Building a file server, your expertise needed.

CyberGhost

Hey,

I building a home file server/"off loading pc", was thinking of these:


Case - Gigabyte GZ-X1 Black
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=326919

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CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=340184

A bit overpowered, I know, but I don't want a Sempron and 4100+ was only 4 euro cheaper, so went with this one.

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Graphics - Gainward GeForce 7300LE
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=324458

Couldn't pick between this and 7200GS, but eventually decided on this after some 3dmark scores.

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Optical Drive - LG DVD±RW burner GSA-H62NRBBB
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=336564

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CPU Cooler - Zalman CNPS7500-Cu
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=340416

It's huge but lots of reviews say this is one of the quietest coolers out there.

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PSU - Corsair Powersupply 520W
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=327671

Needed around 500W so went with this one solely on recommendation and reviews.

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What do you guys think?


two things I could not choose were the motherboard and memory, I just can't pick one, there are so many with so many different configurations, I need one with: firewire(6 pin), gblan, and one IDE connector.

Also I want to use this PCIe card

It may sound stupid but I saw PCIe motherboards and honestly, it didn't look like this card would fit?

For example, with this boards:


Would/should it go into either of those small slots above PCI x16 slot?


As for memory, I wanted to go with:

Memory - Corsair TWIN2X 5400 DDR2
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=312023

But I'm a little confused, none of the AM2 motherboards that I looked at listed it as compatible, they support: PC2-4300, PC2-6400, PC2-5300, but the above linked memory is listed on PC2-5300 page on Komplett, is it backwards compatible? will it still work?


I hope you guys won't be discouraged by this long thread and will reply, any comments are welcome

Thanks!

Anti

For a file server the specs are very high. A pentium 3 with 256mb ram will do easilly. Christ, i use a xbox as my file server and its grand.

As for the card, find a simple pcie x1 card. Or a pci card.

I honestly think you would be better of getting a lower spec system. Like a opteron 160, 512mb ram. And spending what you save on hdds. Also, finding a motherboard with onboard video will save you money too.

CyberGhost

Thanks for replying Anti,

The reason I chose to go with this spec is cause, I'll be using this pc not only as a server but as a processor too, for tasks(like ripping) that require long times to do, and I'll have an operating system on it.

As for the card, I thought of getting a simple RAID5 card too, but don't those cheapo RAID cards load the CPU? plus they don't have "Online capacity expansion" so you can't gradualy add more space to the RAID without completely wiping and rebuilding.

Thanks for the onboard graphics idea, great idea!

gal_anonim

CyberGhost wrote: »

and I'll have an operating system on it.

that will be one fancy computer! :eek::rolleyes:

CyberGhost

I think you took that too literally, what was meant was that the computer will be "loaded" and cpu too.

Otherwise I'd probably run Linux off of a memory stick or even a dvd.

HungryJoey

The controller card you specified to use with your fileserver is a PCI-e 1X card. You will need a motherboard with one of these one it. It will not fit into any of the slots on the motherboard you put up as an example. It will one a boards like this tho...(with the small PCI-e slot 1x )

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=326989
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=337940
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=335583

etc.. etc.. & many many more boards. Most Am2 boards will have atleast 1.


EDIT: ^^Just after noticing your first post. The board you showed does have 2 x PCI-e slots

As said previously, I have a dell P3 933Mhz and 512MBs of RAM running as my fileserver. Works perfectly, have a few 500GB Drives in it, 2 printers and run Windows 2000 running VNC client on it so I can VNC onto the server and run all my downloads on it. Also there is about 7 systems in the house that use this server daily. Works perfectly. So yeah, you're system is fairly over speced for a Fileserver. But what ever your into

Hj

ob

How many hard drives are you putting in it?

CyberGhost

Thanks HungryJoey!

ob, 5: 1 system, 4 in RAID5