I would like to build a cheap SOHO network file server running Win2003. The RAID system is fixed, it's a 3ware 9650SE which has been running happily in an Asus P5E based workstation, but now it's time to put it in a display-less server.
I would like to stick to an Intel based setup. The only role would be file and printer sharing on Win2003 and backup during the nights - I think 2 cores would be enough. I had good experience with Asus motherboards, so I was thinking about some integrated graphics solution, but I don't have any experience with G31, G33, G35 based solutions. Do you think they are reliable like the X38 boards were?
I was looking at network cards and found that Asus uses Atheros in G35, Marvell in G33, Realtek in G31, MSI uses Realtek and Marvell in G33, Gigabyte uses Realtek in G33 solutions, which I really don't want as a server solution. I was looking for Intel-based network cards, which I only found in Intel boards.
My other question is that what do you recommend about Core 2 Duo vs. Xeon, ECC vs. non-ECC RAM, and such "server grade" stuffs? In my experience, a stable, Intel chipset based computer build from high quality parts (RAM, PSU, RAID card) never did any data corruption or BSOD's when wasn't used for multimedia/3D/gaming tasks, so in my opinion all that ECC and Xeon stuff is just marketing for 1 socket systems, but I am interested in your opinions.
Edit: It will be serving 8 clients mostly for Photoshop and 3D CAD files.
I would like to stick to an Intel based setup. The only role would be file and printer sharing on Win2003 and backup during the nights - I think 2 cores would be enough. I had good experience with Asus motherboards, so I was thinking about some integrated graphics solution, but I don't have any experience with G31, G33, G35 based solutions. Do you think they are reliable like the X38 boards were?
I was looking at network cards and found that Asus uses Atheros in G35, Marvell in G33, Realtek in G31, MSI uses Realtek and Marvell in G33, Gigabyte uses Realtek in G33 solutions, which I really don't want as a server solution. I was looking for Intel-based network cards, which I only found in Intel boards.
My other question is that what do you recommend about Core 2 Duo vs. Xeon, ECC vs. non-ECC RAM, and such "server grade" stuffs? In my experience, a stable, Intel chipset based computer build from high quality parts (RAM, PSU, RAID card) never did any data corruption or BSOD's when wasn't used for multimedia/3D/gaming tasks, so in my opinion all that ECC and Xeon stuff is just marketing for 1 socket systems, but I am interested in your opinions.
Edit: It will be serving 8 clients mostly for Photoshop and 3D CAD files.
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