How to upgrade my server

[Vincent]

My file server is a Duron 1.6GHz with 2GB PC2100 DDR RAM on a Via KT266A-based motherboard. I recently bought a gigabit ethernet card and plan to continue to upgrade the server incrementally by buying an SATA card and a USB 2.0/Firewire card.

Should I continue to buy these add-on cards or should I just bite the bullet and spend $200 on a modern CPU, motherboard (with SATA, USB 2.0, and Firewire built in), PSU, and RAM?

I mainly want to add SATA drives and be able to connect external drives. I'm also concerned about power consumption (I downgraded to the Duron [57W TDP] from a 1.4GHz Athlon [74W TDP]). I also wonder if a modern server will improve performance.

Right now I'm learning toward just buying the add-on cards. I'm not a gamer and my main system is an Athlon 64 X2 5050e. I think it's better to save money for a bigger upgrade later instead of having two similar systems.

Reading about the new Intel launch has given me the upgrade bug, but I'm going to try to resist and wait until it's really necessary. What do you guys think?




1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

File storage

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

Up to $200 for CPU, MB, PSU, and RAM

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

I'm an AMD-Fanboy but open to Intel

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

none

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

I read these two threads:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=27&threadid=2329859
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=28&threadid=2334470

and was especially struck by ShawnD1's point that

A question that should really be asked by now is why can't you use one of your existing computers as a server?. It's a valid question. Between you, your wife, the kids, other people living in the house, don't you have even 1 low end computer that could be acting as the server? My house has several computers that could be acting as file servers. The computers I build always use a mid-tower with at least 6 hard drive slots (perfect for a home server), most use integrated graphics, and most have gigabit ethernet. Even a crappy Dell from 5 years ago can make a great server if you put it in a large case and add a gigabit ethernet card.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

I don't plan to overclock

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.

I'm not a gamer

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

I would build it within the next month