jandarsun8

Ok, run down on old server.

Socket A 2200+ AMD on an Epox MB, 1 gig DDR 2100 ram, 500 Watt PSU, 2x 20 gig OS drives mirrored, 4x Samsung 160 gig drives on a 2 port ATA PCI add on card connection (2 drives per cable) in Server software Raid 5 config (slower than hardware but easier to recover from hardware failure in my opinion- at least for home use). Sits in a corner.

MB ram slots seem to be on the brink of death. 3 hours or swapping parts, mainly memory from either other old systems or laying around and all of it seems to be pointing to memory slots.

Socket A is dead, can't really find a board that's decent so upgrading the whole thing, hopefully with more effeciency in mind as my electric bill sucks as it is.

I've got about 300/350 to spend so wondering about replacing the board/cpu memory and at least the two OS drives and useing the same 4 drives with the PCI card. Eventually would like to change out the 4 160 drives with 4 larger drives as I am running out of space so I'm looking for a MB with 6 SATA slots.

Personally I use AMD/ATi for my gaming boxes however for a machine that will be sitting in a corner for most of the time, common sense dictates that I look at both Intel and AMD for cost of energy and for SATA options so asking for any suggestions regarding both as I know very little on Intel chips or boards.

Speed is not a factor however stability, noise and temp are. This will be on all the time. I've got a full tower case with 4 120mm fans in it, two in front of the HD's, one on the door and one in back. Built in Video is fine as I don't have a monitor hooked up to it most of the time.

Any suggestions on what to get for the cost? Thank you for any help on this as going through MB/CPU combos on Newegg gave me a headache with options.

Jand

__________________

OldBuzzard

Maybe something like this?

ASRock A780GXE 79.99
Newegg.com - ASRock A780GXE/128M AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

ASRock has been making some good solid boards lately. All solid state caps, etc, etc. Not great OCers, but good for stability Also with the AMD chipset it has the 6 SATA connections you are looking for.

Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Brisbane 65W 39.95
Newegg.com - CPUs / Processors,Processors - Desktops,AMD,Athlon 64 X2,

Note, 65W Processor, which will help you with the electric bill. It's an AM2 processor, which would allow you to use this memory:

CORSAIR 4GB DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) 44.99
Newegg.com - CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

You could back off to 2GB if you don't really need 4GB.

If you wanted a bit newer CPU, which that ASRock MB would support, then maybe this:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 95W 59.99
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core black edition Processor - Processors - Desktops

Little more "power hungry", but would allow for 1066 memory like this:

CORSAIR XMS2 4GB DDR2 1066 56.99
Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory


For HDDs for your OS? That's a danged good question. I don't have any personal experience with them but this one gets pretty good reviews, especially for longevity, reliability, and running cool.

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD800JD 80GB 34.99
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

__________________
When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

jandarsun8

Great! Exactly what I was looking for. The 65 Watt 4400+ would do the trick just fine as it's pretty much just a file/print server and the price is right too. With work, kids and gf I haven't had as much time researching as I'd like to so thank you very much for the post. Greatly appreciated. With the cost of the MB/CPU/Mem I can use the rest of the cash to get some decently sized HD's as I'm looking to add 4x 250+ gig drives in the thing for storage. The 4 160 gig drives are almost full.

Thanks again OldBuzzard for the reply. This will help a lot.

__________________

OldBuzzard

OH, given the age of your current system, it may be a good idea to get a new PSU as well.

The newer PSUs are much more efficient than the older ones. Since you are just using the on-board video, I'm betting that a GOOD 400W PSU like the CORSAIR 400CX would power your system nicely:
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies

I put one of those in #2 son's eMachines then I put my old X1950 in it to upgrade him from the onboard video.

If you think that 400W may not be enough, then the 450VX would work as well, and still not 'break the bank'.
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies

There are 400-450W PSUs out there that are a lot cheaper, but avoid them like the plague. Cheap PSUs fail, sometimes in a spectacular fashion, and often take other hardware with them.

http://www.corsair.com/cinema/movie.aspx?id=622747

__________________
When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

Matth

There are some 45W dual cores as well, though a bit dearer than the 65W model.

Oh yes, an 80plus PSU would be an investment for a server - actually, can any 80plus be bad, as presumably it has to survive full load testing to verify efficiency?

__________________
Mary had a little lamb,
Her father shot it dead
Now Mary takes her lamb to school,
Between two crusts of bread