Thanks for that guys.
ok I'm getting a better idea of your situation now, you been running a Dell machine fine for a while and then the hard disk croaked! (without backup) so you have decided to build a new playboy main machine and a James Bond style home sever at the same time heh!
EXACTLY!!! LOL
I went and did some more research into the setup after I posted here on the Gigabyte motherboard link I listed above.
Ended up spending an extremely geeky (but strangely enjoyable) couple of hours meticulously cataloguing EVERY Gigabyte card that had the ability to do run 8 or 10 internal SATA hard drives (there are no 9's), and most of the ones that do 6 (I missed out a few of the 6's, because the Gigabyte database wasn't explicit that they were 3GB chipset controllers, rather then 1.5; and obviously only the 3GB is any good any more)
Seeing as everyone is being so helpful
- Here are the fruits of my labours...
I have split it down by Processor type and motherboard model number:
Re Gigabyte Motherboards
Intel Socket 1366
10
GA-EX58-EXTREME(rev. 1.0) -
GA-EX58-UD5(rev. 1.0) -
8
GA-EX58-UD3R(rev. 1.6)
GA-EX58-UD3R-SLI(rev. 1.0)
GA-EX58-UD3R(rev. 1.0)
GA-EX58-UD4P(rev. 1.0)
Intel Socket 775
10
GA-EP45-DQ6(rev. 1.0)
GA-N680SLI-DQ6(rev. 2.0)
GA-N680SLI-DQ6(rev. 1.0)
8
GA-965G-DS4(rev. 3.3)
GA-EP35C-DS3R(rev. 2.1)
GA-EP35-DS3P(rev. 2.1)
GA-EP35-DS3R(rev. 2.1)
GA-EP35-DS4(rev. 2.1)
GA-EP45C-UD3R(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP45T-UD3P(rev. 1.1)
GA-EP45T-UD3P(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP45C-UD3R(rev. 1.0)
GA-EX38-DQ6
GA-EX38T-DQ6
GA-G33-DS3R
GA-P35C-DS3R(rev. 2.1)
GA-P35C-DS3R(rev. 2.0)
GA-P35C-DS3R(rev. 1.x)
GA-P35-DS3P(rev. 1.0)
GA-P35-DS3P(rev. 2.0)
GA-P35-DS3P(rev. 2.1)
GA-P35-DS4(rev. 1.0)
GA-P35-DS3R(rev. 2.0)
GA-P35-DS4(rev. 1.1)
GA-P35-DS3R(rev. 1.0)
GA-P35-DS4(rev. 2.1)
GA-P35T-DQ6(rev. 1.0)
GA-P35-DS4(rev. 2.0)
GA-P35T-DQ6(rev. 1.1)
GA-X38-DQ6
GA-X48-DS5
GA-X48-DQ6
GA-X48T-DQ6
6
GA-965P-DS3(rev. 3.3)
GA-965P-S3(rev. 3.3)
GA-965P-S3(rev. 1.0)
GA-EG45M-UD2H(rev. 1.0)
GA-EG45M-DS2H(rev. 1.0)
GA-EG43M-S2H(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP43-UD3L(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP43C-DS3(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP45C-DS3R(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP45-EXTREME(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP45-DS4P(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP43-DS3R(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP43-DS3L(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP45-DS3R(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP45-DS3L(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP45T-UD3LR(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP45-UD3L(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP45T-EXTREME(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP45T-DS3R(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP45C-DS3R(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP45-DS4P(rev. 1.0)
AMD Socket AM3
10
GA-MA790FXT-UD5P(rev. 1.0)
8
GA-MA790XT-UD4P(rev. 1.0)
6
GA-MA770T-UD3P(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP45-DS3R(rev. 1.0)
GA-EP45-DS3L(rev. 1.0)
GA-EQ45M-S2(rev. 2.0)
GA-EX38-DS4
GA-G33M-DS2R
GA-X48-DS4(rev. 1.3)
AMD Socket AM2+
8
GA-MA790FX-UD5P(rev. 1.0)
GA-MA790X-UD4P(rev. 1.0)
6
GA-MA770-DS3P(rev. 2.0)
GA-MA770-DS3(rev. 2.0)
GA-M750SLI-DS4(rev. 1.0)
GA-M78SM-S2H(rev. 1.0)
GA-MA770-UD3(rev. 2.0)
GA-MA780G-UD3H(rev .1.0)
GA-MA770-UD3(rev. 1.0)
GA-MA78G-DS3H(rev. 2.x)
GA-MA770-S3(rev. 2.0)
GA-MA78G-DS3H(rev. 1.0)
GA-MA78G-DS3HP(rev. 2.0)
GA-MA790FX-DS5(rev. 1.0)
GA-MA790FX-DQ6(rev. 1.0)
GA-MA790X-UD4(rev. 1.0)
GA-MA790GP-UD4H(rev. 1.0)
GA-MA790GP-DS4H(rev. 1.0)
AMD Socket AM2
6
GA-M57SLI-S4(rev. 2.0)
GA-M57SLI-DS4(rev. 2.0)
GA-M57SLI-S4(rev. 1.1)
GA-MA74GM-S2(rev. 1.x)
GA-MA74GM-S2H(rev. 2.0)
GA-MA74GM-S2(rev. 2.0)
AMD Socket AM2/ AM2+
AMD Socket 939
None of 6 or above.
AMD Socket 754
None of 6 or above
Quite an interesting process actually (God I sound like a geek!!!) -
So, talking stats
There are:
6 Gigabyte motherboards that have 10 SATA internal ports
37 Gigabyte motherboards that have 8 SATA internal ports
And many more that have six.
