Building own server or buying a built-up server?

[d8ny]

Hi everyone,

I'd just like your opinion on a server. Apart from the price, does building own server from garden variety components beat buying a built-up server, say from Dell, Gateway, IBM? Say the server is for a Windows 2000 server.

Are the components inside a server from Dell, etc, better than those from the computer shops?

Does anyone know of a web site that specialise in benchmarking/reviewing/testing server components, peripherals and built-up servers?

I know that Anandtech use some garden variety components in their servers. And they work just fine by the look of them.

Thanks everyone.

 

[narzy]

thats a toss up, IMO it really depends, my suggestion is Price them both up and see which one wins. is there much difference, probably not i mean with dell when you buy a server its built to be a server and they have the experince behind them to know what makes a good one. check out the anandtech server upgrade article for more info on the build um yourself model. I would build it myself just for the fun of it but thats me.

 

[Sunner]

Depends on what the server is for.

If its for your company, go brand name.

There are several reasons why this is the way to go.
You'll have lots of service options.
If the server gets foobar'ed you'll have your behind covered, if its a homebuilt server, chances are someone will blame you for potential problems.
No hardware compability options, everything's guaranteed to work.

For a business server, the extra money you'll spend on a Compaq, Dell or whatever will be well worth it.

 

[Athlon4all]

I agree, I'd buy a Dell or other brand name pre-built server because of the service contracts if it's for a business, but if it's personal I'd build it myself.