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First time posting here. Need info.

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ati

Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2004
This is my firsttime posting in the SMP. I was wondering if someone can set me up a dual cpu computer/server. I want nothing over 300$. I was thinking 2 cheap P2 Xeons (9$ here). Are P3 Xeons cheap? If not then can normal P3's say 2 933mhz's run in smp? I want to just experiment and run a cs server on these. So i think the P3 is the better choice. So can someone show me some mobo and cpu combinations?
 
For a P3 setup, Check ebay. You should be able to find a whole P3 computer setup there.
 
Ebay is a good place to find things, also, geeks.com has a lot of used and refurbished parts, they are basically a discount outlet for geeks. I picked up an Acorp 6A815EPD mobo form them for 25 bucks and it supports dual Socket 370 P3s on an intel chipset that wasn't supposed to allow for duals. An old but good roundup of parts is here.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=1522

I'm running 2 PIII 800EB on the Acorp board, back when I built it, the CPUs were 80 bucks a piece, damn Intels stay pricey forever, but now they are on the cheap though.

If you want to go dinosaur, look for an Abit BP6 and run some dual celerons. Even more dinosaur would be to get a dual/quad pentium pro board and throw some 200mhz ppros in there, which is cool if you can find the 1MB cache chips. But make no mistake about it, a comp like this will be slowwwwww.

If you have the $$ and/or patience, I would look for some old AMD dual MP boards, like a Tyan s2460 or something. You can run normal socket A XP, duron or T-bird CPUs in a dual config, with some slight modding (closing the L5 bridge if it is cut, some old ones weren't). The catch is those AMD dually boards usually need Registered RAM, which is more expensive, and a good power supply that devlivers enough current on the right rails. But, they are way better than dual P3s.

While P2 and P3 xeons may be cheap CPUS, the problem is finding a cheap board that supports them, and then finding VRM modules to throw into the mix. You may be able to pull off a cheap dual xeon rig, but dual P3s are gonna get ya better price/performance, and AMD will top that. The only reason to get P2 or P3 Xeons is for Quad or Octal systems because P3 Pentiums are dual-capable, but not quad-capable.

But honestly, I would keep my eyes on geeks.com and ebay if I were you. A good deal will come along eventually.
 
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I was looking to get a server to recently, just to mess around with and learn about the different technology on.

I ended up picking one up on ebay. I spent about $300 for everything, including shipping and got the following rig(well will arrive next week anyway):
Dual P3 @ 600Mhz
1Gb RAM
4 - 9Gb SCSI HDs

I noticed planty of other similiar computers on there that you could get for about the same money. Also I upgraded mine a bit by buying some more RAM and some extra HDs. The server alone with 256Mb RAM and 2 9Gb Hds was like $200.
 
So i can just look for 2 P3's then a dual s370 mobo?
 
ErikD said:
I was looking to get a server to recently, just to mess around with and learn about the different technology on.

I ended up picking one up on ebay. I spent about $300 for everything, including shipping and got the following rig(well will arrive next week anyway):
Dual P3 @ 600Mhz
1Gb RAM
4 - 9Gb SCSI HDs


You got ripped off I think. I just build the server rig in my sig.

CPU's $121
Mobo $123
Ram $24
HDD's Had then but lets jsut say 80 buck to go get a 160 gig of the shelf somewere after rebates
OS I had but proably woulda been$100
Case $50
PSU $25

Total cost
$ 343

Total cost (if I had to buy HDD and OS)
$523

just my $.02

Shelnutt2
 
I think I did ok, not a super deal though. It is a true production server with redundant power supplies, and hot swappable HDs, etc. Also the MB required ECC RAM also bumping the price up a bit.

Also shipping was a killer due to the weight. I suppose I could have built something better and cheaper, and probably will at some point. At the moment thoug I was just looking for somehting quick and cheap to get started with.
 
ErikD said:
I think I did ok, not a super deal though. It is a true production server with redundant power supplies, and hot swappable HDs, etc. Also the MB required ECC RAM also bumping the price up a bit.

Also shipping was a killer due to the weight. I suppose I could have built something better and cheaper, and probably will at some point. At the moment thoug I was just looking for somehting quick and cheap to get started with.


Your right, you did suit your needs and shipping probaly was a real killer.


What I didn't mintion was how I ahd to RMA my mobo for 3 weeks....and then had to wait a week for ram after that.
 
So i can just pick out any P3 of the same speed and a mobo right? What about this ECC ram thing? What is it and do i need it?
 
ati said:
So i can just pick out any P3 of the same speed and a mobo right? What about this ECC ram thing? What is it and do i need it?

As far as ECC RAM goes it depends on the mobo you pick out. Just check the specs and it will tell you what type and amount of RAM it can handle. ECC is error correcting RAM, it is more expensive than regular RAM and required by some mobo's.

As for the CPUs I am not real certain myself, but believe that the closer they are in number the better. So ideally you would have two consecutive CPUs in the PC.

Shelnutt2,

Yeah, it really depends on what your goal is. If you have the time then it is possible to get a better computer for less money. If you want something quick and dirty you will be paying for it.
 
If you need ECC ram and its DDR ECC ram, check the classified. I know I've gto ram on sale there and there's a ton of there ram on sale too.
 
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