I was planning on getting some 120GB/200GB HDDs when there is a sale at frys for $50 and wanted to turn an old PPRO from 1997 into a file server but wondered if the system would be fast enough for these uses. I plan to use the 10/100 base networking built into this system but did consider using a gigabit networking card otherwise.
Is a PPro fast enough for a video/audio file server?
- Thread starter Philippine Mango
- Start date
I would say so... you shouldn't really need much CPU power at all for basic needs, even that I'd say is overkill (in terms of power that's actually required)
So what would the minimum requirements be for a file server? A PPRO 200MHZ is considered overkill? What about a pentium 200MHZ? 486?
FYI, the case is a LPX form factor so I'm not sure if I should be worried about it overheating or not.
FYI, the case is a LPX form factor so I'm not sure if I should be worried about it overheating or not.
Would you suggest I install a gigabit ethernet card? I was thinking of getting an ethernet hub/switch because I have two computers already that support gigabit and no reason why I shouldn't be able to utilize it yet. I don't see why I can't install the large drives on the IDE bus if I install the HDD manufacturer's "drivers". I got a bios update which improves the bus's speed and now supports drives up to 32GB instead of 8GB.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...em&category=51196&item=5763464285&rd=1
According to intel, I need a PII 350MHZ processor for this card. Would a pentium pro kick the PII 350MHZ processor? Because the PPRO has full speed cache and the PII doesn't.
Um, how "old" of controllers are you talking about? For example if I put a 250GB drive in this system your saying that it wouldn't work even with the "drivers"? What about if I put a 250GB drive in a P4 1.5GHZ system that doesn't natively support very large drives? (Originally had a 60GB drive in there).
A decent PCI IDE/SATA controller will go a long way, as the controller for a Pentium Pro 200 is going to fall far short of the capabilities of modern hard disks. IIRC, DMA/33 is the best you can expect, stifling the hard disk's transfer rate to half the maximum.
MDE
Lifer
- Jul 17, 2003
- 13,199
- 1
- 81
The controller has to support 48-bit LBA. Some newer ATA-100 controllers support it and all ATA-133 controllers support it. For example, if you tried installing a 250GB drive in a KT133 based system it would only see 137GB of the drive, but a newer nForce2 or Intel 865 based system, or a system with the appropriate controller card would see all 250GB.
Well I installed a 250GB drive in a old sony P4 1.5GHZ system (Circa july/august 2001) with the bios work around on the HDD so...
Jeff7
Lifer
- Jan 4, 2001
- 41,596
- 19
- 81
A system from 2001 doesn't count, at least to me, as "old". You're likely to get BIOS updates that support larger drives. A Pentium Pro motherboard of any kind - that's old, and it's not going to have support from the manufacturer.
There you have it. If it supports up to 32GB, that's all it can do. Drivers probably won't help, because the BIOS itself doesn't have the addressing space (the full 48 bits that it needs) to see the additional space.
CPU will be a factor for gigabit, but you'll have the capability of getting higher than 100baseT speeds.
The Intel card says a 350MHz processor is needed, but with a slower processor, all you'll do is transfer data slower, your bottleneck for transfer will become the CPU. No big really, as I said, you'll still be faster than 100 mbit.
The others are right, you want to factor in the cost of an IDE controller too.
The Intel card says a 350MHz processor is needed, but with a slower processor, all you'll do is transfer data slower, your bottleneck for transfer will become the CPU. No big really, as I said, you'll still be faster than 100 mbit.
The others are right, you want to factor in the cost of an IDE controller too.
does the intel 850 chipset support 48bit LBA? What if you have the intel application accelerator?
Are you going for ATA or SATA? Get a Syba controller for SATA. Hardware nic is goodness. 3C905CX-TXM are still the shit!
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 23K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 18K
-
-
-
Facebook
Twitter