[K12OSN] Which option do you recommend for increased servercapability?

[Rob Owens]

moon wrote:
> I've been buying Dell Powerconnect 3024 switches off ebay for ~$50 a piece.
> These switches are managed, 24-port 10/100 with 2-port Gig copper or fiber
> uplink ports and are equivalent to Cisco or Nortel top shelf wiring closet
> L2 switches. 
> 
> I would also highly recommend spending a few extra bucks up front and get a
> low end server solution (use savings from the lower cost switch to offset).
> 
> Here is a quick quote I built on ebay:
> 
> Qty.	Product Description					Total Price
> 
> 1 	CHENBRO SR10568-AL Pedestal Server Case          $89.99
> 1 	OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W Pwr Supply     $54.99
> 1 	ASUS P5BV-C LGA 775 Intel 3200 ATX Server MB    $144.99
> 1 	Intel Xeon E3110 Wolfdale 3.0GHz Dual-Core Proc $174.99
> 1 	G.SKILL 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 SDRAM    $109.99
> 1 	LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE           $19.99
>                                        Subtotal:      $594.94 
> 
> Less S&H of course...
> 

You could go even cheaper if you buy a high-end desktop machine to use
as a server.  That's what I generally do, and I've had very good luck
with them.

>From newegg.com:

case w/ power supply $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156074

motherboard $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138117

ram (2x 2GB) $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231226

processor (AM2+ quad core 2.3GHZ) $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103244

hard drive (500GB SATA) $65 each (buy two for software RAID 1)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288

Total is $420 with 2 hard drives (not including shipping).

Use an old CD-ROM drive or spend $20 on a new one.

I wasn't extremely careful when picking these parts, so make sure
everything matches up.  For instance, make sure the case has SATA power
cables, and make sure the motherboard supports quad-core processors.

With your existing setup, I think your number one shortcoming is RAM,
then network speed (or maybe vice-versa).  Next is the single-core
processor.

-Rob
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