Server Build Advice

[Keltik THC]

I have been interested in building a server for a while now. I have a number of PCs and Laptops and keep all my important data on external HDDs which i know will fail one day (God, please no!).

I currently have all my external HDDs plugged into my main gaming rig, about 4TBs, so depending on which room/PC i want to watch something i usually slap the files on my portable HDD and then transport my data.

I would really like to have everything networked with a server so if im in my living room and want to watch a film or listen to music i can access it via the server rather than having to fiddle with external HDDs.

Anyway, i have never built a server only my gaming rigs and my main requirements that i can think of, are that its super-stable and can hold as many SATA HDDs as possible.

Can anyone throw any advice my way? my first problem is that i cannot decide on the motherboard because i only know about the gaming/overclocking motherboards so i do not know which is a good, tried and tested mobo for my server.

any advice (not just mobo) is greatly appreciated as im a networking noob.

 

[Keltik THC]

Do you have any old parts youre wanting to cannibalise (spelt wrong Im sure) or is it going to be all bought new? Either way what budget you looking at for what parts you need?

Well, i currently have the Asus P6T Deluxe Motherboard in my gaming rig, im not that impressed with the P6t for gaming and i am thinking if i upgrade my motherboard on my gaming rig i could use the P6TD for the server, i also have spare 3x1gb 1333mhz DDR3 RAM kicking around.

Although, if i did use the P6TD then that would restrict me to a LGA1366 processor which would be overkill for the server.... although i could just move my 920 to the server and it would give me an excuse to re-mortgage my house and buy the i7 975 for my gaming rig ... although that would probably work out to be ridiculously expensive and pointless.

So if i dont do that then everything would be bought brand new, budget wise, including as many HDDs as i can forage i would say less than £1k, although to start off with about 4TBs of HDD space would be enough as i will add HDDs as i go along.

The only preference i have is WD HDDs, in my experience i trust WD completely although the Samsung F1s do look very tempting.

It really isnt worth building your own 'server' from scratch. You could consider a second hand server if you want a server in the strictest sense, or consider something like an HP ML110 G5.

I have thought about buying a server, although not as fun as building my own i havent ruled this out.... But another spec i forgot to mention is that i want to built this server as silent as possible which makes me want to build it rather than buy a complete build, because then i can choose an acoustic controlled case, fans etc... and who cares about the green brigade - i wont until they force me to have a smart meter and monitor my outrageous power consumption

The Fractal Design Define R2 Midi Tower Case seems like a good choice for a case, 8 Harddrive bays,
A case design to be silent and quiet so would fit right in your living room, would be no differnt that build a normal home pc.

You would want a mobo with lots of sata ports and maybe an pci nic card (if on a gbit network)

What kind of budget you looking at?

Thanks for that man! the R2 case looks amazing and is silent... just the sort of thing im looking for, again including as many HDDs as possible im thinking less than £1k.

thanks for the advice so far guys! still stuck on deciding which mobo though... i was going to wait for USB 3.0 but i can just buy a controller card when they replace USB 2.0.

 

[Keltik THC]

if you can hold out for USB3/SATA3 i5 would be best bet

This is also in the back of my mind, USB 3.0 is slated to be released early 2010, not sure about SATA3.... on one hand it would be better to wait on the other i could just get some controller cards to give older hardware USB 3.0 and SATA3.

How easy would it be to sell a used P6TD? ive never really sold my old PC equipment just end up keeing it for a rainy day...

i guess i could out in on Ebay and see what happens.