Power draw and heat generated by a dual Athlon setup?

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
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I need to build a server for a website on the cheap. I'm looking at a dual athlon setup with either a couple of Cheetah or Raptors for RAID1.

I was also considering putting it in a rackmount chassis in case I need to put it in a datacenter at some point. How large of a power supply do I need? And would it even be possible to put in a 1U chassis or would those two drives and two Athlons create too much heat?

Any advice from people who have had with experience building a dual Athlon system would be greatly appreciated.
 

Remedy

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 1999
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It's not just that it would create too much heat. It's the 1U cases in particular were not designed for K7/P4 Class Xeons. So You would need a case similar to Appro designed 1U cases. Which are expensive. The Athlons are 1U capable and do work in the -right- cases. If I were you, I would purchase a P4 with 1U and Hyperthreading for a basic 1U rack. The heat can be tolerated bit better since it's one (physical)processor and not 2.

OTOH, This is one of the cases I've seen used before here. or here Alot of low end network groups use them as solutions. Heatsink wise, Here is a blowing solution for moving the air out in a positive pressured way.


I'd also like to recommend this store here. Very nice guys to deal with.
 

Remedy

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 1999
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Power supply wise, It depends on how you intend on expanding the system. MechB should chime here sometime soon. :) I've had 460watt EPS12v's for 1U. So they do exist and are most likely worth it in the long run. Mostly because they handle future upgrades. But for total uptime, I would look into Redundant 1U PSU's. Expensive yes, but it's your data and uptime here we're talking.

Here is one from my bookmarks here. Again, and once more..

Let us know how it turns out for you.