Opinions

[MYstIC G]

Been thinking for a while now about getting a cheapy cheapy shuttle which I would be able to bung into one of the end sections of my desk sans monitor, keyboard, etc and use as a server.

Was just wandering over some of the usual hardware sites as it were & started playing around on MicroDirect and came up with the following

£99.00 - Shuttle Barebone System SK41G SktA [AMD] Mini Aluminum
£40.00 - AMD ATHLON CPU XP 2000 (266) OEM
£23.00 - Memory 256MB DDR PC2100 RAM
£60.00 - Maxtor 120GB 7200RPM 8MB CACHE

Total: £222.00 + VAT = £260.85

I've got CD-Rom's that I can nick from elsewhere, etc. But I'd like some opinions & to make sure that I'm not missing something glaringly obvious (like if any of these components won't work together, though from reading stuff, more stuff & other stuff I believe they should co-exist.

So, opinions please on whether this will do for something that will essentially be utalised in storing crap that does not have a place to be stored elsewhere.

Oh & am I right in that the shuttle takes care of the CPU cooling, as that is my current understanding. (Not a huge problem if it doesn't as the variation in processor with & without fan is like £4).

Ta
Rob

 

[Will]

Looks fine, and the Shuttle comes with a heatpipe system so no need for a heatsink.

I think you may have just speced my girlfriends new PC for me.

 

[MYstIC G]

Invoice

Will (Moderator)
The Barrysworld Forums
T3h 1nt3rwEb!

Provision of 1 x Specification of girlfriends pc. Total now due: 1 x Pint at Barrybeer

Ta dude, think I might just have to melt the plastic a little when I get home now then (after a bit more effort hunting price wise of course).

 

[Mr.Monkey]

Just a quick comment on using AMD's as servers:

Depending on what things you will be running, intel is better at running several tasks at once (especially games), resulting in less lag. Intel also deals better with heat, so is more stable in the tiny confines of the shuttle.

But then if it's just going to run edonkey all day, ignore this post.

 

[Clowneh!]

I'd imagine they would run edonkey better too.

 

[Mr.Monkey]

Dunno, my only experience with the amd Vs intel is on game servers.

You prolly wouldn't care to much if your edonkey server crashed now and then.

 

[Will]

Funnily enough, my Athlon XP server never has any problems.

Maybe the reason could be the OS (FreeBSD) rather than the hardware.

 

[Xavier]

Which OS are you planning on running MYstIC G?

Just a word of warning, as after setting up the technation mail server to run Windows 2003 server & Exchange 2003 on the intel SB52G2 - half a gig of RAM wasn't enough, 1Gb ended up being chucked in just to stop the harddiscs whirring because of all the virtual memory in use, so you might want a shave over 256Mb...

Quite spinky now it's done tho, 3Ghz hyperthreading jobbie with 1GB DDR333 and 4x120Gb drives sits on the shelf in my office and whirrs away quietly - with all those drives and a small blower fan we've not needed to turn the heating on since the summer

Xav

 

[Will]

Originally posted by Xavier
Which OS are you planning on running MYstIC G?

Just a word of warning, as after setting up the technation mail server to run Windows 2003 server & Exchange 2003 on the intel SB52G2 - half a gig of RAM wasn't enough, 1Gb ended up being chucked in just to stop the harddiscs whirring because of all the virtual memory in use, so you might want a shave over 256Mb...

Quite spinky now it's done tho, 3Ghz hyperthreading jobbie with 1GB DDR333 and 4x120Gb drives sits on the shelf in my office and whirrs away quietly - with all those drives and a small blower fan we've not needed to turn the heating on since the summer

Xav

I think I have located the problem you were having.

 

[lovedaddy]

Originally posted by Will
Funnily enough, my Athlon XP server never has any problems.

Maybe the reason could be the OS (FreeBSD) rather than the hardware.

Yep, I've got a 4 terra server at work thats controlled by a duel MP athlon box. Sometime this month (I forget when, its been so long), it will have 1 year uptime.

Thats *nix for you =)

 

[Ch3tan]

The G case is ugly though. Spend a little extra for somehting that looks a bit more shiney

 

[xane]

A note about the CD drive as well, I have a few "servers", one is my router/firewall and another is my KaZaa sandbox machine, neither has a CD drive as I removed it after the initial install, and I can use the LAN to install everything else.

