Best OS for a dual opteron system ?

[BoGuS]

im planning a upgrade and i would like to know what u guys thing is the best os for a system like that. I will most likely get a NUMA board so it has to support that atleast.. no server components needed really..

most likely rig:
2 246 opterons
Tyan KWE (no scsi)
2 Gigs of ram
SATA II disks
7800GT

OS's i have considered (no X64 as they are not good enough supported atm :O( )

WinXP pro
windows small Buisness server 2003

any comments ?

/B

[[XC] moddolicous]

Whats the purpose of it? Server?

[.sentinel]

windows small Buisness server 2003

Best for that type of setup. You can use Small Business server as a workstation to if you edit somethings.

[BoGuS]

The purpose will be workstation stuff and fun ... so no need for advanced OS features like server software.. but i want the performance and i have heard that 2003 gives a better performance than xp pro.. but then again i dont know how much the advantage is really, and since the price tag is about 4-5 times that of a normal xp pro, i just wanted some advice dont wanna go overkill on something i wont feel the benefit of, if u know what i mean ;O)

/B

[[XC] moddolicous]

You could also give one linux distro a try. Maybe red hat (usually used for servers) or a hardened copy of gentoo.

[BoGuS]

Aye i have thought about linux, but since im a windows user it would make more sense to keep using it tbh, and there are some stuff that linux still cant do.
Not to forget the whole compatability issue..

But when i upgrade yet another time, it will be running a server distro ;O)

/B