socket am2 opterons

[solus1]

hey what's up guys this is my first post here at the forums. i've heard a lot about anandtech and thought i'd check this site out and now i'm here. coincidently i've been thinking about building a low-end ftp/file server for personal use with a socket am2 opteron processor, specifically the opteron 1210. now i've seen that almost all the boards that are compatible with it are server boards meant for corporate environments. my question is (1) are there desktop boards that are also compatible with these opterons? (2) are there even ones that will work but don't NECESSARILY state in writing that they do in the product description? maybe its a bit of an amateur question but i'd rather be sure than buy components that don't work together.

example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131022

they all or almost all say "Athlon 64 X2 / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64" but can i throw in the opteron and still have that work?

any thoughts in general on the 1000 series opterons at all?

 

[najames]

I think you're in overkill mode Solus.

An AM2 3600 for about $60 and any board with at least 4 SATA plugs will do fine for a home sever. Just use soft raid and set it all up. I prefer Linux myself but WinXP should do it too.

If you want to splurge, add a lot of cheap RAM, GB LAN between all connections, and it will be fast enough for your needs.

 

[imported_redlotus]

Originally posted by: najames
I think you're in overkill mode Solus.

An AM2 3600 for about $60 and any board with at least 4 SATA plugs will do fine for a home sever. Just use soft raid and set it all up. I prefer Linux myself but WinXP should do it too.

If you want to splurge, add a lot of cheap RAM, GB LAN between all connections, and it will be fast enough for your needs.

I would highly agree with najames. You don't need an Opteron-class proc for a file/ftp server. Get the X2-3600+ and a nForce 590-based mobo. I believe that all of these have dual gig-E network and six SATA ports, which would be perfect for your use.

-red

 

[solus1]

alrighty thanks for the info. a little slap into reality there haha. ok i'll probably go with that option then more than likely, but with that aside the question is still not answered. i'm just curious about it. would it still work?

-solus

 

[solus1]

nm, yeah i took a look at some of the nforce 590 boards. i think i might go for it with low end am2 X2 thanx guys.

-solus

 

[Peter]

Opterons are interesting for a /solid/ fileserver, for their support of ECC DIMMs. Your AM2 board needs to (1) support this feature in the Opterons, and (2) actually run the extra traces for ECC RAM to the DIMM sockets. If the board just recognizes the Opteron in its BIOS and then doesn't use its most important feature, then you can just as well use a plain Athlon.