A Modest Proposal for a Home Server

Alright, I’m dissatisfied with my current computer setup, and am thinking about purchasing myself a desktop/server. To start off, Jeff Atwood has recently spec’d a nice machine for one of his friends. I began with his list, and modified it to suit my tastes.

• COOLER MASTER Real Power Pro 550 RS-550-ACAA-A1 550W ATX12V
  An 80Plus certified power supply, because efficiency is important.
• COOLER MASTER Centurion 590 RC-590-KKN1-GP Black SECC / ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
  A case, purchased in combo with the power supply, that supports a large number of 5.25 drive bays, and places the PSU at the bottom, because the PSU I chose has a 120mm fan on it’s top.
• iStarUSA BPU-340-SA- BLUE 3×5.25″ to 4×3.5″ SATA2.0 Hot-Swap Backplane Raid Cage
  I know, this is splurging a bit, but I’d like to have something convenient to put my RAID in, and this fits the bill.
• Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz
  I decided to get an Intel Core 2 Quad of some kind, and a nice comparison of features from wikipedia helped me decide what features fit me best. I decided that I like to conserve cash and can deal with using slightly older technology. The larger cache size on the Kentsfield models is more important to me than the higher clock rate obtainable on other models (including Core 2 Duo, and Core 2 Solo). I’d like a higher FSB, but, again, I’m really cheap.

  Model Number	Frequency	L2-Cache	Front Side Bus	Mult	Voltage	TDP	Socket	Release Date	Price
  Kentsfield (65nm) supports MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, EIST, x86-64, XD bit, iAMT2, Virtualization, Trusted Execution.
  Core 2 Quad Q6600	2400 MHz	2 x 4096 KiB	1066 MT/s	9x	1.1 — 1.372 V	95 W	LGA 775	Apr 20, 2007	$190
  Core 2 Quad Q6700	2667 MHz	2 x 4096 KiB	1066 MT/s	10x	1.1 — 1.372 V	95 W	LGA 775	Apr 20, 2007	$270 (or $198 Open Box)
  Yorksfield-4M (45nm) supports MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, EIST, x86-64, XD bit, iAMT2.
  Core 2 Quad Q8200	2333 MHz	2 x 2048 KiB	1333 MT/s	7x	0.85V x 1.3625 V	95 W	LGA 775	August 31, 2008	$225
  Yorksfield-6M (45nm) supports MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, EIST, x86-64, XD bit, iAMT2, Virtualization, Trusted Execution
  Core 2 Quad Q9300	2500 MHz	2 x 3072 KiB	1333 MT/s	7.5x	0.85 x 1.3625 V	95 W	LGA 775	March 10, 2008	$260
  Core 2 Quad Q9400	2667 MHz	2 x 3072 KiB	1333 MT/s	8x	0.85 x 1.3625 V	95 W	LGA 775	August 10, 2008	$270

  The rest of the processors start getting to expensive for me to even consider.

• A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
  I noticed that this RAM can be purchased in combo with the chosen processor above. It has decent reviews, and unlike Jeff’s chosen memory, this model has a heat spreader.
• Scythe SCMNJ-1000 80mm Sleeve “NINJA MINI” CPU Cooler
  Even though our CPU came with a cooling block, it’s best to buy a better one. I opted not to go for the Scythe SCNJ-2000 because I’m worried that it’s sheer bulk and weight might cause undue stress on the motherboard.
• SAPPHIRE 100236L Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP
  Since all I really do is surf the net and write programs, I like to have a dual-monitor setup. I also like to watch movies, and maybe want to run Compiz/Beryl, so I still need that 3d acceleration. It was a bitch to find a card that I think has a reasonable chance of working under GNU/Linux. If this one doesn’t work I’ll kick myself for not getting the Sapphire HD2600XT (I’m more certain it works under GNU/Linux).
• MSI P7N SLI-FI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
  I now need a motherboard that has a PCI-E 2.0 16x slot, 775 Intel socket with 1066MHz FSB and support for DDR2 800 RAM. I’m also looking for at least 6 SATA 3.0GBit connectors for a (software) RAID, and the presence of black, gold, and green audio out connectors for my existing speaker set. Using Newegg’s Power Search for motherboards with these features, I discovered that these requirements have overconstrained my system, I’ve therefore had to settle for only 4 SATA connectors, and a more expensive board than I’d originally hoped for.

In summary my new system spec’s look like this:

And even with some extras (like that Raid house, and the computer case) I still beat the price of Atwood’s machine. Although, I have leftout a DVD burner and Hard Drive, because I already have them.

Addendum: If I were willing to go with a more expensive chip (Core 2 Quad Q8200) I could get a cheaper (yet more capable) motherboard: the ASRock P43Twins1600 LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard for $70. This changes the subtotal to $690 and the total to $680. An interesting savings! Actually, that board supports the older chips, so I don’t have to forgo my large 4MB cache.

Something that I will have to look out for next machine I get: Error Correcting Code in memory. 4GB is probably the limit for not having ECC.