My First Server Build

[mtb211]

Case- Need to measure everything out before i can pick one out... this would work tho

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139007

HD - 4x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148902

GPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130625

PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139034

MOBO - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131722

RAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220554

SSD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148443

Possibly two of those used for the I/O's

CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115081

I am going to use this machine probably as a RAID 5, and will use VMware and Microsoft Exchange ... There will be a max of 15 people using this machine at once... but most of the time 10 or less...

I have never built a server so feel free to rip me up for some of the components.... I am a little iffy about the seagate drives and wanted Western Digital... I will also be running Server 2008... already have a copy

Matt

 

[spirit]

Why do you need a graphics card for a server? I have a server sitting in my room here right now and it does not have a graphics card. Most servers don't have graphics cards (I know this, I have 4 of them in my house and Dad is constantly bringing them home from work), so not sure why you need a 550 Ti? If you need a graphics card, get a cheap GT 210 or 510 or whatever.

16GB of RAM for a server is about right (that's what our home server has), but I'm not sure why you'd need an SSD. Most servers just have RAIDed HDDs. 1050W PSU may be overkill, especially if you don't get a 550 Ti.

Everything else looks good!

 

[voyagerfan99]

Yeah you only need a video card to display basic video. You aren't doing anything graphically intensive so you don't need anything that high end.

 

[legalize]

What are you getting the SSDs for?
You certainly do NOT need a video card.
A 1000W PSU is insane.
16GB of RAM is a lot, depending on how many VMs you will be running of course.
You should get HDDs tested for 24/7 use, not for home use.

Then again you didn't really tell us what the server is for or how much you can spend.

Can you afford down time? If not then you should look at a case with hot swappable HDD bays.

 

[spirit]

Then again you didn't really tell us what the server is for or how much you can spend.

He's using it for VMware and Exchange. Get 16GB of RAM, we used to have 8GB in our Exchange server and it was slow, doubling the RAM sped it up no end. Would also recommend 16GBs for VMware and virtual machines. Anything less and you may run into issues with memory swapping depending on how much RAM you want to allocate per VM. I used to run VMs on my machine with 8GB of RAM and it was OK, but 16GB gives you way more headroom.

Might want to look into a UPS too, but get a lower-wattage PSU if you're going to do that. 1050W is way too high as I said.

 

[mtb211]

Why do you need a graphics card for a server? I have a server sitting in my room here right now and it does not have a graphics card. Most servers don't have graphics cards (I know this, I have 4 of them in my house and Dad is constantly bringing them home from work), so not sure why you need a 550 Ti? If you need a graphics card, get a cheap GT 210 or 510 or whatever.

16GB of RAM for a server is about right (that's what our home server has), but I'm not sure why you'd need an SSD. Most servers just have RAIDed HDDs. 1050W PSU may be overkill, especially if you don't get a 550 Ti.

Everything else looks good!

We have a couple Cad programs that we use... Matlab, MathCad, EagleCad... I personally hate intergrated graphics... We also create movies that detect gas releases... always find have dedicated video is good luck haha.... But creating videos , and converting would run faster with a video card correct?

 

[mtb211]

He's using it for VMware and Exchange. Get 16GB of RAM, we used to have 8GB in our Exchange server and it was slow, doubling the RAM sped it up no end. Would also recommend 16GBs for VMware and virtual machines. Anything less and you may run into issues with memory swapping depending on how much RAM you want to allocate per VM. I used to run VMs on my machine with 8GB of RAM and it was OK, but 16GB gives you way more headroom.

Might want to look into a UPS too, but get a lower-wattage PSU if you're going to do that. 1050W is way too high as I said.

Thanks mate! How do you know so much when you are 14 .... I have some questions about the MES... do you mind if I PM you?

Matt

 

[spirit]

We have a couple Cad programs that we use... Matlab, MathCad, EagleCad... I personally hate intergrated graphics... We also create movies that detect gas releases... always find have dedicated video is good luck haha.... But creating videos , and converting would run faster with a video card correct?

In that case then maybe a graphics card would be good... but bear in mind the Xeon isn't really a video editing CPU. You may want to build a separate high-end system for your video editing and CAD work and whatnot with something like an i7 3770K and the GTX 560 Ti if you can afford it, or would you just prefer one machine to do everything? You say you hate onboard graphics, but servers don't do gaming or anything graphic-intensive like that, but if you're running CAD and doing video editing on your server then yeah a graphics card would be good. If you're not running CAD or anything that needs a GPU on your server then don't get a graphics card, or get something very cheap such as the GT 210 or GT 510 or a Radeon 5400 series or something of the like.

How do you know so much when you are 14

Most of it is my own research and interest, but the whole server and Exchange stuff is because of my Dad. He has worked with Microsoft Exchange for years. He's been in the IT business for far longer than I've lived. I think about 20-25 years?

I have some questions about the MES... do you mind if I PM you?

PM'ing is not an issue, go ahead and I'll try to help you out as much as I can.