Home Server Spec Help

Associate
Joined
4 Apr 2006
Posts
171
Location
Hertfordshire
Hi guys,

Im looking to build a new machine for my home server which is in need of some new hardware.

Its currently just a machine thats been thrown together using some bits i had laying around, hers the hardware and software low down:

Hardware
Asus A8V Deluxe
AMD 64 3500+ (Venice)
2 GB Ram (2x 512 XMS C2PRO 3200 2x 512 generic 3200)
Hard Drives:
  • 1x 40GB (Maxtor) System
  • 1x 120GB (Seagate) Webroot and Download Temp Store
  • 2x 160GB (Seagate) Raid 1
  • 3x 500GB (Western Digital) JBOD
DDS3 Tape Drive (SCSI)
Silicon Image IDE Raid Controller
Adaptec 1420SA SATAII Controller
Adaptec 29320 SCSI Controller
ICY Dock 4-SATA Drive Enclosure (1 Spare Slot)

Software
Windows 2003 Enterprise SP2
Services
  • DHCP
  • Exchange 2003
  • DNS
  • IIS (OWA only)
  • Active Directory
  • Routing and Remote Access
  • File Server
  • Print Server
  • Remote Desktop
Abyss X2 Web Server
Veritas Backup Exec

All house'd in a Coolermaster Centurion case thats been very neatly cabled inside for improved cooling (Which imo is much better than adding more fans!)

Now the system is running but its having a few problems, no doubt due the amount of things its running. I have only about 8 people who use it at any one time, hence the reason for it running so much!

I want to upgrade the box so It can also cope running some dedicated game servers for some family, nothing huge, 12 players max!

Eventually I will be filling up the ICY Dock with 4 1TB drives which will replace the 500GB, Heres what I want:

Quad Core CPU
4GB RAM (Min)
RAID SATA Controller
2 PCI Slots (Min)
Cheap GFX Card
System Drives to have some sort of redudancy

It needs to be able to Run all of those services, and I have thought of some sort of virtualisation for some of it, but have had some trouble in the past.

Budget £800 (Absolute Max) dont need KB/Mouse/Monitor/Case

My first hurdle is choosing Intel or AMD, I have been AMD biased so far and dont know much about the Intel chip but am willing to give it a try. Doesnt need anything fancy, just functional and compatible.
 
Last edited:
To be honest, running those services for 8 users won't be struggle for that machine, I also think you'd be better off looking for a spec in general hardware. It's a server but it's not server hardware or enterprise IT type stuff....

Im not looking for anything fancy, its still all got to fit in the centurion case.

I was looking at this spec before:

AMD 5000+ X2
Asus M2N32-WS Pro
4 GB DDR2 OCZ (2x2GB)
2x SATAII 160GB in RAID0

but OcUK stopped selling the motherboard, and im not too willing to go else where.
 
Back
Top Bottom