Hey guys,
I want to build a file server that will be on 24/7. I managed to score a deal on a 3ware 9650SE-16ML that requires a PCIe 8x slot. I have three 2TB Western Digital WD2002FYPS drives arriving that will give me a baseline of 4TB (after RAID5). As I need more storage, I will add more drives and after 5, I would probably switch to RAID6.
Anyway, I currently have:
Box 1
- Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 rev2.0
- Intel Q6600 SLACR
- MSI NX8600GT-T2D256EZ
- 8GB of Crucial Ballistix DDR2 PC2 6400
Box 2
- Abit IC7 MAX3
- Intel Pentium 4 2.6GHz CPU
- 2GB of RAM
I've seen some people go nuts with hardware (e.g. high clock speed, multiple cores, etc) and I don't understand why the need for that much processing power. I can understand if the server was a web server, or database server, but if it's just serving up files with an external controller, not really seeing the merit.
Anyway, I tried throwing the 3ware card in the second x16 slot (which only runs at 4x)...no dice. So I tried swapping the video card with the raid controller and set the bios to use PEG2 for video. It worked once, but then after Vista x64 installed the card and rebooted, it doesn't post video. Grrr.
Anyway, if it's as simple as buying a PCI video card, then so be it as any money saved not buying new hardware for the file server can be spent towards new core i7 hardware for the workstation (assuming the Gigabyte/Q6600 gets reappropriated to file server duties). If AMD is significantly lower in terms of power consumption and not too expensive, feel free to suggest that.
I'm just looking for opinions of what you would do considering the hardware at my disposal. Feel free to recommend a motherboard, etc.
TIA,
Chester
I want to build a file server that will be on 24/7. I managed to score a deal on a 3ware 9650SE-16ML that requires a PCIe 8x slot. I have three 2TB Western Digital WD2002FYPS drives arriving that will give me a baseline of 4TB (after RAID5). As I need more storage, I will add more drives and after 5, I would probably switch to RAID6.
Anyway, I currently have:
Box 1
- Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 rev2.0
- Intel Q6600 SLACR
- MSI NX8600GT-T2D256EZ
- 8GB of Crucial Ballistix DDR2 PC2 6400
Box 2
- Abit IC7 MAX3
- Intel Pentium 4 2.6GHz CPU
- 2GB of RAM
I've seen some people go nuts with hardware (e.g. high clock speed, multiple cores, etc) and I don't understand why the need for that much processing power. I can understand if the server was a web server, or database server, but if it's just serving up files with an external controller, not really seeing the merit.
Anyway, I tried throwing the 3ware card in the second x16 slot (which only runs at 4x)...no dice. So I tried swapping the video card with the raid controller and set the bios to use PEG2 for video. It worked once, but then after Vista x64 installed the card and rebooted, it doesn't post video. Grrr.
Anyway, if it's as simple as buying a PCI video card, then so be it as any money saved not buying new hardware for the file server can be spent towards new core i7 hardware for the workstation (assuming the Gigabyte/Q6600 gets reappropriated to file server duties). If AMD is significantly lower in terms of power consumption and not too expensive, feel free to suggest that.
I'm just looking for opinions of what you would do considering the hardware at my disposal. Feel free to recommend a motherboard, etc.
TIA,
Chester
