.ca

Are you really looking for a Server or trying to plug your website?

Why would I waste all my time asking about technical information with detailed information if I was plugging a web site. I always add the url on my tag line, and that was the only reference to it.  I'd belabour the point but I am here for technical information not to discuss the merits of website promoting.  
 
[no tag line so I don't offend people]

What kind of budget do you have?  That level of traffic wouldn't require too hefty of a rig.  I dare say any new dual-core desktop could easily handle that.

I'm trying to keep the budget down if I can, say 2,500 cdn.  but if necessary I'll move up.  I'd rather do this and know it will work then go half-assed and have to spend more to patch my mistakes.
 
Quentin

 
Well honeslty your current server cannot really be upgraded. Or at least no upgrade that would be worth the cost and effort.
 
RDRAM isn't really used anymore.
 
You'd need a new Motherboard, new RAM and a new CPU (probably a new Case and Power supply as well). Considering the cost I'd probably suggest a Dual Core AMD Processor (Athlon64 X2). Something around a 3800+. It really depends on what RAID array you're using too. You might need a board with a 64bit PCI slot if your using SCSI RAID with a 64bit controller.
 
I'd also suggest about 1GB of PC2 5700 DDR Memory (2x512MB) and a solid Gigabyte or Asus AM2 socket motherboard.
 
Because your usage isn't extremely stressful you probably don't need to go Opteron or Xeon.
 
For those Curious..
 
Compaq EXS

 
What's New
NEW IntelÒ PentiumÒ 4 processor with 400MHz Front Side Bus
NEW IntelÒ 850 chipset  
Non-ECC RDRAM  
Enhanced Graphics
Easy Access Keyboard
Scroll Mouse
Suspend to RAM support
 
At A Glance
 
IntelÒ Pentium 4 (400MHz FSB) 1.3, 1.4 or 1.5 GHz processor and IntelÒ 850 chipset  
256-KB integrated full speed L2 cache  
High capacity Ultra ATA Quiet Seek and Idle hard drives with Drive Protection System  
Five bays (three external, two internal)  
Six slots (one AGP, five PCI)  
NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS 32-MB or NVIDIA TNT2 Pro AGP graphics controller  
Intel PRO/100+ Management Adapter with Wake-on-LAN and Alert-on-LAN support  
Integrated SoundBlaster PCI 128 Audio Service-friendly design  
Protected by Compaq Services, including a 3-1-1 limited warranty. Certain restrictions and exclusions apply.

Here are some parts you might like. The motherboard comes with two 64-bit PCI slots.
 
Antec SLK1650 Mid-Tower Case w/350W PS - $64.95CDN
Asus M2N32-WS PRO NF590SLI AM2 ATX MB (SLI/Raid/GbE/FW/PCI-X) - $318.00CDN
AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+ AM2 Dual-Core 65W Processor - $99CDN
Kingston ValueRam 1GB DC PC2-5300 DDR2 Memory Kit - $73CDN
Asus Radeon AX300SE-X 128MB PCIe DH Video Card w/TV-OUT, Retail - $49CDN
2xSeagate 7200.10 320GB 7200RPM 16MB SATAII Hard Drive, 5Yr - $198.00
 
For a Sub Total of: $801.95 + tax (around 6% GST and 8% PST).
 
All prices taken from: ShopRBC
 
If you preffer Intel..
 
Antec SLK1650 Mid-Tower Case w/350W PS - $64.95CDN
Asus P5WDG2-WS Pro S775 i975X ATX Mainboard SATAII/Raid/CrossFire/GbE/PCI-X - $375.00CDN
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.80GHz 2MB/800FSB Processor - $139.95CDN
Kingston ValueRam 1GB DC PC2-5300 DDR2 Memory Kit - $73CDN
Asus Radeon AX300SE-X 128MB PCIe DH Video Card w/TV-OUT, Retail - $49CDN
2xSeagate 7200.10 320GB 7200RPM 16MB SATAII Hard Drive, 5Yr - $198.00
 
For a Sub Total of: $899.90 + tax (around 6% GST and 8% PST).

I should clarify that by upgrading the server, I'm replacing the entire box.  Also since the bus structure has changed, I was looking at going with 2-300 GB drives mirrored, and use the raid system for the file system, backups, etc. The quest really started in earnest 2 weeks ago when I realized the memory ugrade expense and limitations of that unit.    
 
The existing Raid is only 1TB using an external Promise Enclosure. but I know the scsi card is older, so either the scsi card needs to be upgraded as well, or I just use the raid as a secondary unit or I keep the entire unit as is as a secondary baby server.

Post right above yours is what you should go for.
 
You can use your existing SCSI card, no problems. Also the board comes with gigabit Ethernet, firewire, PCI Express and PCI-X slots.
 
Supports IDE and SATA RAID 0,1,5 etc.

ok dude, i'm not much of an expert on servers but i did alittle research and i found out that its all about the speed of the FSB so you'll have fast communication between the cup, ram and hard drives. heres what i cooked up.  
 
