Windows Server OS with commercial parts?

[topaimz]

Windows Server 2000, 2003, 2008

Will they work with a server/computer assembled with commercial parts?

Computer spec:
Q6600
P35 motherboard
2x2GB DDR2 800
4 x 500GB ES.2 Seagate
ATi 3850 512MB
Pioneer 212D Optical Drive
610W PC Power and Cooling

Will it work? and also, am I missing some essential parts?

By the way, this server/computer will be running a database
(MY SQL) as well as Windows Server; for two sites.

If there is a better section for this question (since I can't find
any "server oriented" sections) please move it there good
sir moderators.

Thank you for yoru time, and have a nice day.

[ARC1450]

Sure, it'll work just fine.

I would avoid using Server 2000, though. I tried to install it on a dual AMD x2 and it ran for crap. 2008 flies, though.

[topaimz]

Ok... I asked around and people are telling me I shouldn't run a server on retail parts...

First of all, they're telling me I need FB-DIMMs, which leads to using a server motherboard,
in addition leads to a server processor...

What I heard was that retail parts aren't necessarily made for 24/7 usage, while server
parts/products are built for that.
So, in due time a server built from retail parts/products will die out or give trouble far faster
and often than one built from server parts...

Is it completely true?

As I stated above, the server specs will be:
Q6600
P35 motherboard
2x2GB DDR2 800
5 x 500GB ES.2 Seagate (going to try RAID 6 with a highend raid controller)
ATi 3850 512MB
Pioneer 212D Optical Drive
610W PC Power and Cooling

Running Windows Server 2000, 2003 or 2008
with SQL Server 2000, 2005 or 2008; accordingly.

It'll be a database server and website server for a small corporate site
and a small off shoot internet shop.

(I can switch the cpu to a 45nm Q9450 and a P45 motherboard, if that helps at all)

[zanzabar]

u should be fine but make sure that u get a solid board with good power and u may want an x38 so that u can get ECC ram, the p5e/maximus would be good and wouldent need tweaking out of the box, and u would get full bandwidth to your raid card (most servers also use samsung F1 or hitatchi ultra star that ive seen, or fujitsu SAS so u may want to change brands since samsungs are faster and have better track records recently IMO) and u might want to get raid 10 and put one drive to backup duty


u also should get a NIC card like the intel duel gigabyte dedicated card, it will help since those cards handle things that normal network chipsets arnt meant for

and if u want a cpu with a xeon label there are 775 xeons that work at lower wattage than the core2 by a few watts and they cost about $5-10 more

[BrokenWall]

We use to build servers all the time for FTP, File, Exchange, VPN, Domain, so on using Pentium D and a basic 945 Intel board and they worked like a charm, they run 24/7 and never really give us issues except for that stupid Realtek HD Audio drivers.

[tiro_uspsss]

my friend as been running a lowly s478 P4 for website hosting (low traffic) for well over 2 months now..

the ppl who are telling u, u shouldnt run server OS on desktop parts are not to be listened too - they are fos :D :yepp:

[ARC1450]

My sentiments to most of the folks in here.

The folks that told you retail parts can't run for days on end aren't brilliant. Just for proof, here's the uptime on my Linux box running retail parts:

arcruea@Apollo ~ $ uptime
21:41:36 up 236 days, 8:59, 3 users, load average: 2.00, 2.00, 2.02
arcruea@Apollo ~ $

The last reboot was because I had to move the server to my basement. I've hit uptime of 600 days before. I had to move, so that wiped it out. :(

Either way, you only need FB or ECC if it's completely critical to have 0% downtime and an error would be drastically bad. If it is, I'd just suggest you keep around a couple extra sticks of RAM to swap out bad ones. That's what I do. My Win2K8 server had a bad stick in it, I just took it out and zippo problems. Runs fine, it's a WSUS server and AD controller along with being a print server. Works fine.

[edit]The only exception to that is if you buy crappy hard drives. Those will ruin your day on a dbase server if it's getting hammered. If it's going to get a lot of dbase action, get the enterprise level drives meant for 24/7 disk load. That's the only case where retail parts will ruin your day.

[topaimz]

Thanks for the help guys.

One thing I wanted to ask in addition was for a list of retail motherboards that support
FB-DIMMs / ECC registed memory.

x38 boards seem to be hard to find these days... (full retail/brand new)
None of the retailers/etailers I use have the P5E or Maximus anymore (DDR2).

On a side note; I've searched the ASUS site, and they don't state, anywhere,
that the x38 boards (P5E,Maximus,etc.) support ECC memory.

Thus I would be once again, greatly appreciated if some one could give me a
list of retail boards that support FB-DIMMs/ECC registered memory.


Thank you very much.

[tiro_uspsss]

Thanks for the help guys.

One thing I wanted to ask in addition was for a list of retail motherboards that support
FB-DIMMs / ECC registed memory.

x38 boards seem to be hard to find these days... (full retail/brand new)
None of the retailers/etailers I use have the P5E or Maximus anymore (DDR2).

On a side note; I've searched the ASUS site, and they don't state, anywhere,
that the x38 boards (P5E,Maximus,etc.) support ECC memory.

Thus I would be once again, greatly appreciated if some one could give me a
list of retail boards that support FB-DIMMs/ECC registered memory.


Thank you very much.

are u in the USA? go to newegg, search under 'server motherboards' - beware, server mobos are generally more expensive.. use the search options on the left side to filter out the ones that use FB-DIMMs.. gl :up:

[topaimz]

Sorry, maybe I should have been more clear.

I was wondering if someone could possibly give me a list of
motherboards that are RETAIL; meaning not SERVER boards.

For example, as stated above, P5E and Maximus Formula.


I can't find these anywhere in stock, so I am asking.

Except for the FB-DIMMs (because if this server has more than
a minute of unintentional downtime I'll be in big doo doo)
which I believe I need, I want to keep a low budget; thus stick
to RETAIL parts.

Thanks for all the comments and help.

[zanzabar]

u could go amd, all of the opterons have ecc

u could get an amd 790 or a 780 chipset and a quad core opteron with some ecc ddr2