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Intel-based booksize server... success on step 1!

L

Leo V

Diamond Member
I finally got around to setting up my "mini-server", which will be used for routing, web/ftp/email/game/etc hosting, and many other tasks. Here are the parts:

CaseEdge Booksize FlexATX case (10.6 x 12.7 x 2.95 inches)
Intel P3 (CuMine) 600EB (133FSB) .18u process, 13Watts average heat
Intel D810EMO FlexATX motherboard (810E chipset), legacy-free, no PS2/serial/parallel ports, no AGP/ISA, just one PCI slot and one DIMM
Onboard Intel EtherExpress 10/100 LAN
Onboard video (only for installation, since it'll be a Linux box without any peripherals)
3COM Fast EtherLink 10/100 PCI nic (takes the only PCI slot)
64MB PC100/CAS222 high quality NEC memory stick, one-sided
Maxtor DM60 61.4GB 5400RPM hard disk--amongst the quietest ever, but I'll be replacing mine due to...problems

I first had to modify the CasEdge case to make things fit properly...stupid, stupid unstandardized FlexATX format...but I got it to fit properly in an hour. Once everything was running though, I'll note that the PSU fan is very quiet.

Well, the comp booted from CD without problems and I installed Mandrake's latest 7.2 Linux distro. Everything was detected flawlessly, and both NIC's/network interfaces were recognized and configured just fine! (I made sure to enable "PnP OS" in the BIOS first.) That's as far as I've gotten, and now I'll need to replace the Maxtor 🙁

I only wish my AMD workstation was this easily configured 🙁
 


<< 64MB PC100/CAS222 high quality NEC memory stick, one-sided >>



Your going to run a server with 64MB RAM..... okkkkkkk

You said game hosting.... 256MB is HIGHLY recommended to serve any recent game with 16 players.
 
So what game(s) are u gonna run a server for?
*hint*hint*DoD, UT, Q3*hint*hint*
And password them if ya host, pubs suck
 
Notice how Leo V said &quot;step 1&quot; and &quot;mini-server.&quot;

He probably got a couple of RAM sticks shipping on his way already. 🙂
 
Leo V,

I don't want to start a &quot;Linux vs. Windows&quot; conversation, but I just wanted to tell you that I setup my Duron as a DNS Server using Windows 2000 Server. I just installed all the hardware and everything was configured properly.

I spent most of the time setting up firewall and configuring the security settings, etc.

I keep hearing these AMD configuration issues. Do these exist only with Win9x and Linux?
 
Okay okay, let's clarify a few things:

* It'll only be a single Quake3 server with <8 players, doesn't use a lot of memory; from experience, great ping on my 384kbps SDSL connection! 🙂
* Win2000--used it for a year, would like to move along to Linux. Yes I know people who'd lend me Advanced Server if asked. I'm trying to discontinue use of MS products for both preference and moral reasons 😉
* I know from firsthand experience how Win2000 performs with 64MB (ARGH!!) so I understand your sympathy, but a custom-compiled Linux kernel shouldn't have a problem even with 8-16MB. 64MB ought to do for my current plans.
* The Maxtor 5400RPM 60GB (before it went bad) was by far the quietest I've ever encountered. Even with all case/PSU fans disabled, its spinning noise and seeks were barely audible. Normally its presense is undetectable. The drive ships in a quiet mode by default, at least when I got it. Side benefits are negligible heat and power usage.
* &quot;AMD issues&quot;--the more I talk about them, the more bad things happen to me 🙁 All of them, IMHO, are VIA's fault related to both hardware and software. Haven't had a Linux software problem yet (probably for lack of trying!) However, there is strong evidence that some problems are hardware-related, just see my MSI ranting thread 🙂
 
Leo, You Cheated !!!! Linux never has the configuration problems that Windows does !!! Glad to see you got both Nics working tho. I have to know tho .... did you try it with an MS OS or go straight to Linux? Also ... was it worth it? I warned you about the NLX/Flex case issues !!
 
&quot;Linux never has the configuration problems that Windows&quot;

never is quite a strong word 🙂

hehe I remember getting random lockups and freezes in corel linux with my Athlon 500 and Gigabyte GA7IX...same exact setup in 98SE was flawless 🙂

 
Leo,

I'm selling my 7200rpm Maxtor and buying that one. 🙂

So what if my Windows 2000 boots up a little slower? It's QUIET. hehe
 
For a non-gui linux server, 64mb is not too bad. You can do most (ie not database stuff) with 64mb.

