severs vs. PCs

[frontwards]

i was just looking at the dell poweredge 400sc and just wondering, what is the reason that they call it a server. i'm not planning on buying one, but if i were to buy a premade computer i would probably get one without an operating system. yeah, but just out of curiousity, what would be the difference between the dell poweredge and a regular pc, if there is much? would i be correct in assuming that a big purpose for servers is convinience for the IT department (ie easily removed hard drives, less space consuming)? or am i completely wrong on that? i just don't know a whole lot about servers and i would like to learn how they work.

 

[Varun]

Multi processors, room for lots of RAM, Hot Swappable hard drive bays, redundant power supplies, large fans. One server even had hot swappable RAM (no idea how that could even work). I mean the parts are all just PC parts, but they are tested for reliability. Also, the support is a big part of the price. I needed 5 SCSI drives that had failed over time, and I called and even though I told them no rush as we had spares, they all arrived in about 18 hours from half way across the country (Canada).

Also, servers do come in Rack mounting cases, which is super easy to stack for space and wiring concerns, though they come in floor standing ones as well.

They are just geared towards staying up, and room for lots of storage and good performance in a multi-user environment.

 

[trexpesto]

Alot of times servers use ECC RAM, maybe the poweredge comes with, can't remember.
Also there are server-specific motherboards. They commonly have features like dual NICs. Possibly better IO?
SCSI is often used for servers.

Edit and oh yeah the cases have locks on them sometimes.