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Advice on an AMD Dual server?

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Full Beagle

Registered
Joined
May 1, 2003
Hi guys,

I am considering building a server for my home LAN. It will be used as a domain controller, print server, file server, and gaming server. Because I want it to be stable, I do not plan to overclock it. I do, however, want it to be very fast, particularly when serving up UT2003. I plan to use high-end air cooling. I already have a Chenbro Genie case with an Enermax EG465 431w PSU. and I will be using Windows 2000 Server for the OS.

I was considering the MSI K7DMaster-L, having heard good things about its performance. I planned to run dual MP2200s with 1 GB of RAM. What I would like to know is what else should I consider? What type of drive array? Should I use an IDE RAID controller? If so, how to configure? What other recommendations can you make regarding setup?

Lastly, I intend to use this server on occasion to host LAN parties, so any advice regarding other equipment I should consider would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
You might consider getting a RAID controller and going RAID 0+1 for speed and redundancy, but a server like you're talking about could service a small office already. Probably overkill, depending on how many people you're planning on having on your network, but definitely more than enough for a decent sized LAN party.
 
MP2200's might be overkill. You may want to consider dual XP1700's, modded. You can run them at XP2000 speed at default voltage (or very close to it) and the system will be rock stable and fast.

For memory, I would suggest Samsung Registered ECC PC2700. It's overkill if you're going to be running at default FSB, but it's cheaper than Crucial Registered ECC PC2100, which is the only other brand I would recommend.

For game serving and such, I would suggest 1GB of RAM.

If you want to do IDE RAID 0 or 1 or 0+1, then I have two suggestions. I have used both. The Highpoint RocketRAID133 is a good two channel IDE card. It is 66 MHz/32 bit. The Highpoint 404 is a good four channel IDE RAID card. It is 33 MHz/32 bit, but it is compatible with 66 MHz PCI slots. Any disk controller you want to use in an AMD dually needs to run in a 66 MHz PCI slot. The 33MHz PCI bus has a latency issue that kills effective bandwidth. It doesn't hurt expansion cards, like soundcards, or NICs, or modems, but it will hurt disk performance considerably.

RAID0 would be a good idea for you. Two channel IDE is probably enough. The WD JB drives or IBM 120 GXP drives are great in RAID0 and fairly quiet, too. (A RAID stipe size of 32K has been the best performance for me on the previously mentioned disk controllers and hard drives.)

For heatsinks, I suggest either SLK-800's or SK-7's. Both work wonderfully, even with lower speed/noise fans.
 
I was thinking of using the Promise TX4000 four channel card with four WD120JBs in 0+1. I think the mirror is important to have and the 8mb cache of the WD drives appeals to me from a speed standpoint. Is there a better controller card to consider instead?

Also... I would have to mod the XPs to get them to work in SMP... Remember, I want stability first which I why I suggested the MP2200s.
 
TX4000 is plenty nice (and expensive, may I add). Would be a better choice than the RocketRAID133 if $$$ is not an object, IMHO.
 
I was looking at the promise cards because they were 66MHz cards, unlike the RocketRAID133. As for the cost, the $35 difference isn't going to kill me. I am more concerned with performance, especially under heavy use.

Also, should I consider mounting a drive on IDE-0 for the OS or does that defeat the purpose of the drive array?
 
For what it's worth, the RocketRAID133 is 66 MHz. The RocketRAID404 is 33 MHz, but 66 MHz PCI slot compatible.

Yes, if you're going to use RAID 0, then put your OS on it, too. Use your onboard IDE for CD-ROMS and stuff.
 
I was using the description at Newegg...I guess it was bad info. :( The support site at High Point lists (in small type) 33/66 Mhz.

Any other suggestions?
 
I still say go with the TX4000. IIRC this card supports hardware RAID 5. RAID 5 is the way to go. Best combination of speed and stability.
 
Since he is just building a home/game server, I think RAID 5 is overkill. Four drives in RAID 5 will yield about the same performance as two drives in RAID 0.

Since he's not going to be overclocking to the moon, or even bumping the FSB, I think RAID 0 would be perfectly stable enough. Be aware that most multi-channel IDE RAID cards get a lot of benefit from two drives in RAID 0, but every drive after that has a less-pronounced performance benefit. (3 is just barely better than two and 4 is just barely better than 3.)

I have two AMD duallies built on the K7D Master. Both are running RAID 0 for almost a year, now, with no troubles, even though I run at 150 FSB, sometimes.

My two cents...
 
SickBoy said:
I still say go with the TX4000. IIRC this card supports hardware RAID 5. RAID 5 is the way to go. Best combination of speed and stability.

Where do you see that? The Promise website only lists 0, 1, 0/1 for the TX. The SX will do Hardware RAID 5 but for his purposes that really is overkill. Striped (0) and Mirrored (1) will give great performance and still protect the dataset.

My $0.02.

N_D
 
If you have money to burn... Get a few SATA raptor drives and put them in a raid 0+1. I hear they are faster than scsi in some benchmarks... Nice avatar btw.


*thread jack*... Is there a big difference between promis and highpoint controllers?
 
My bad. I thought I had looked at the specs for this card at some point a while back and seen that. I'm just confused and tired..... ;)
 
About a motherboard, i'm going to suggest motherboards by tyan. I've got a tyan thunder k7x (s2468), and its rock solid. I also use this a server sometimes to boot in redhat linux, and so far, i haven't been able to crash it. For system info, look in my spec. If your not looking for overclocking (this mobo dosen't support it), then i recommend you tyan, particularly the thunder series (which are more server orientated).
 
wheatbix said:
About a motherboard, i'm going to suggest motherboards by tyan. I've got a tyan thunder k7x (s2468), and its rock solid. I also use this a server sometimes to boot in redhat linux, and so far, i haven't been able to crash it. For system info, look in my spec. If your not looking for overclocking (this mobo dosen't support it), then i recommend you tyan, particularly the thunder series (which are more server orientated).

If I recall from the server we built for the forums, the Tyan boards require a special power supply connector, do they not?

N_D
 
Newbie_Doo said:


If I recall from the server we built for the forums, the Tyan boards require a special power supply connector, do they not?

N_D

You mean the 12v extra PSU connector?
 
Thanks for the great information guys. Now I just need to pull together the budget to make it happen.

Cheers! :beer:
 
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