Build a 1U rack server

I'm not sure on rack servers, but looking on newegg, they seem to take ITX, micro-ATX, or ATX motherboards, which are you looking to use?

do you want to just use desktop parts, or do you want to go up to server parts (Opteron or Xeon?)

I would like to use server parts but I only have a budget of $600. I'm leaning towards using the Xeon E-3 1220, it uses the LGA 1155 socket, but I'm open to other options. Trying to decide on a mother board as well.

For now, I'm going to be building a file server, but I would like it to be upgradable enough to were I can use it for web hosting later on, when I can put more money into it, and add more servers. I guess the form factor will depend on the case I chose. I would like to find one with hotswap drives.

any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

I'm not sure it can be done on a 1U using all server parts for $600. You may have to make some compromises with the hardware - hot swap hard drives are incredibly expensive. This is the best I was able to come up with:

Case / PSU: Athena Power RM-1U102ITX20 Black 1.2mm Steel 1U Rackmount Server Case - $99.99
Motherboard: Intel S1200BTL ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1155 Intel C204 DDR3 1066/1333 DIMM - $212.99
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1245 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Server Processor BX80623E31245 - $279.99
RAM: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) ECC Registered Server Memory Model CT2KIT51272BB1339 - $159.99
HD: HP 454146-S21 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - - $299.99

Total: $1052

I realize this thread is 2 years old, but this is to anyone else who comes across it:

Don't build a server. Go on eBay, Craigslist, or www.servermonkey.com (which is probably the best for you, seeing as you want to configure your server) - server parts are very expensive, and it's extremely hard to build 1U machines as they are comprised of custom parts. Think of 1U servers like Apple computers - they're well fitted together, and all the parts are non-standard.

Personally, I've had great experience with Craigslist. You don't get to configure your machine, but you also don't have to pay for shipping. ServerMonkey allows you to configure, but you pay a little more and still have to pay for shipping. Go to ServerMonkey.

Hope this helps.

Disclaimer: I don't work for ServerMonkey, I'm just a loyal customer of theirs.