Help me find a server board...

[Chiropteran]

I'm looking for a cheap board to build a server out of. I have a Q6600 CPU I can use, and I want to get a board that will accept the new wolfdale and yorkfield CPUs in case I decide to upgrade later.

Required- ECC DDR2 support, and support for 8GB or more.
Required- Intel chipset of some kind.
Required- intel gigabit networking on board

Desirable- on board video
Desirable- intel/asus/abit/gigabyte brand


Yet, I'm hoping to find something cheap too. I can easily find boards that match the specs I want looking at the high-end $200 server boards, but I'd like to get something cheaper. I know it's possible- I have seen $80 boards that support ECC, $80 boards with onboard video, and cheap boards with intel NICs. The hard part is finding a single board with all of these features.

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Denithor]

Here ya go:

Intel server boards @ Newegg

Intel specifications

Processor compatability chart

All have integrated graphics, integrated Intel gigabit LAN, six SATA 3.0 ports and support up to 8GB DDR2 667/800.

Basic differences:
Cheapest ($200) only has one Intel gigabit ethernet port, other two have dual ports.
Most expensive ($270) has 64-bit PCI-X slot while the other two only have 32-bit PCI slots.

EDIT: Whoops...totally missed the "cheap" portion of your post. Wow, you don't want much do you? I doubt you'll find exactly what you're looking for, not many "desktop" boards support ECC (and it's frankly slower and much more expensive, in the home & gaming realms it's a con not a plus). If you're willing to run non-ECC memory go for a G35 (or G45 when they launch shortly) motherboard from Intel, it'll have all the features you need except the ECC support. Otherwise you're probably stuck looking in the server board space where things are more expensive.

 

[o1die]

I would search ebay or a company named ascendtechus. Sometimes they have cheap server boards.

 

[Chiropteran]

Originally posted by: Denithor
If you're willing to run non-ECC memory go for a G35 (or G45 when they launch shortly) motherboard from Intel, it'll have all the features you need except the ECC support. Otherwise you're probably stuck looking in the server board space where things are more expensive.

Yeah, I think all the cheap boards with ECC are AMD chipset boards, which obviously won't work with my Q6600. Cost of buying a new CPU would outweigh the savings of buying a cheap motherboard :/

They also don't have intel branded NICs, although after some research it looks like the realtek chipset is fine too.

Why don't the inexpensive intel chipsets support ECC anymore? Blah.

edit: How the heck does Dell sell the $250 servers with ECC when the cheapest boards are $200? There must be an intel motherboard out there somewhere cheap...