So my server just died the other day :'( After some inspections and what felt tile hours watching the MemoryOK led refusing to change its red color (have tried with different memory modules) I've decided to make a new build.
I've already got an "enterprise graded" harddrive for the system disk that I was planning to replace the old one with before it died, but the rest of the system cracked before I had a chance to, so there is no need for drives.
I have a bit more of a budget now than when I did the old build, so I would like to get some higher quality components this time around, something that has the potential to last running 24/7 for a couple of years. I am astounded that the old build lasted for two years of continuous running, even though the last months has been one hiccup after the other, hence the brand new hard drive.
So what route should I go? I would like to know where I can save some money and where I shouldn't cut any corners and put some extra cash to get stability/stamina in the system.
AMD or Intel?
Server components (Xeon/Opteron with ECC) or save some with high quality desktop components?
In my experience ECC doesn't provide much safety compared to the price, so there seems to be a lot of savings here if I could skip that. ECC also limits the choices for CPU and motherboard.
Depending on above answers should I reuse the old memory sticks or buy a new kit just in case?
I know from the build videos that I should not be cheap when it comes to the PSU.
I've been browsing around different online stores and looked at prebuilt servers and they are both a bit pricy but mostly has a lack of harddrive space, I need roob for at least Six SATA drives.
Besides I've got plenty of cases to build in at home already.
Any guidance would be much appreciated!
And again; I am not going for a speed monster, I want something stable with high stamina within reasonable budget.
I am located in Sweden.
/Bobby
So with almost no research I quickly threw this shopping list together:
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1270 V3 LGA1150,
Quad Core, 3.5GHz, 8MB, 80W, Haswell, Boxed w/fan
Motherboard: ASUS P9D WS, Socket-1150
ATX, C226, DDR3, 4xPCIe-x16, CFX, 2xGbLAN, Quick Gate, GP-Diag card, Haswell
Memory: Kingston DDR3 1333MHz 16GB ECC KIT
2x8GB 1333MHz DDR3 ECC CL9 DIMM
PSU: Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 550W PSU
ATX 12V V2.3, 80 Plus Gold, Standard, 2x 6+2pin PCIe, 6x SATA, 3x Molex, 1x FD
Comments/Discussion/Alternatives highly appreciated!
Another example shopping list that I'm thinking about:
CPU:
AMD FX-8350 8-Core Processor
Socket-AM3+, 4.0Ghz, 125W, 8MB L2 + 8MB L3 Cache, 32nm, Black Edition
Motherboard:
ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0, Socket-AM3+
ATX, 990FX+SB950, DDR3, 4xG2-PCIe-x16, CFX/SLI, SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.0, UEFI
Memory:
Kingston DDR3 1600MHz 16GB ECC
16GB 1600MHz DDR3 ECC Reg CL11 DIMM DR x4 w/TS Intel
PSU:
Corsair HX 650W PSU
ATX 12V V2.31, 80 Plus Gold, Modular, 2x 6+2-pin PCIe, 8x SATA, 4x Molex
The mentioning of Intel on the memory and the fact that it seems to be only one stick makes me a bit nervous.
Comments/Discussion/Alternatives highly appreciated!
After some consultation with friends my order ended up like this:
- AMD FX-8350 BE 8-CORE 4GHZ 16MB SOCKET AM3+ BOX
- KINGSTON 32GB 1600MHZ DDR3 ECC CL11 DIMM I 4X8G
- ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 AM3+ ATX
- CORSAIR RM SERIES 750W GOLD MODULAR PSU
So I'll continue to talk to myself on this thread, but in case anyone browses by I though I'd give a report on how the build has gone.
The memory hasn't arrived yet, AMD is picky about the type of ECC it can handle and all the stores I usually buy at didn't have it in stock. But I found 8GB non ECC in a drawer that I'm using in the mean time.
One major mistake I did was that I failed to realize that the motherboard didn't have a built in graphics card. After a few hours of frustration I found a Nvidia Quatro in an old workstation.
Finally armed with a DVI port I started installing Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, mostly because I'm lazy and don't want to be forced to run dist-upgrade too often. But that gave me the next bump in the road. It turns out that the 3.2 kernel in Ubuntu 12.04 has a bug so it can't handle the frame buffer on Nvidia cards, it took a couple of hours together with a friend to find out the reason why I got a black screen all the time during install. The 3.8 kernel in Ubuntu 13.04 has a fix for it so that installed without any problems.