Motherboard and CPU for a file server

[imported_tht]

I could use some help choosing parts for a file server.


1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Storing media(dvd, pictures, music). This need to be accessible to my htpc(linux) and laptop(linux & XP). It will also be used when i backup my computers. Hopefully when i learn more i can also use it as web & mail server.

2. What YOUR budget is.
Hopefully not too much, somwhere in low/mid range.

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

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, etc, etc, you get the picture.
No preferences other than WD disks.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
I will use my spare Antec Three Hundred cabinet w/ Mist modular 600w PSU. I also have one WD

Caviar Green 1 TB, so i guess i'll just get a few more of those. I also have a OCZ SSD Core

V2 60 GB that i meant to use as OS disk in my desktop, but its a complete lagging garbage

disk. Maybe i could use it here though?

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
Yes but its not easy.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
No plans on overclocking.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
I'll send my order as soon as i decide on the parts.

I was thinking that a motherboard with integrated graphics is a good idea. I wont be using a gui for the most part anyways. What matters is that it supports many harddrives. I found this MD & CPU while looking, will they fit? Also, i have no idea what/how much memory to choose. I would appreciate some help.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131362
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103300

 

[DaveSimmons]

Hopefully when i learn more i can also use it as web & mail server.

Windows server likes to have 2 GB of RAM, linux you can probably get by with 1 GB if there is a big price difference.

You might want to use 1 extra drive and a cheap software-based RAID-5 controller, not JBOD mode which has no parity / error correction. If you buy a RAID controller card then you pay for it but can use a cheaper motherboard with less SATA ports.

(If linux has good software RAID-5 then the motherboard ports are enough, no controller card needed. Or if you -don't- use a JBOD scheme that splits files across drives, you could live with losing 1 TB of files each time a drive dies.)

You don't need much CPU power to serve files and run a 1-person web server so a $50 dual core is fine at stock speed. If you want the server to transcode media files from one format to another then you might spend more.

 

[JackMDS]

This an example, you can deviate with Case Drives etc.

But the priciple is Intel ATOM + WHS.

http://www.homeserverhacks.com/

http://www.ezlan.net/WHS.html