Looking for a low cost server..

[[GSV]Trig]

Looking for 12Gb RAM.
CPU's not hugely important.
Drive wise it needs two arrays, mirrored for OS and then another array for SQL, preferably on an actual card not chipset pretend RAID..

Will be running SBS2008 Standard x64 and SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition..

[dave87]

Dell Poweredge?

Does it need to be rack mounted or in tower form?

[[GSV]Trig]

Tower really at the budget end really, rack would be nice but would rather spend on spec rather than rackmountability, is that even a word....

[dave87]

Poweredge 410 seems to do what you want, though they are charging big bucks to upgrade to 12gb ram & sufficient hard drives for what you mention.

What's the budget?

[[GSV]Trig]

No set cost but dont want it to spiral out of control..

[kingpotnoodle]

Poweredge 410 seems to do what you want, though they are charging big bucks to upgrade to 12gb ram & sufficient hard drives for what you mention.

What's the budget?

Good units though, bought a couple of the rack versions for the office recently and they are well designed and expandable kit.

[[GSV]Trig]

Specced up a 410, just over 2k + vat

[mycarsavw]

...is that good or bad?

[[GSV]Trig]

Its a pretty good box, tweaking it a bit and got it to about £1800 now..

[mycarsavw]

If you have a Dell account (possibly if you don't too) ring up, tell them what you want and then tell them you really don't want to pay that much.

He whined about how his finance manager was two floors away etc, etc but I said I have no problems waiting while he went to check. I managed to get free delivery (-£20) and a round price (£500 all in rather than £536.xx).

Haggle

[[GSV]Trig]

Also looking at the HP ML350 G6, leaning more towards the HP at the mo as got an account with the supplier..

[LaxBlade]

ebuyer.com is the best hunting ground for a low cost server...

Buy a decent i3 Desktop on offer at £299 (Bargain) then change the 500GB to 2TB via whatever array you think is best...

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/189011

Good-luck... Lax,

[dave87]

Lax - somehow I don't think an i3 budget desktop will have the resillience required.

Especially not if the competition is some very good HP & Dell servers, and this is for a business.

[LaxBlade]

Lax - somehow I don't think an i3 budget desktop will have the resillience required.

Especially not if the competition is some very good HP & Dell servers, and this is for a business.

Listen man use some imagination???

an Core i3 is a Dual Core with Hyperthreading, this particular model comes with a board that will allow a 4Ghz o/c - ok...

now its cheap because it has no OS - so the user can istall whatever he likes..

now if you know how a server works - you will be aware all you need is a beefy Core i3 and Plenty of memory, +Plus hard disc and 2008 OS server...

now am I allowed to have an opinion? hope so dave....

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/189011

[abaxas]

Ermm..

The op wanted a server to do some work, not a frankencomputer made by blue peter.

[dave87]

now if you know how a server works - you will be aware all you need is a beefy Core i3 and Plenty of memory, +Plus hard disc and 2008 OS server...

Thanks, I do. Running a large educational network with a number of 2003 and 2000 servers gave me plenty of experience of that.

Especially, what happens when you have a server that decides to give up the ghost in the middle of a working day, and plays havoc with the running of the network (3 domain controllers + exchange + some other fun kit). It is then that you thank your lucky stars for the onsite warranty offered (4 hour iirc) with the products we purchased. This is where the difference between home computer and server grade hardware becomes apparent, especially if you are running them 24/7 with some dependability (which in such a scenario I would not be wanting to rely upon an overclocked CPU!).

On top of that, you've failed to take into account the potential need for ECC memory, a RAID controller suitable for RAID5 (which most desktops will not do in hardware) and potentially the ability to hot swap drives (to minimise downtime).

So yes, whilst for my home network server I would consider (and am building) a decent intel based desktop machine, I don't believe this is what is called for in this situation.

As to having an opinion, yes, you are allowed, but by the same token, I am allowed to disagree with you.