Budget Network Server Advice

[Poontos]

For all your bargain finders! 😀

I have a $600 Canadian (Gimme a break, I`m a student!) budget for a head-less network server for just a couple of workstations.
Which is going to perform: Host Ghost images, file backup, network projects, etc. OS: Win2K Server or FreeBSD or Redhat (probably will change frequently while I thoroughly do experiments/labs/etc. on each one).

Note: I have two spare NIC's. Don`t need a monitor. Probably can dig up a keyboard and mouse. Parts should be in Ontario. 🙂


Thanks guys/gals!

 

[Poontos]

Oh Hardware guru's...

 

[blstriker]

Take a look at the dell poweredge 500sc, it starts at $499 US which I don't know how it translates into Canadian.

 

[Poontos]

Too much. 🙂

NE1 Else?

 

[Beau]

$600 Can. = $377 US

What do you need in it? How large of a HDD? How much RAM? What kind of chassis?

 

[Poontos]

<< $600 Can. = $377 US

What do you need in it? How large of a HDD? How much RAM? What kind of chassis? >>


-Basic video card that works in FreeBSD, Win2K Server, and RedHat Linux.
-30GB+ Hard drive (7200 RPM worth it?)
-Start with 256MB RAM
-FreeBSD, Win2K Server, and Redhat compatible motherboard.
-Floppy
-CD-ROM
-300W Case
-CPU


Thanks

 

[Beau]

From the description of what it will be doing, it doesn't sound like it has to be very robust at all. I think a celeron would do just fine in such situation. Probably around 256 mb ram (for Win2k server) and around a 60 gb hard drive (mainly for the ghost images). It's gonna be hard to get any type of quality parts, you may end up making large sacrifices with components like the CD-rom and case, but with it just being a celeron (not too much heat there) and a server (little usage for a cd-rom except installation), those really wouldn't matter much. I'd spend the majority of the $$$ on the motherboard and quality ram so you can get good stability. Here's what I got:

Motherboard: Asus TUSL2 with integrated audio/video and 4 IDE channels - $132
CPU: Intel Celeron 900 - $56
Memory: Samsung PC133 256MB SDRAM Module - $62
HDD: Maxtor Diamon Max Plus - $119
FDD: Standard Floppy - $11
Case: CaseEdge LX734-A - $43
<a class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.googlegear.com/ggweb/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=000114-A" target=blank>CD-ROM: Artec 52X - $27
</A>
I blew your budget by $116 cdn, but you could probably shave a few $$ off by changing some of the features like the hard drive and possibly ditching the floppy drive.

 

[Beau]

Oh yeah, you wouldn't need a 300w PS for that. A celeron is not very power hungry and there aren't that many components in it. The 235w that the case comes with should suffice just fine.

 

[Poontos]

Hmmm... thank you for the tips! What about the AMD Duron route?

Thanks!

 

[Beau]

I chose to go intel/i815 just cuz of it's rock stability. I'll put a duron together for you in a minute.

 

[Poontos]

Coo, thanks!