need suggestions for an inexpensive, stable CPU & MB combo

[NTB]

Mom and dad are moving into a new house soon, and it just so happens that they bought the "demo" house for the subdivision. The basement was used by the builder for office space, so the whole house is wired with Cat5 :thumbsup:

All of that cable comes together in a small, separate room in the basement, and in addition to setting them up with a router and switch, I'm thinking about putting a small server in there for myself. I have some parts in mind already, but I need suggestions on a CPU & Motherboard combo. OS suggestions are welcome, too. requirements:

- can be AMD or Intel; I'm not picky

- built-in video is fine

- inexpensive is good, but stability is important. I will gladly spend a few more bucks for that.

- doesn't need to be uber-high-performance. I'd like to be able to get to it and use it from my own home, and I might run a small website or FTP server off of it, but basically it's going to be a glorified storage closet for pictures, videos and similar large files.

- not sure if I'm going to run Windows XP or some flavor of Linux on it yet. Good linux compatibility would be nice, but isn't required.

Nathan

 

[Blain]

I'd just buy a refurbed Dell Optiplex mini-tower from a solid ebay seller.
I would get at least a P3-1GHz, 512MB & Windows XP Pro or 2000. A mini-tower gives you some room for expansion and a bit more PS wattage.
You can pick one up on the cheap.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: NTB
Mom and dad are moving into a new house soon, and it just so happens that they bought the "demo" house for the subdivision. The basement was used by the builder for office space, so the whole house is wired with Cat5 :thumbsup:

All of that cable comes together in a small, separate room in the basement, and in addition to setting them up with a router and switch, I'm thinking about putting a small server in there for myself. I have some parts in mind already, but I need suggestions on a CPU & Motherboard combo. OS suggestions are welcome, too. requirements:

- can be AMD or Intel; I'm not picky

- built-in video is fine

- inexpensive is good, but stability is important. I will gladly spend a few more bucks for that.

- doesn't need to be uber-high-performance. I'd like to be able to get to it and use it from my own home, and I might run a small website or FTP server off of it, but basically it's going to be a glorified storage closet for pictures, videos and similar large files.

- not sure if I'm going to run Windows XP or some flavor of Linux on it yet. Good linux compatibility would be nice, but isn't required.

Nathan

Windows Home Server - made for exactly that purpose. $180 for the OS only, or $550-ish (HP EX-470, Amazon.com) with hardware and 500GB HDD. Has lots of fun plug-ins for websites, photo sharing, FTP, WebDAV (drive letter access over the internet HTTP), and much more. Easy, effortless backups for all machines on the local LAN. Excellent system.

 

[JackMDS]

I would go with Windows Home Server (WHS).

You can buy and build, or buy something like the HP WHS.

Either solution would amount to $500 to $700.

If you need to save Blain's hardware suggestion is a Good one. WHS would run well on any of the P-III 1GHz and above (provided you boost the RAM to 1GB).

If you are Not sure about WHS you can get a 120days trial version for $5.99 (shipping expense).

http://www.microsoft.com/windo...wshomeserver/eval.mspx