I want to build a Linux server from parts I assemble so I become more familiar with small computer gear.
My design goals are:
- easy to work on (roomy enough for easy changes, thumb levers/screws where possible)
- affordable/cheap ($600 or less)
- powerful enough to run RedHat Enterprise Server 5, Xen 3 virtualization, OpenSUSE 11 and server applications (bind, nfs, apache, etc)
- have at least two CPU cores, and offer x86-64 (Xen/Suse/Redhat)
- able to address 2+ GB of memory
- house two 120+ GB drives
- quiet, cool, and use as little power as possible even while running full load
- being fan-less is a huge bonus for both low energy use and quiet, though a quiet fan is ok
We are mostly going to explore server software configurations, train ourselves on Xen, RedHat, SuSE, etc. We’ll be standing up various network services (bind, nfs, nis+, apache, java, rails, tomcat, jboss, postgress, mysql, php) and testing them.
I am looking at full sized ATX cases and motherboard simply for the easy of assemble and easy of cooling aspects, but if there are smaller boards/cases I should look at that are easy to work on I am interested.
I am looking at motherboards with integrated graphics because I see no need for custom high end graphics cards to do Linux server testing. The only graphics will be to drive the silly GUI configuration tools for Linux.
What CPU and motherboard combinations would you recommend?
I like the thought of very low power computing (Intel Atom 230, Via Nano, older AMD Athlon 2000+) but fear that the costs and flexibility will be severely reduced. Whatever Core 2 Duo is powering the Apple Mac Mini is probably plenty of computing power, and still runs in low enough electrical power.
Possible combinations:
- GigaByte GA-MA78G-DS3H (ATX) and AMD Athlon X2 4850e
- GigaByte GA-965P-DS3 (ATX) and Core 2 Duo (which processor?)
- ASUS P5Q SE/R (ATX) and Core 2 Duo E7200
- ASUS M2A-VM (microATX) with AMD A64 X2 4050E 2.1Ghz dual core – 45 Watts
- GigaByte GA-G31M-S2L (microATX) with Intel E7200
Post a Comment