Server under 3K

[Baralis]

Approximate Purchase Date: 30 days


Budget Range: Under 3000.00 USD


System Usage from Most to Least Important: Game Server


Parts Not Required: OS and monitor


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg or any reputable US company that has reasonable credit plans


Country of Origin: USA


Parts Preferences: See below


Overclocking: No


SLI or Crossfire: No


Monitor Resolution: Its a server so nothing special im sure.


Additional Comments: I am looking to save a friend some money if possible. He would like something as close to (below) as possible at a lower price. This is what he has picked out at dell for $3K.

Poweredge T410 Chassis w/up to 6 Cabled HDs, Quad-Pack Led Diagnostics
2X Intel Xeon E5645 2.40GHz, 12M Cache, 5.86 GT/s QPI, 6C
4 GB Memory (4x1GB)m 1333Mhz Single Ranked UDIMMS for 2 Processors, Adv ECC
SAS 6/iR SAS internal RAID asapter for Cabled Configuration, PCI-Express
300GB 15K RPM Serial-Attach SCSI 6Gbps 3.5in Cabled Hard Drive
525W non redundant power supply

While I could find comparable parts at newegg I could not find a motherboard with SCSI 6GBps interface. I admit I am a server noob so I might have been wrong. Any help with a build would be appreciated!


Update

His requirements are this:

Xeon 6 core X 2
15K 3Gig+ transfer Harddrive

 

[COLGeek]

You are looking for a SAS interface not SCSI 6GBps. Newegg has several that supports your needs.

Like these drives: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007603%20600003485&IsNodeId=1&name=SAS%206Gb%2fs

Have you considered buying a server and adding the additional stuff to match this Dell config?

Just look at Newegg's server mobos, many meet your needs. Also, for your "client" who is going to provide tech support later? That is a reason to consider a "retail server" over building your own.

What is this server going to be used for? You want to spec a server for the need (and growth) in a different manner than for a gaming rig.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

0k let me ask you a couple simple questions. How many people will be hitting in the server? How much data are you looking to keep stored? Do you need RAID? Are you looking for a rack mount or a pedestal? If rack mounted are you looking for 1u, 2u or 5u? What OS are you looking to use?

you can use http://serverconfigurator.intel.com/ to help once you have answered these questions.

 

[Baralis]

Thank you gentlemen for the replies. Again let me stress that servers are a new area to me so I (and my friend) really know very little about them. After seeing the amount of money I saved building my own personal PCs I thought surely we could apply the same principle to a server.

@ COLGeek, Im not sure what to tell you here. A game server will be its sole purpose. We have been purchasing a pro hosted server service for years but after paying the premium all this time we decided to try our own thing. Upgrading a Dell may be a good option. I will run it by him.

@ IntelEnthusiast, Thank you for the link. Unfortunately I am not real sure what half of the options are .



Basically we are looking for a server that will handle several hundred (thousands eventually, we hope) players on a game emulator. He came up with the above build with advise from someone in the field. This is the reason I asked for something very similar. I thought that if we could find individual comparable parts and assemble at home that we could shave a couple hundred $ off what Dell was wanting. Support isn't top priority as we can generally figure it out ourselves.


As far as an OS Im pretty sure we are using Win XP right now and probably will continue to do so at least in the near future.


Again thank you for the help!

 

[COLGeek]

XP won't do for a server. Also, your bandwidth is going to be a big deal for a game server. What type of pipe are you planning for and what is the per user bandwidth requirement?

What game are you planning on hosting? You may be better off with a Linux box (to keep costs down) over a Windows Server 2008 config. Depends on the game.

 

[Baralis]

XP won't do for a server. Also, your bandwidth is going to be a big deal for a game server. What type of pipe are you planning for and what is the per user bandwidth requirement?

What game are you planning on hosting? You may be better off with a Linux box (to keep costs down) over a Windows Server 2008 config. Depends on the game.

Duh! Not sure what I was thinking. We are using Windows Server 2003 R2. Right now we run a Ultima Online emulator but plan to expand into other games (yet to be decided) and this is one reason we are going for server overkill right now. We are going to be limited to a windows OS as our emulator will not work with Linux.

Edit to add - As far as bandwidth we are covered in that area. I dont remember what he set up but it was far exceeding what we currently use.

 

[COLGeek]

I think you are going to need more than the 4GB you specced in the Dell. More like 16GB is where you should lean. For gaming servers, with lots of users, you want fast CPUs (the Xeons should do nicely, as well the 6 and 8 core Opterons), lots of memory (16GB minimum) and fast HDDs (you have that covered as well).

Going back to a previous question by IntelEnthusiast, is your desire to have a rack mount rig or a tower rig?

Also, how much user data do you keep on the server (may help with your RAID or not to RAID question)?

Building a server is easy, building the "right" server isn't......

 

[Baralis]

I think you are going to need more than the 4GB you specced in the Dell. More like 16GB is where you should lean. For gaming servers, with lots of users, you want fast CPUs (the Xeons should do nicely, as well the 6 and 8 core Opterons), lots of memory (16GB minimum) and fast HDDs (you have that covered as well).

Going back to a previous question by IntelEnthusiast, is your desire to have a rack mount rig or a tower rig?

Also, how much user data do you keep on the server (may help with your RAID or not to RAID question)?

Building a server is easy, building the "right" server isn't......

Updated original post with his requirements of Xeon 6 core X 2 and a 15K 3Gig+ transfer Harddrive.

Prefer a tower rig.

Data storage amounts to less then 80 gigs currently but would like room to expand, 150 - 300 gigs should be plenty.

Edit - We currently have 4 X 1 gigs of memory and do not use half of it. However this could change in the future so want room to expand. Generally our server seeks fast CPU service and very fast HD service. This cuts back greatly on save times and compiles.

 

[Baralis]

We decided to just grab the dell and upgrade as needed. Thanks for the help!

 

[Baralis]

Best answer selected by baralis.