VP6 for a server?

[SocrPlyr]

I ran into a VP6 set up as the main server (exchange and domain) at a company... (ran into it b/c it was having problems - not windows problems b/c they have rebuilt the harddrives from scratch 4 times now)
Now could you guys give me some input into having the VP6 (w/ p3s) setup with 4x512MB sticks of PC133 set up as a server?
Ex. Reliability, Stableness, Memory problems (correct me if I am wrong but the VIA chipsets at the time had problems w/ multiple banks fille)?

Now what do you think of replacing it with something like a P4 + 865PE/875P combination.
Would you think that would be a better setup?

Thanks for your input,
Josh

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Those four sticks of RAM had better all be ECC.

Replacing the server with a P4 865/875 would obviously be a load faster, but you'll have to get that by the Budget Goons.

- M4H

 

[brian_riendeau]

Two VP6s died at an ISP I worked at. One board last two days and died, never to turn on again. Never did find out what happened to it. The next one was good for about 8 months and then the RAID controller died. The servers were just backups, I would advise against running the board as a main server.

If you are looking for a cheap replacement, I like Intel motherboards (made by Intel) for cheap reliability. Not as pricey as some of the server oriented boards, but they are generally very well built and on the conservative side which helps keep everything running smooth.

 

[SocrPlyr]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Those four sticks of RAM had better all be ECC.

Replacing the server with a P4 865/875 would obviously be a load faster, but you'll have to get that by the Budget Goons.

- M4H

I don't think that the VP6 supports ECC, in any case it isn't ECC RAM.

The budget goons are demanding a system that won't go down like this, so I am sure the money will be there. Actually there are two identical servers one in Ohio and one in NY and the plan is to build 3, having one as a backup that can be put into action very quickly...

 

[SocrPlyr]

bump for goodness

 

[optoman]

I use to have a VP6 and it is a great MB. They do have one big problem. The capacitors on them tend to fail. It seems like a bunch of bad caps were used on the VP6 and they will fail over time. Look at the caps around the cpu area and if they are starting to buldge, then you will have to replace them. I will see if I can dig up a link to fixing the caps.

Edit: Here is the link to fixing the caps.