What is the difference between a Server and a Desktop computer?

What is a Server used for.

this forum that you are seeing, its hosted on a server
games that you play online, are hosted on servers
the internet wouldnt be what it is today without servers
they are dedicated machines designed to perform a specific task..but not really useful as a desktop machine
sometimes they are specialized processors, ram and motherboards

oh ok cool thanks.

A server is quite simply a system that provides services to other systems (files, resources, software, etc.).

Jon said:

A server is quite simply a system that provides services to other systems (files, resources, software, etc.).

Click to expand...

what he said...more simple and to the point

Jon said:

A server is quite simply a system that provides services to other systems (files, resources, software, etc.).

Click to expand...

And people like IBM or HP will put components that have redundancy and tighter tolerances to them inside a server.
ie desktop psu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341002
server psu
http://www.zippy.com/P_product_deta...U Redundant&pcpw_rfnbr=5&pp_code=M1L2-5650P3V

Not all servers have redundancy, a desktop pc could be used as a server, depends how important its job is.

just to expand on things, servers generally cost more and have more expensive parts because of the need for reliability and for higher demand. Desktop computers are generally limited to a single user that does not use it 24/7, so their parts can be "cheaper" since they do not need to be as dependable. For home use, it is ok to take a desktop computer and devote it to "server use" where it simply serves up web pages or media files, since it is still only going to be accessed infrequently and by a minimal amount of people.

The expensive servers need to serve up data quickly and reliably, so a lot of the cost is making sure that if something breaks, it doesn't take out your data and it might only cause a small blip in service.