Need a 955x board that supports Win2003 ?

I am looking for a Mobo w/ Intel's 955x Chipset that supports Windows2003...

I was planning on purchasing this board (Intel BOXD955XBKLKR Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 955X ATX) But it doesn't support Windows2003.

Also I would like the board to have 6+ SATA II ports, I would prefer * or more, but I think I can deal with 6. (If there isn't one with these many SATA ports, thats fine I might just add on a PCI SATA Raid Controller board.

I will be using this for a file/media server, as well as exchange and small personal webserver.

Any suggestions ?

Thanks in advance,
-BassKozz

P5WD2

Its the only MB to consider.

Unfortunatly for you there is no "new" Intel board that supports the older opterating systems such as '03

Sentential said:

Unfortuanly for you theere is no nower intel board that supports the older operating systems

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What?

He wants to run 2k3. Should be fine on this MB.

{PMS}fishy said:

What?

He wants to run 2k3. Should be fine on this MB.

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Windows 2000/XP/2003

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Never mind. I guess he's ok. I know thta 98 and ME arent supported anymore.

{PMS}fishy said:

P5WD2

Its the only MB to consider.

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is this board reliable ?
Are there any other choices ?

I loved the intel board (Intel BOXD955XBKLKR Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 955X ATX) because I read good reviews everywhere about it, and I knew it was a solid board with lots of support (from intel)...

I have never had an ASUS board , nor do I know alot about the company...
It conserns me that when I clicked on the "Manufacturer's Site" link on NewEgg.com it lead to a page that was missing images, and was poorly designed...
Can I trust ASUS as a MB company ?

-BassKozz

BassKozz said:

is this board reliable ?
Are there any other choices ?

I loved the intel board (Intel BOXD955XBKLKR Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 955X ATX) because I read good reviews everywhere about it, and I knew it was a solid board with lots of support (from intel)...

I have never had an ASUS board , nor do I know alot about the company...
It conserns me that when I clicked on the "Manufacturer's Site" link on NewEgg.com it lead to a page that was missing images, and was poorly designed...
Can I trust ASUS as a MB company ?

-BassKozz

Click to expand...

Yes, ASUS makes a great MB, and yes their website is terrible.

As I said, the P5WD2 is the only 955MB that anyone should even bother with. It is hands down the best MB. I'm not even a big ASUS fan, but its hard to deny the speed of this MB.

{PMS}fishy said:

I'm not even a big ASUS fan, but its hard to deny the speed of this MB.

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Fishy,

Thanks for the prompt response...

Would you happen to have any links to reviews of this board ?
Where did you find out about it's speed?

-BassKozz

I am currently using this board, and it is by far the best mobo I've ever owned. Overclocking is the simplest task to be had. Kind of takes the fun out of it

Very stable also, just don't ask questions and BUY!!

PEACE

{PMS}fishy said:

Yes, ASUS makes a great MB, and yes their website is terrible.

As I said, the P5WD2 is the only 955MB that anyone should even bother with. It is hands down the best MB. I'm not even a big ASUS fan, but its hard to deny the speed of this MB.

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They are plentiful and can be found easily on google. I'd link em but there are too many to count.

Is this the best board to get for my purposes:
NOW:
All I am going to run on this server is Win2000 (Stability - Maybe Windows2003), virus scanner, Media serving applications, defrag from time to time. Maybe burn some DVD’s but I might keep that task to my desktop.
FUTURE:
I might setup a Web server and Exchange server.
I might add a tuner card and add PVR (MythTV) capabilites later on down the line, but initially it will just be for data storage and media server.

For Storage and serving files:
With the prices of HD’s dropping it’s time to stock up…
I want a solution to make sure if one drive die’s I will have a back up, as my file server will have very important files & movies, I have never used Raid before so I am a Raid Newb…

I want to run 8 – 400gig SATA HD’s in a Raid 0+1 configuration (1600gigs w/ redundancy backup)… although I am considering using SCSI drives, which should I go with? And is this the right type of raid configuration, or should I use Raid 5?

For the Server’s files & OS:
2 - 200gig IDE drives in a Raid 1 config (200gigs w/ redundancy backup)

p.s. I might only start with 4 400gig’ers and keep upgrading as time goes on, but I don’t see myself going above 8 drives (10 including the IDE drives for OS and Apps)

Suggestions?
Thanks for all the help

{bump}{bump}

An exchange server takes up a good chunk of resources on a computer - do you really need one? or is this simply to experiment?

i think you are going to put too many things on this one server in the future.

Mr.Guvernment said:

An exchange server takes up a good chunk of resources on a computer - do you really need one? or is this simply to experiment?

i think you are going to put too many things on this one server in the future.

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Yah you might be right... I was going to experiment...
Let's say I only use this for File/Media serving purposes, is thisthe best board to go with to use as a server ?

BassKozz said:

Yah you might be right... I was going to experiment...
Let's say I only use this for File/Media serving purposes, is thisthe best board to go with to use as a server ?

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No. Its way overkill for a simple file server.

You don't need a 955x chipset MB for a server, but it does have the 4 SATA ports that support RAID5 which is nice.

You said you needed 8 drives connected anyways, so you will need an external controller anyways.

Maybe find a cheap XEON MB with a PCI-x slot, and stick one XEON in it for now.

fishy,

got any recommendations for a xeon board ???

you're right about the ports, I didn't relize it only had 4 ports, I'd like to have 8 or at least 6 SATA II ports w/ raid 5 capability.

Suggestions ?

BassKozz said:

fishy,

got any recommendations for a xeon board ???

you're right about the ports, I didn't relize it only had 4 ports, I'd like to have 8 or at least 6 SATA II ports w/ raid 5 capability.

Suggestions ?

Click to expand...

Nothing exists with that.

NCCH-DL for a XEON workstation MB, with AGP, DDR, and 2 PCI-x slots.