ASUS P5B Deluxe ATX LGA775 Conroe P965 DDR2 2PCI-E16 PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 DTS Sound 1394 Motherboard  
 
XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX 620MHZ 256MB 1.6GHZ DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV Out DIRECTX10 Video  
 
Thermaltake CL-P0114 Big Typhoon Copper Alum CPU Heatsinkfan 1300RPM 54.4CFM 16DBA LGA775 S939  
 
Thermaltake Armor VA8003SWA Silver ATX 11X5.25 6X3.5INT No PS W/ Window And 25CM Fan  
 
 Enermax Galaxy 1000W Power Supply ATX V2.0 EPS12V RoHS 24PIN 135MM Fan Modular 4PCI-E  
 
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Kentsfield 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 8MB Retail Box  
 
Mushkin EM PC2-6400 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit  
 
Swiftech MCX159-CU Extreme Duty Chipset Heatsink for AMD & Intel Platform Motherboards  
 
 
the total is $2,199.85 all from NCIX.
 
what i recommend is that with the processor i chose, you overclock it to 3.2 Ghz and you'll get a 1600Mhz Front Sid Bus. add to that the four cores and four gigs or ram and you've got a power house. i chose the Armor because of the large amount of room for hard drives and the extra 250mm side fan will keep everything nice and cool. the Swiftech cooler is to make sure to keep your north bridge cool under a 600Mhz overclock
 
good luck man

So is there any benefit to moving to a server style hardware?  How would your recommendation compare to this system?   (note I'd upgrade the hd's in it to 300's)
 
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index [...] 26&cpu=int
 
And out of curiousity, how big of a difference is there performance wize between your suggested system and my current antiquated one?
 
Quentin

 
Nice gaming rig..  

 
Very comparable...  
 
Xeons are mean't, mainly to be used in multiple processor environment. It used to be they had larger Caches and more performance per clock then their desktop counterparts but that's really no longer the case. That's Xeon is actually a lot like a Core 2 Duo E6300.
 
Here's something that will trump that Server in performance yet cost less.
 
Antec SLK1650 Mid-Tower Case w/350W PS - $64.95
Asus P5WDG2-WS Pro S775 i975X ATX Mainboard SATAII/Raid/CrossFire/GbE/PCI-X - $375.00
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz 2MB/1066FSB Processor - $209.95
Kingston ValueRam 2GB DC PC2-5300 DDR2 Memory Kit - $133.00
Asus Radeon AX300SE-X 128MB PCIe DH Video Card w/TV-OUT, Retail - $49.00
2xSeagate 7200.10 320GB 7200RPM 16MB SATAII Hard Drive, 5Yr - 198.00
LG GSA-H50N 18X DVD+/-RW Drive BEIGE, OEM - $41.00
 
Sub Total of $1070.90 CDN
 
BTW it also supports Dual 10/100/1000Mbps LAN

And out of curiousity, how big of a difference is there performance wize between your suggested system and my current antiquated one?  
 
And I guess I don't need to be looking at the upper end of the Xeon duals then.  That will save me a lot of coin, especially if a desktop will suffice!

 
You're looking at a non-comparable performance difference. Something like comparing the performance of a rocket powered card with that of a Pontiac Firefly.
 
I'm not exagerating either.
 
But it this way.. An Intel Pentium 4 1.8GHz is much faster then your Celeron, an Intel Pentium 4 with Two cores and clocked over 4GHz (two 4GHz cores) still doesn't match the power of the Core 2 Duo Processor I suggested.

ok the ST1000I Series Server System is no where near the power of the one i built for you, how? heres how; dual core V.S. the Quad core, integrated VGA card V.S. 8600GTS!, 550watt "server"PSU V.S. enermax 1000Watt PSU, PC4200 2G DDR2 ECC Memory V.S. 4Gb of PC6400 memory. i didnt chose any hard drives cause i though u had some. heres my revised comp,  
 
ASUS P5B Deluxe ATX LGA775 Conroe P965 DDR2 2PCI-E16 PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 DTS Sound 1394 Motherboard  
 
Thermaltake CL-P0114 Big Typhoon Copper Alum CPU Heatsinkfan 1300RPM 54.4CFM 16DBA LGA775 S939  
 
Thermaltake Armor VA8003SWA Silver ATX 11X5.25 6X3.5INT No PS W/ Window And 25CM Fan  
 
Enermax Galaxy 1000W Power Supply ATX V2.0 EPS12V RoHS 24PIN 135MM Fan Modular 4PCI-E  
 
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Kentsfield 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 8MB Retail Box  
 
Mushkin EM PC2-6400 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit  
 
Swiftech MCX159-CU Extreme Duty Chipset Heatsink for AMD & Intel Platform Motherboards  
 
EVGA E-GEFORCE 8500 GT 450MHZ 256MB 128BIT DDR2 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV Out DIRECTX10 Video Card  
 
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 3GB/S 7200RPM 16MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive x2 in RAID 1 or 0, which ever u want
 
Sony AW-Q170A DVD+RW 18X8X16 DVD-RW 18X6X16 DL 8X/4X IDE 2MB Black OEM W/O Software  
 
this totals up to $2,403.50, still under budget.
 
if you wanted to save money, you could go for a dual core E6600( save 250 bucks) you'll get much higher performance then the ST1000I but no where near the power of the Q6600. i drooped the GFX card for a lower one because of the server application. the 1000 watt PSU i recommend stays for the ability to add more hard drives in the future with out a problem. if you don;t like the build i'm giving you, dont be shy to speak up.
 
P.S. if your stuck on Xenon and Core2Duo, there isnt a difference. both perform identically; only difference is that Xenons are batched higher meaning they and handle higher voltages. you wont have to worry about that.

 
W