Any suggestions for a Linux server build

[mapes]

I'm so ignorant on PC hardware these days so I'm looking for some help. My 6 year old Dell Precision 670 dual core dual proc Xeon system board is bad. I think. I havn't had time to diag it properly. Basically the power supply clicks and I need to look into the diag light codes in the manual. I reseated everything and can get it to power on occasionally. so heres the problem. The case and power supply is a proprietary form factor (hey it was free). So I can't just swap any old PSU or MB into there. I'm fairly certain its the MB or maybe the voltage regulator plug in card thats gone south. So my choices are repair or replace


Repair
I can get a replacement MB for 380 bucks or VR card for 75 bucks PSU I have no idea but, I can get one.

Replace. So this is where I need suggestions on h/w. A brief description of what the box does. Mostly the server does low impact style stuff. It's running

Software raid 1
Caching DNS
Samba (windows file sharing)
Apache webserver for picture gallery, a few Wordpress sites and some admin webpages
Mysql for website database backends
Tomcat which is a java webserver for music streamer Subsonic
Squeezebox server which is another web/streamer/music gateway for my Logictech squeezeboxes
X10 automation which is piddling serial commands
Oh and SSH of course

The most intensive thing it does is to re encode on the fly music it is streaming via LAME. That can be a bit hefty however I rarely stream more than one stream at a time so not a huge deal. Also since it's a Linux Server there is no GUI running. Just CLI so I don't need any hefty GPU in there. Most likely I'll use the on board video. Mostly I'm looking for suggestions on MB, Proc and Memory. I prefer Intel 64 bit procs but I would look into other things as well.

Thanks for any help

[Duke{CLR}]

Well I have never thought about a server build so this will be an educational thread for me.

[mapes]

Oh yeah I'm going to stuff three drives into it so the case should support that and of course I don't need to pay for a OS install disk

[mapes]

This is what I'm looking at. DDR2 is fine by me for RAM. I'll use the two drives for the raid 1 array. If I went up another notch I could get hotswappable drives but, really thats overkill. I could drop the proc prolly to a dual core.


Newegg.com - ASUS TS100-E51066MHz FSB - Server Barebones
ASUS TS100-E5/PI4 Pedestal Barebone Server - Retail
Item #: N82E16816110031
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$349.99

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136073
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$111.98
($55.99 each)

Newegg.com - Kingston 4GB 4G - Server Memory
Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) ECC Unbuffered Desktop Memory Model KVR800D2E6K2/4G - Retail
Item #: N82E16820134936
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
$109.99

Newegg.com - Intel Xeon X3220 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 105W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Servers
Intel Xeon X3220 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 105W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562X3220 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819117127
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
-$10.00 Instant
$209.99
$199.99
Subtotal: $771.95

[juneau]

Thought about i3? I think it'll be a good choice in your scenerio. It's only dual core but it'll have enough grunt for the work you intend to use it for. It's also pretty light on power usage iirc.

edit: One more thing. You listed it's uses, but in what instances will more than one of the above be happening at the same time. And if so which?

[mapes]

Thought about i3? I think it'll be a good choice in your scenerio. It's only dual core but it'll have enough grunt for the work you intend to use it for. It's also pretty light on power usage iirc.

edit: One more thing. You listed it's uses, but in what instances will more than one of the above be happening at the same time. And if so which?

Well DNS is nothing and happens all the time. Same for X10 automation. Most of the apache websering stuff happens from the outside world. To be honest it's not much as I deny via robots.txt all search engines.

Music streaming happens all the time at home and from when I'm at work. So most likely some limited amount of web traffic and music streaming.

I'll look into the i3. Power consumption is also a point I'm interested in since the box is up all the time

[juneau]

Well DNS is nothing and happens all the time. Same for X10 automation. Most of the apache websering stuff happens from the outside world. To be honest it's not much as I deny via robots.txt all search engines.

Music streaming happens all the time at home and from when I'm at work. So most likely some limited amount of web traffic and music streaming.

I'll look into the i3. Power consumption is also a point I'm interested in since the box is up all the time

i3 will be perfect then.

[mapes]

Drops the price some. If I were doing virtualization I'd prolly want the xeons but, since I'm not I'll try it out. This is what I got so far

2
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #:N82E16822136073
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$111.98
2
Crucial 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory
Item #:N82E16820148221
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
$105.98
1

Thermaltake V3 Black Edition VL80001W2Z Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window
Item #: N82E16811133094
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy


ECS H55H-M(1.0) Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813135256
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy


Intel Core i3-530 2.93GHz LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor
Item #: N82E16819115222
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
-$15.00 Instant
-$34.98 Combo
$12.00 Mail-in Rebate
$269.97
$219.99
Grand Total: $437.95

[Donziboy2]

Seems kinda expensive even for ddr3.

[mapes]

Seems kinda expensive even for ddr3.

It's for 2 of em

[juneau]

Never heard of the mobo before so i can't really comment. However Gigabyte make some great i3 boards if you wish to take a look at them.

One more thing. I'd probably drop the WD500Blue for a 640Black. It's a faster drive and is engineered for heavier use, like servers, it also has a longer warranty.

[mapes]

Never heard of the mobo before so i can't really comment. However Gigabyte make some great i3 boards if you wish to take a look at them.

One more thing. I'd probably drop the WD500Blue for a 640Black. It's a faster drive and is engineered for heavier use, like servers, it also has a longer warranty.

I'm not set on that board. It was offered in a combo deal at new egg. Ill look into the Gigabyte stuff. I'll also swap the drives. All of the Gigabyte board use Realtek Net drivers. I'm not to fond of Realtek. I guess it doesn't matter as I have a Intel PCIe server card I'm going to slap in there

[juneau]

I'm not set on that board. It was offered in a combo deal at new egg. Ill look into the Gigabyte stuff. I'll also swap the drives. All of the Gigabyte board use Realtek Net drivers. I'm not to fond of Realtek. I guess it doesn't matter as I have a Intel PCIe server card I'm going to slap in there

Tbh i think all onboard networking is done by Realtek these days. Never had a problem with it but i've never pushed a home network through it either.

[mapes]

Tbh i think all onboard networking is done by Realtek these days. Never had a problem with it but i've never pushed a home network through it either.

Only on the desktop side. Most of the rack mount stuff is Intel or Broadcom. On some level I actually thought of buying a pizza box rack mountable unit because I have a half rack. The reason I didn't is noise and the fact those units are usually designed for data centers with tons of AC.

One thing I'm not really liking about some of the i3 boards is lack of multiple network interfaces. I would like to do some type of link aggregation on the server side since I have a manageable switch and the only thing it takes is some configuration in Linux and on the Cisco. I can still do this I just have to slap in a couple of network cards. Still I haven't really looked at every i3 board out there either.