Q6600 as a server, is it a good decision?

[yongsiklee]

I try to build a server, web server, ftp server, dns server, mail server, all in one box, with Quadro 6600.
I can't afford to have Zeon processors but Q6600 is multithread so I thought I may get benefitted with using Q6600 when/if multiple users visit my website and browse at the same time.

I would like to know if I made the right decision or what other alternatives can I get in terms of building a server computer with a limited budget.

Any comments will be appreciated.

 

[YO_KID37]

It's a Good decision, LGA771 XEON Servers Utilize Buffered RAM, while LGA775 XEON Core 2 Duo- Core 2 Quads don't. The XEON is only a slightly better binned Chips with a premium only for assurance of Cooler and slightly more Efficient CPU's other than that many of those chips came from the exact same Piece of Silicon.

 

[Joe_The_Dragon]

Don't use the on board software raid get a pci-e raid card x4 or better and maybe a very low end video card pci is ok or maybe a pci-e one but if the board only has a x16 slot and no x4 or better you may want the raid card in that slot.

 

[MU_Engineer]

> Don't use the on board software raid get a pci-e raid card x4 or better

Very good advice there.

We're ready to upgrade our ASUS P5W64 WS Professional with
the Highpoint RocketRAID 2340:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115031&Tpk =highpoint%2brocketraid%2b2340

Here's a very complimentary review of that controller:

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1037/highpoint_rocketraid_2340_c ontroller_supporting_12_000gb_of_storage/index.html


Just be SURE that the motherboard and BIOS you select
support at least x4 lanes, but x8 lanes will be much better:
depending on the I/O traffic you predict, x4 lanes may be
a bottleneck.

8 x WD1600YS connected internally to that controller
will be a very fast storage subsystem, and not too expensive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136062&am p;am p;Tpk=wd1600ys

Then, later on, you can expand with an external storage
case housing 8 more SATA/300 HDDs (if you need that
much total storage).


Good luck!


Sincerely yours,
/s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell
Webmaster, Supreme Law Library
http://www.supremelaw.org/

Very solid advice. The onboard SATA ports on most motherboards cannot handle the traffic caused by a disk array of any size, so putting a dedicated control card on a very fast PCIe bus is a must.

And as far as the OP's Q6600: you don't need that kind of power for being a network server unless you are on a very fat pipe and expect to be serving thousands of simultaneous requests for files and such, or you run a Web frontend to a database on the server. A simple http/ftp/DNS/file server does not need to be powerful at all. You'd see no difference between a Q6600 and something much less powerful like an Athlon 64 X2 BE-2300 or a Pentium Dual Core E2000 series chip. Also, the slower chips run considerably cooler than the Q6600. You need good disk and network throughput before you need a fast CPU for your kind of server.

 

[yongsiklee]

Thanks for the replies.

What motherboards would you recommend for less than $200?
I didn't get a reply in the motherboard forum, so I'm asking you kindly experts here.