So, basiclly, I wouldn't bother with one

 

[MYstIC G]

Originally posted by Ch3tan
The G case is ugly though. Spend a little extra for somehting that looks a bit more shiney

Granted it is ugly but there's no point in cash for looks, the plan will be for it to sit on a shelf without the need to be maintained & get very very dusty. On the OS front I'm still with *nix / BSD, all my domains are hosted so I've no need to run dedicated mail servers & the like. It's basically going to be a box I can leave running that doesn't whore electricity & create vast amounts of noise which I can remotely access & grab stuff from or dump stuff to (i.e. it'd be there so my current box gets turned off). But that's getting ahead a bit ahead of myself, still have to decide on whether or not to buy the blighter first

 

[MYstIC G]

Product Code     Description                                  Order Qty
---------------- -------------------------------------------- ---------
BARSHUSK41G      Shuttle SK41G SktA Mini Aluminium            1.00
                 Barebone system c/w VIA KM266 DDR            
                 m/b + AGP slot +LAN +6ch. audio              
CPUXP.2000*      AMD Athlon XP 2000 (266MHz) oem              1.00
MEM256MBPC2100   256MB DDR PC2100 RAM (major brand)           1.00
HAR160MAXSA72    160 GB Maxtor Serial ATA 7200rpm             1.00
                 8MB cache HDD                                
                 DELIVERY CHARGE                              1.00
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Order Value - 286.12

Ordered (but with 160GB hdd instead because I'm a greedy disk space whoring bastard)

Looks like I'll not be bothering with an "uber spinky" one this time C

 

[FatBusinessman]

Originally posted by Will
I think I have located the problem you were having.

*agrees*

 

[wyrd_fish]

Originally posted by xane
A note about the CD drive as well, I have a few "servers", one is my router/firewall and another is my KaZaa sandbox machine, neither has a CD drive as I removed it after the initial install, and I can use the LAN to install everything else.

So, basiclly, I wouldn't bother with one

but for the sake of £20 you may as well...


have you considered mandrake linux, i used to use it it was great, i think we're on smoothwall atm, though...

 

[(Shovel)]

Wyrd_Fish: Is Mandrake not more of a "user friendly" distro though? Probably a bit of a waste for a server I'd have though

 

[wyrd_fish]

its very customisable, when you install ttheres quite a list to choose from, everything from a complete workstation to just a barbones server can be created...

and i know i'd rather have a desktop to fiddel with if somthing broke than a cmd line

 

[MYstIC G]

Originally posted by wyrd_fish
and i know i'd rather have a desktop to fiddel with if somthing broke than a cmd line

post-DOS era user alert

 

[wyrd_fish]

damn straight!

*mumbles about cmd lines*


i can use them, slowly, but they drive me mad

EDIT: your only 5 years older than me... humm thats decades in computer land...

speacking of DOS, does anyone remember GOAL, it rocked, watching all your little players represented by 0s running around... happy days...

 

[lovedaddy]

I'd probably suggest Slackware for a nice Unix like Linux. Very stripped down, very secure and fast. However, package management isn't the best on Slackware, so get really to be compiling from source if you dont get it right on install. Great for servers. www.slackware.com

The other distro I'm getting very fond of is Gentoo. www.gentoo.org Again, you compile from source, but its got a package system that calculates dependancies and automatically downloads them during the process of installing the package.

 

[FatBusinessman]

Originally posted by wyrd_fish
and i know i'd rather have a desktop to fiddel with if somthing broke than a cmd line

Only one problem with this - the first thing that breaks is usually the desktop system

 

[wyrd_fish]

and thats what clean installs are for...

 

[Cyfr]

Soooo.. while we are at it, is there any point in a home user having a server? Me and my dad use two pc's, internet is through mine..

 

[Will]

As a good rule of thumb, if you don't know what you would be able to use a server for, you don't need one.

 

[lovedaddy]

Hopefully tonight the last few parts for my server should arrive, and I can atlast have my terra storage in the house =)

Raid5 IDE storage
Raid1 Scsi OS (probably gentoo)

If anyone wants a step by step home server thing, give me a shout

=)

 

[Cyfr]

Originally posted by Will
As a good rule of thumb, if you don't know what you would be able to use a server for, you don't need one.

Tell meh .

Since liek.. I might need one Just, I dont know about it

 

[MYstIC G]

Balls

Install guide says I need thermal paste for the CPU install with this ICE Pipe system & I ain't ordered any. Anyone got any more detailed information on whether or not the paste is a definate requirement (I'm not planning to overclock, etc)

 

[Insane]

its probably to make an "optimal" contact between Heatsink and CPU, since shuttles are like ovens at the best of times.

as for needing a server... a simple checklist

• Will it be running any specific services? (ftp/web/email)
  (are they essencial to you or are there existing infrastructure in place to handle this)
  
• If a file server, how much load is expected? and how utilised will it be?
  (Is it just yourself or many other people needing data off it?)
  
• what is the prime need for a server?
  (can this not be off-set through other means?)

considering most routers do DNS/DHCP these days, the only real services that are available is web/ftp and thats normally easier leaving that on your main machine and never powering it off.

I have a server at home, but its more for fiddling about with and testing stuff.. i've lost track how many times i've nuked a Win2k AD with Exchange

 

[Cloowwwnnn]

The shop skanked you from the little sachet of thermal gunk that comes in the box (((