Windows Home Server / encoding PC

[Jay]

I know that I won't see all 4GB but depending on how Home Server goes I may actually stick a RAID Card in and make this my VMWare box

I already have one of these



420W Tagan 2Force PSU and 3 x 500GB Samsung Spinpoints

What do people think? Any advice, anything you would change?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would get the Phenom II X3 710 instead of the Phenom X4 9650. The Phenom II X3 looses one core when compared to the Phenom X4 but the updated architechure is at least 5% faster clock for clock and is clocked 300mhz higher in the first place meaning it will be faster in most applications. Also the idle and peak power consumption will be improved as the Phenom II X4 710 is a 45nm processor and the Phenom X4 9650 is a 65nm processor.

Phenom II X3 710:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=965905

I would probably go for the following motherboard as it has the improved SB700 southbridge:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...RAID-Micro-ATX

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/...ProductID=2813

This motherboard is even better for the price:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152752

I would also check Scan Today Only as some items like AMD CPUs,RAM and motherboards were on offer yesterday.

[Singh400]

Nice build. Becareful with that IcyBox, I had the same plan but because of the extra fan on the back off the IcyBox it wouldn't fit correctly into my case.

[Jay]

[b0redom]

Since the last time I looked, VMWare have reduced the price of ESXi server to £0. Given that, why not run that, and have WHS etc sitting on top? That way you'd at least get the use out of your RAM.

[Jay]

I have tried to get WHS running on my current ESXi server but it will not install correctly.... I think I could get it to work if I messed about for a few hours. Also the OEM COA does not allow your to run it on ESXi

[Jay]

will this board be ok with that CPU?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

will this board be ok with that CPU?

The CPU will run in the Gigabyte motherboard but the HT speed will be reduced though(not the CPU frequency though) according to the compatibility list. The other motherboard should be able to run the HT at full speed as so will any of the 760G,780V,780G,8200 and 8300 based motherboards.

[DanceswithUnix]

I recently bought that RAM for 8 pounds less from ebuyer as well.

[Singh400]

Just a random thought. Do you really need an optical drive? I mean you can rip one out of your other PCs to install Windows Home Server and then return it back to the orginal PC.

It would save you some £££'s as well as freeing up an additional SATA connector.

[Jay]

I used my spare in my g/f PC and its not really fair taking her PC apart because I need a DVD drive, plus they are always handy to have.

[Jay]

I have decided to buy the board from eBuyer

[neonplanet40]

Tbh 4GB of ram is overkill for a WHS. As you can see in my Sig i have 2GB and it is more than enough.

I also think3 cores is overkill. A core 2 duo would be fine for a WHS. I have never noticed any slowdown in mine.

All in thought it looks like a nice system! Drop the optical drive though. You'll only end up pulling it out to fit in more HDD's lol Thats what i done anyway!! A discrete g-card could always be an option as well.

Mark

[Funkstar]

If 3 cores and 4GB is overkill then surely there is no point in discrete graphics in a WHS box?!?

The third core could make the box more responsive is it is being used for encoding as well. For all the cost I would stick with 4GB personally.

And as Jay said, ripping appart a PC just for a DVD for the sake of £10 is a bit of a waste of time.

[neonplanet40]

Lol i only ever got it to connect a monitor too during installation. But my point was that the extra money he is spending on the ram and cpu could buy him a cheap gcard which is always handy to have about!! My own preference really.

EDIT: I also forgot to say, spend more money on a primary HDD. The one which you will install WHS onto. I think an enterprise drive or black edition WD is the way to go. The reason being is that if that drive fails it is extremely hard to save your system and all your other files due to the drive extender technology. At the minute there is no way to back up the primary drive. I installed my system on the samsung 500GB and have had a few of them die on me. So im just afraid my system drive will go the same way. You could of course be fine with it but if i could go back now i would have spent more money on that one drive.

Mark

[Singh400]

If 3 cores and 4GB is overkill then surely there is no point in discrete graphics in a WHS box?!?

The third core could make the box more responsive is it is being used for encoding as well. For all the cost I would stick with 4GB personally.

And as Jay said, ripping appart a PC just for a DVD for the sake of £10 is a bit of a waste of time.

It takes like 2 mins to rip out an optical drive.

A little longer on my 1200 due to the cages I have to unscrew aswell.