[K12OSN] Server Motherboard Recommendation

[Daniel Loomis]

I have been using a Tyan S2460 with dual Athlon-MP 1600s as server for 
our computer lab for about 5 years.  Lately, it is begun to overheat and 
lock up at random.  It may be time to consider replacement of the 
motherboard with a newer model.  I would probably reuse the existing 
Antec 1040 server case, perhaps adding a new PS and replacing the old 
36gb SCSI HD with a new one. The old PC2100 memory would probably have 
to go as well. I already have an Adaptec 29160 SCSI card.

As I ponder such a scenario, looking at the bewildering array of MB 
choices available I am feeling a bit overwhelmed.  Should I consider 
another dual-cpu MB or can the new dual-core models provide equivalent 
capacity for handling multiple clients/processes.  Our lab supports 
twelve clients now, but more may be added in the near future.

At present, cpus in the 2.8ghz range seem to be attractively priced 
while providing more than adequate processing power.  The architecture 
choices all seem to be mostly 64bit now, although the server would most 
likely run in 32bit mode for the near future.

I am open to suggestions based on actual, hands-on experience with some 
of the newer motherboards currently available. I am not looking for the 
latest and greatest . . . just something stable and dependabld with 
decent performance running Tuxtype, wordprocessing, gimp and web surfing.

Dan