need advice on old case

[pwoznic]

Hey everyone,

I have a super micro SC 750 full tower (about 6 years old) with a 1.2 amd tbird, abit kt7a raid mobo.

I have recently decided to use this case as a server, but I am trying to figure something out..

My plan is the following:
2 sata hdd
3-4 IDE hdd's
cdrom (only for os install, then disconnecting)
this will be used over a lan, 24/7

Does my current setup have any prayer of handling this?

If not.. I was thinking of buying a sempron64/mobo combo and just sticking it in the case

oh and my psu is only 250w, so i will definitely upgrade to a 400-450.

It is an ATX case, but it is old, as I have mentioned.. will newer atx or micro atx mobos fit in this??

I was looking at a sempron 64 2800 and a msi or biostar (mATX) mobo and I could get them for about $110.. If I could fit them into this case, that would be great. Just curious if anyone could help me out!

Thanks in advance :)

[jlreich]

Hi pwoznic and welcome to the PcGuide forums.

Yeah that should work fine for a server depending on how much ram you have in it. Put as much ram in it as you can. The biggest thing servers need is ram.

And the case should work fins as well. An ATX case is an ATX case. As long as it fills your storage needs it should be fine.

And yeah definitely get a good PSU. With all the HDD's you are going to want to get a quality 600W or better. 450W isn't going to cut it for a server with that many drives.

[pwoznic]

600w????? i tried a couple of those power supply calculators and max it gave me was like 400-435..

i kinda wanna get that sempron/mobo.. i figured i could throw in my x800xt (pci-e) and have an excuse to spend another 500 on another vid card hehe

[jlreich]

600w????? i tried a couple of those power supply calculators and max it gave me was like 400-435..
Do you want the PSU to be maxed out all the time if you get a 450w PSU? Always go more than you think you need. PSU's are not meant to be pushed to their max all the time.

You can probably get way with a 550W and be just fine, but I wouldn't go any less than that with 6 HDD's and maxed out ram.

[saphalline]

If your server needs are light, and if that KT7A RAID mobo has SATA (I believe so), then it would fit your needs just fine. 1GB of RAM should do it, depending on the OS used.

If you're itching to start a new project, though, go ahead and upgrade it. But with that many hard drives on it, I wouldn't skimp on the mobo. If you're gonna spend the money to upgrade your server, it would be a shame to shackle it with Socket 754. It would work fine, but then again so would your current T-Bird 1.2. Spend the money and do it right. Get a standard NF 570 Socket AM2 mobo and slap a cheap Sempron into it. That way you get the full 4 x SATA 300 support and you gain access to DDR2 RAM, which is steadily becoming cheaper than DDR RAM. Finish it off with a 500-550W quality PSU (see my stickies) and it will be a loyal upgradable server for many years.

[pwoznic]

If your server needs are light, and if that KT7A RAID mobo has SATA (I believe so), then it would fit your needs just fine. 1GB of RAM should do it, depending on the OS used.

If you're itching to start a new project, though, go ahead and upgrade it. But with that many hard drives on it, I wouldn't skimp on the mobo. If you're gonna spend the money to upgrade your server, it would be a shame to shackle it with Socket 754. It would work fine, but then again so would your current T-Bird 1.2. Spend the money and do it right. Get a standard NF 570 Socket AM2 mobo and slap a cheap Sempron into it. That way you get the full 4 x SATA 300 support and you gain access to DDR2 RAM, which is steadily becoming cheaper than DDR RAM. Finish it off with a 500-550W quality PSU (see my stickies) and it will be a loyal upgradable server for many years.

what is the main difference between am2 and 754?

Edit: the kt7a raid does not have sata :( (that's my main reason for wanting to upgrade.. im just not confident in getting a sata controller installed in that ancient mobo hehe.. it's like 6 years old)

[pwoznic]

How about this combo from newegg:

AMD Sempron 64 2800+ Manila 1600MHz HT 128KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - Retail (will 128kb cache make much of a diff?)

Gigabyte GA-M55plus-S3G Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

$132.99 for both of them..

as sexy as that is, it's a lil more than I wanted to spend.

If I could get mobo/cpu/ram/psu for under 300, that would be perfect

i've noticed that power supplies 550+ are farking expensive.. i mean i see some for about $30-$40 but i don't know if I should trust them when I see 550w selling for 100 :(

I don't know what I should do exactly

[azzey]

See Saphalline's sticky for advice on PSU's.
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=47399

Generally, the cheaper PSU's are, well, cheaper... Don't ever trust the generic brands (corny names like TruePower or LDG usually aren't as good... avoid them at all costs!)

[pwoznic]

that one 550 is looking sexy.. thanks for the sticky links :)

now to pick a cpu/mobo lol

[pwoznic]

this is gonna be more expensive than i thought.
all the following are projections with shipping

mobo/cpu: 150
PSU/CASE (not sure if I want to reuse my case or buy a new one.. and if I buy a new one.. should I buy a separate PSU?): 140
Ram: 75
already have 2 sata drives (320 + 400).. so let's say I got 3 more hard drives between 320-400 that's about $300 (i usually see HD's with free shipping)

$665...

When I think about it.. my original budget (when I thought about this server a couple weeks ago was 575-600)...

newegg also has some promotional credit card where you pay no interest til april 07 (i'm assuming/hoping that if you pay before april 07 you dont pay interest because that would be great)

[pwoznic]

ok sorry for all this haha i have my newegg cart ready let me know what you guys think:


case: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811103003
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817182017
mobo: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813128010
cpu: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819104301
ram: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820141062

with shipping my jersey comes to about $380


I'm gonna wait on this order (unless a great HD deal pops up) to bring it to 500 for the promotion. Let me know if there is anything better I can get for about the same price. I will love you forever.

[pwoznic]

sorry about the links.. im an idiot let me get the real ones (new to newegg sorry)

case: XCLIO 3060BK Black/Silver Chassis: 0.6 mm SECC ; Frontpanel: ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811103003
psu: Rosewill RP500-2 ATX 2.01 500W Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817182017
mobo: Gigabyte GA-M55plus-S3G Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128010cpu: AMD Sempron 64 2800+ Manila 1600MHz HT 128KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819104301
ram: good ddr2 800 that's as cheap as possible lol

note on the mobo: i want integrated video because i dont plan on sticking my current x800xt in there and upgrading any time soon (cant afford/dont want to upgrade my current vid card, so im fine with the onboard video bc i wont be gaming)

[pwoznic]

actually.. i'm gonna get the cooler master centurion CAC-T05-UW.. i think :D

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119068

[saphalline]

You know, if you're just running a server and not a gaming machine, and if you're going to use onboard video anyway, why not just get DDR2-667? It's cheaper and if you put it in dual-channel, you won't notice the performance difference on a server.