ERJ
 
Wolfman35, maybe that's why I didn't have problems 😉 The server will be GUI-free and also Microsoft-free, which will hopefully keep it problem-free!

I had some initial fears and doubts about FlexATX (&quot;how the heck is this going to work?!&quot😉 After an easy case modification to accomodate the I810EMO everything went smoothly, at least thus far. Mandrake 7.2 easily detected the USB mouse and keyboard I used for installation, as well as the i810E chipset and onboard peripherals. The entire server is tiny and should be extremely fast, so it's definitely worthwhile.

joohang, I did have one huge Win2000 partition on that disk. The DM60 was my primary disk before I put it into the server. Its transfer rates are up there with 7200RPM disks thanks to 15GB/platter density (17...28MB/sec sustained). The 80GB DM80 (20GB/platter) has slightly higher rates (18...30MB/sec), but its benchmark scores are generally lower.

In terms of speed, the DM60's 5400-esque latency makes it somewhat slower than the IDE champions (Quantum Fireball+ LM and IBM 75GXP, I have both at the moment). However, it definitely doesn't feel slow, and it competes with the older 7200RPM drives like the FB+ KA and anything below. I'm currently using a 2-platter 30GB 75GXP inside a SilentDrive in my workstation, though, for that extra boost since I work with huge files. It feels comparably quiet now, and I'm going to use IBM's acoustic software later to silence the seeks.
 
Something stupid:

If you click the link, my CasEdge case supposedly, first and foremost, &quot;Supports Intel Flex ATX form factor mainboard&quot;. Funny that I had to modify it to accomodate Intel's very own FlexATX mobo 😉
 
cough..

hey leo, are you part of Team Anandtech by any chance?

seeing as that server probably won't be doing much (unless you have the time on your hands to find enough files to download to keep your internet connection maxed out), you should run RC5 on it!

of course, if you're running it without a fan (I remember you talking about underclocking to reduce heat), then you'll want to be careful with the heat..

but you have enough machines to beat me in any Distributed project within 6 months!
 
Soccerman, it's against my religion...*cough* electricity bill *cough*...to run 24/7 crackers. The server sure as heck won't be underclocked or undervolted, though. I want it 110% stable. I'm going to get a decent passive Socket heatsink for the P3/600 EB, there is no room for a fan there.
 
dah..

does Electricity really cost that much down there?? up here it's barely nothing! well I mean, running the computer 24/7 generally addsa a few dollars to the bill, but oh well..

hmm, this is the weirdest thing, I'm probably going to be fying down to your area in March..
 
Eletricity is pretty expensive for my house... monthly bills amount to ~$200 out of which a good 15-30% is computer-related, depending on % CPU usage! 😀
 
What a fascinating project! A clean quiet little server that runs Linux. Truly a geek's passion! I'm also willing to bet some of the noise-haters on this board will love to build a WS like this for web-surfing and maybe some light word processing. That case would be easy to hide in furniture with it's minimal cooling requirements.

I fear it will be a far great challenge to get my future Athlon 1Ghz system setup for such quiet operation. I'd rather have a newer 7200 RPM HD since the noise difference is not has great as with a quiet fan and those damn loud fans.
 
I've just contacted TK Power, the only known makers of truly fanless &quot;open frame&quot; PSU's. They only go up to 120Watts. I'm calling them tomorrow to see whether any of them fit the FlexATX form factor.
 
HaVoC, my line of thinking for HDD selection (besides heat/power/noise, which played its role) was the following: the 5400RPM Maxtor easily saturates the 100mbps LAN bandwidth anyway. I expect negligible loading times for most things (due to caching), except perhaps a yearly bootup 😉 The 60GB of storage will be really handy, though, since that's where I'll store all the music, multimedia, etc.
 
Leo,

* How much are those TK Power PSU's?

* So your Maxtor is quieter than your IBM 75 GXP's w/SilentDrive?

* Is Coppermine 600 the only CPU that is able to operate without a fan? It's one of the coolest running CPU's, right?
 
joohang,

* I'm calling TKPower tomorrow and reporting back.

* Hard to tell, since my Maxtor went bad a couple weeks before my 75GXP/SilentDrive combo. They're definitely in the same ballpark.

* The CuMine 500E is the coolest-running (~10Watts average!), followed by the 533EB, 550E, and 600E/600EB. The 600EB was the only accessible 133FSB chip, though.
 
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