Hi All,
I?m currently looking for some guidance.
It?s been about 8 years since I built my first PC which was a small project back then, nothing fancy. After that first PC I went for a Dell Dimension 5000 which have had for the last 4 years and running linux for at least 3. Overall the dimension has served its purpose, it was the family PC during its first year until my wife got her own laptop and after that it became the only linux box around the house. Lately I started to have problem with it (failed PSU, Monitor won?t turn on, broken printer etc ?) so I decided to start a new project and build a new system.
There were a few things that were frustrating about this system e.g. couldn?t monitor important HW components like temp, fan speed etc ? Also with the P4 I didn?t have HW virtualization capabilities so it always felt I couldn?t get the most out of virtualization products like VW or VB.
With the new project I?m looking not only to cover the above issues I mentioned but also to have a centralized solution for most of my (our) technology needs. I have decided to start build a small rack mountable server solution hoping to host my desktop, a couple of personal websites, an asterisk pbx for just a couple of low volume lines, personal email server, main RAID storage and maybe a media server to stream content on the internal LAN (but just a maybe). What I?m trying to build is a solution that will serve my needs for the next 4 years so I think the possibility for expansion is also worth to consider.
Putting together this project will take me sometime but at the moment where I have real concerns is in selecting the right hardware. As you can see Linux will be the foundation of this system so compatibility is important that?s why I?m writing here.
The only things on what I?ve made my mind up is the case (iStarUSA D-300-PFS) and the size of the rack (no bigger than 12 U). Next week I?ll be visiting the US where prices are certainly cheaper than in the UK and I?d really love to get key components like the mobo, processor and maybe a video card and here is where any advice you may give will come very handy.
The first?s questions that come to mind are:
For the mobo, what would be the differences between makers (e.g ASUS vs. Intel)? what are they offering over the other?
What would be the right processor for this project? Remember my current PC is a P4 3.0 Gz with ht so the multiple cores concept is fairly new to me.
Any advice or model suggestions are highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
mrgrieves
I?m currently looking for some guidance.
It?s been about 8 years since I built my first PC which was a small project back then, nothing fancy. After that first PC I went for a Dell Dimension 5000 which have had for the last 4 years and running linux for at least 3. Overall the dimension has served its purpose, it was the family PC during its first year until my wife got her own laptop and after that it became the only linux box around the house. Lately I started to have problem with it (failed PSU, Monitor won?t turn on, broken printer etc ?) so I decided to start a new project and build a new system.
There were a few things that were frustrating about this system e.g. couldn?t monitor important HW components like temp, fan speed etc ? Also with the P4 I didn?t have HW virtualization capabilities so it always felt I couldn?t get the most out of virtualization products like VW or VB.
With the new project I?m looking not only to cover the above issues I mentioned but also to have a centralized solution for most of my (our) technology needs. I have decided to start build a small rack mountable server solution hoping to host my desktop, a couple of personal websites, an asterisk pbx for just a couple of low volume lines, personal email server, main RAID storage and maybe a media server to stream content on the internal LAN (but just a maybe). What I?m trying to build is a solution that will serve my needs for the next 4 years so I think the possibility for expansion is also worth to consider.
Putting together this project will take me sometime but at the moment where I have real concerns is in selecting the right hardware. As you can see Linux will be the foundation of this system so compatibility is important that?s why I?m writing here.
The only things on what I?ve made my mind up is the case (iStarUSA D-300-PFS) and the size of the rack (no bigger than 12 U). Next week I?ll be visiting the US where prices are certainly cheaper than in the UK and I?d really love to get key components like the mobo, processor and maybe a video card and here is where any advice you may give will come very handy.
The first?s questions that come to mind are:
For the mobo, what would be the differences between makers (e.g ASUS vs. Intel)? what are they offering over the other?
What would be the right processor for this project? Remember my current PC is a P4 3.0 Gz with ht so the multiple cores concept is fairly new to me.
Any advice or model suggestions are highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
mrgrieves
Comment