(Many of these are simply different revisions of the same board, but nevertheless, once I properly researched this myself, it turns out that there is quite a lot of scope to run a windows home server setup with 8 or 10 disks; and six is much easier and relatively cheap.)
I didn't bother counting any that didn't have at least six. As that seems like a good minimum for a machine that is going to be a server.
I then set up three different build scenarios:
10 Disk
8 Disk
6 Disk
And priced them out again by checking the different motherboard models on froogle and getting price ideas for the motherboard.
I then went and had a look for the cheapest cpu of that type that I could find (as, on reflection, this machine is going to do nothing except sit there, and if a NAS box can do that with 256kb of ram. Then a server with 4gb of ram and a normal cpu of any description should cope fine)
The 'variables' here for me are only two things:
1/ The motherboard
2/ The CPU
As I have already decided the box I want to hold this stuff (if I have to look at it for the next couple of years under my desk, then I want one that I like, regardless of whether their is a cheaper option)
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) - £44.99
Noctua NF-S12 1200RPM 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin - £13.79 x 2 = £27.58
(For the front of the antec case to keep the drives nice and cool)
Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK) - £73.99
(I know, I know... The server will not consume that much juice. But if this thing is going to be running 24/7 for years; then my gut tells me to spend a little more on the PSU, then perhaps it needs)
So, those elements cost £146.56 (oh yep, and another £20 for a dvd re-writer)
(Upon further investigation the 4GB of ram from my old PC will work in the new one. So that saves me £50
)
The way I figure it, those are a good investment, because even if I upgrade the cpu or motherboard in the future, there is no need to get a new box. I can just strip this one.
Now, motherboard and CPU.
You can find prices etc on froogle for the motherboards and cpu.
I can't post them here I believe.
In any case.
It came out as:
10 SATA VERSION -
Do-able, but the motherboards are very expensive. Mostly around £200. Could get a cheap CPU for £50. So around £425. And £25 for a graphics card, as most don't have them. (Also, the antec case only holds 8 drives easily (ie with no changes. You can get 10 in there with slight adjustments though eg 5 in 3 bay setups etc - But that would be an extra expense, or I would have to change the case)
8 SATA VERSION
Again, the motherboards are quite pricey in this bracket. Currently around £150, plus another £50 for the cpu. And £25 for a graphics card, as most don't have them. So would have cost about £395. This is maybe the 'ideal' option for an Antec case upon reflection, as the Antec can hold 8 hard drives and a dvd-writer anyway without modification.
6 SATA VERSION
This one was a lot cheaper. There are a lot of motherboards in this category at £50 - £100. And because there are options available for AM2 processors, it is also easier to source a cheap CPU for about £35. The other advantage of some of the older motherboards, is that many more of them have build in dvi and vga, so there is no need to shell out for a dedicated graphics card which would be an extra £25 even at the cheap end (and add to the heat in a server, where colder is obviously better)
I gave the matter some thought and have ended up going with the six disk option.
That is not ideal, (I would have preferred 8) but I only plan on adding 5 1TB drives anyway initially, so it will be fine for the next year, and by that time 2TB drives will probably be much cheaper anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem.
I also couldn't ignore the fact of how cheap it was to get the cpu and motherboard.
I found a 'return' motherboard (Could end up regretting that
- Hope not) for £26 (New they are about £50 I think)
Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2H
And bought a new boxed AMD Socket AM2 cpu for £33.29
AMD Athlon 64 Socket AM2 LE-1640 (2.6GHz) Energy Efficient L2 1MB Cache Retail
I expect it will be ok. Probably majorly underpowered (goes against the grain to buy it
), but the reviews on it are good. And the 'energy efficient' part ap
So, the total build looks like this:
Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2H - £26.21
AMD Athlon 64 Socket AM2 LE-1640 (2.6GHz) Energy Efficient L2 1MB Cache Retail- £33.29
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) - £44.99
Noctua NF-S12 1200RPM 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin - £13.79 x 2 = £27.58
Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK) - £73.99
DVD Writer - £20
4Gb Ram - Taken from old system
Software - Microsoft Windows Home Server - Free 120 Evaluation
TOTAL - £226.06 for 6 SATA SETUP
I think thats pretty good, bearing in mind that its a nice case with extra good quality fans for cooling, and a relatively expensive PSU to power it.
The 'working' part of the cpu and motherboard only cost £59.50.
If I hadn't had the ram, I could probably have found 4gb of ram for £40.
So, realistically, I think its perfectly possible to put together a server system for under £100!!
(Oh right. Apart from the case goodies and hard drives which are another matter entirely
)
Big Wayne, with regards to this:
Without talking about your new main machine too much there was one thing that struck me as unusual was your intention to use a 4GB(2x2GB) RAID-0 array! I've only ever seen huge RAID-0 Arrays used as a (non-boot) Data disk for a guy who did Video editing and needed to dump GB's of Video Data files from a DV camera to disk. There is a nice speed boost in a few scenarios using a Striped array but 4GB is an insane size to have your O/S installed on. I've got a machine running RAID-0 as the boot drive but that is using two 250GB Sata drives resulting in a hugely fast 500GB C:\Drive, more than enough space for the O/S, programs, games etc, much easier to format, defrag, backup . . .
I am actually going to get 2 128gb ssds as well.
Am going to post in the hard drive section about that, as I am currently thinking through scenarios, so if you could take a look in there and comment on it (once I've posted obviously lol) then that would be appreciated.
