I have a home file server, and for the past 12 years it's usually been some 2nd hand P.O.S. PC I got from a client on trade or donated because it wasn't working. Because it's usually outdated by the time I set it up I usually have to upgrade it every couple of years.
I use this server as a media server for all my PCs - especially my two media center PCs. It aggregates data backups from my workstation and my wife's laptop and manages backups on an external USB HDD, Amazon S3 off-site backup, and a monthly DVD backup that gets put in my safe deposit box. It's also the print server for 2 printers, and it runs my Ventrilo server and my COD4 game server. I also use it for storing client images and data for client PCs I'm working on on my bench, and as a CD/DVD burning station for client images and data. It handles a lot of other minor task that maintain and monitor my home network and my home small business.
Well the last one of these rinky-dink psuedo servers (an eMachine Athlon 32 3200+) died on me just 3 months after I set it up and I decided I was tired of screwing around with second hand junkers. What the hell, it's a tax write-off for my business so I bit the bullet and ordered a real multi-core server from Dell. At least I had the peace of mind of knowing I would have more than adequate horse power, no worries about the server crashing at a bad time, and I wouldn't need to upgrade this server for 6 years or more.
I purchased an AMD Operteron Quad-Core based PowerEdge T105 was on sale for a nice price so I ordered one of those. This is an entry level server, ideal for small businesses. I usually order Intel based servers for my clients to avoid any compatibility issues, but the AMD server was priced around $100 less than a comparable Intel based server, and they were throwing in a 2nd HDD. This was a weekly special package for $449:
Specs:
- AMD Opteron Quad Core 2.1 GHz (4x512K Cache)
- 4Gb DDR 800 MHz 4x1Gb RAM (Server 2003 x86 sees all 4Gb of RAM)
- 250Gb SATA Primary HDD
- 250Gb SATA Secondary HDD
- 1Gb onboard Broadcom NIC
- 16x SATA DVD-Rom
- 3 year next business day on-site warranty
I replaced the included DVD-Rom with my own DVD burner. I kept the primary 250Gb HDD for the OS boot drive and installed the 1.5Tb data drive from the old server. I also installed a PCI parallel port card to allow the server to talk to my aging but highly reliable HP LaserJet 6P.
The PassMark score for this CPU is a very respectable 2594. For comparison, the Intel Quad Core Q6600 2.4GHz CPU (the CPU in my workstation) gets a PassMark score of 2979 (higher is better).
A little digression here. I did not do a clean OS install. I've had VERY good luck in the past with restoring a cleaned-up HDD image of the old server instead of a clean install which would have been pretty tedious considering how customized my server install is. I'm running Server 2003 Standard. In order to get a very clean image that can be transferred to a new PC I ran VMWare converter to make a VM of the server boot partition. The VMWare Converter, in the process of doing this, strips out drivers and makes the OS install extremely generic so it will run in VMWare Player or VMWare Workstation (which in turns emulates a very generic PC).
I then ran the Server VM in VMWare and manually cleaned it up even more: I uninstall all traces of old drivers from the registry, disable the AV app for the time being, and also temporarily disable all background apps and services that might cause a problem. I then made an Acronis image of the Server VM and restored it to the boot drive on the new server, then I perform a repair install of Server 2003 SP2.
This time, as every time I've performed the procedure, it worked like a charm and I had a nice clean image of the OS installed on the new server, only requiring that I install the Dell drivers, re-enable all the background apps and services, install Windows Updates.
I have been a big fan of Dell for a decade. 90% of my clients have Dells at my recommendation. They don't make the prettiest PCs (which doesn't mean squat to me) but they are reliable builds with quality components and nice little quality touches like safety grills on fans when not strictly necessary, and rubber caps on the ends of all the unused molex power connectors to keep them from accidentally touching something on the case or motherboard and shorting out (been there, done that, bought the T-shirt!). Dell cases are always easy to open (single release lever and it pops right open). Fit and finish is always good and no sharp edges. Cases are solid, not flimsy. Online documentation is excellent with all service manuals available to anyone for download.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that Dell is still using a BTX mobo in this model. I love the Dell BTX case design and I was sorry to see them abandon it in their business desktops. They're still using it in some servers and their high-end workstations. It's a very neat and clean layout with extremely good and extremely quiet cooling with a straight, direct through air flow path. The same layout is used in my Dell Dimension 9200 workstation.
This is an AMD mobo and, being a server, the mobo has on-board video, but it's an ATI ES1000 video chipset instead of the usual crappy Intel video chipset. The type of video chip is not a big deal in a server, but I've had my fair share of funny performance issues with Intel chipsets even on servers so I was happy to see ANYTHING but an Intel chipset in here. There's two PCI-E x8 slots and a PCI slot. Like most servers it has a serial port but no parallel port (most Dell servers do still have parallel ports), but I had a PCI parallel port card lying around which took care of that.
There's two 5-1/4" bays up top for optical drives, and an empty 3-1/2" bay underneath them for an optional floppy drive or card reader which I opted not to purchase leaving it empty on this unit. There is no IDE controller on this mobo, only SATA and there's 4 SATA ports. There is no onboard RAID which is a strange choice on Dell's part because the AMD SATA controller on this mobo actually IS a RAID controller, but Dell has disabled RAID in BIOS. Instead they want you to buy an add-on RAID controller card. I didn't need RAID for this application so it didn't matter to me.
Dell's BTX design always places the hard drives at the bottom of the case which helps with cooling. The bottom is the coolest location in the case (top is always hottest) and the design of the fan intake forces cool outside air over the drives. Drives are not screwed in. They sit in trays that slide out for easy and fast swap outs.
Just like my Dimension 9200, central to the BTX design in this server is a MASSIVE copper heat pipe cooler sitting on top of the CPU. The cooler dominates the interior and is really WAY overkill, but leads to very efficient cooling.
This cooler is placed directly behind the the only case fan: a large 120mm fan mounted in the front of the case running at a low RPM with variable speed via onboard speed controller as is the norm nowadays. Under normal operation the fan spins at a very low speed and can hardly be heard. This is the same design used in my Dimension 9200 workstation. The fan is mounted directly behind a HUGE air intake on the front of the case with a 2 inch inset so you don't hear the fan much even though it's in the front of the case.
Quiet operation is VERY important to me because, as you can see in one of the later photos, my workstation and server sit on my desk immediately to the left of me at ear level, wedged into a corner wall which tends to reflect and amplify any noise they produce. Modern Dell PCs in my experience are very quiet if they have adequate ventilation.
The fan draws air from a huge front air intake, which also pulls air up from some vents located under the hard drives which are mounted at the bottom of the case. A plastic shroud directs the inflowing air from the fan across the massive heat pipe cooler, then across the Northbridge chipset heatsink located directly behind it, and out the large vents on the back of the case. A very direct airflow pattern with no obstacles to make the airflow turbulent or restricted.
The exterior case design is pretty bland and basic, sticking with Dell's long tradition of flat-black for their servers (hey, it's a server, it doesn't need to look pretty, it's designed to be locked away in a closet somewhere). Here it is sitting to the left of my Dell Dimension 9200 workstation:
Dell Business has good on-site service in this area (Central Florida) provided by Unisys. I tell my clients NEVER to buy from the Home division because their tech support is horrible and you always get an Indian help desk person. You usually get an American help desk person when you call the Dell Business division during normal business hours. However I rarely actually talk to tech support on the phone anymore - Dell has an excellent online chat for tech support and I can usually arrange for an RMA in 10 - 15 minutes while getting other work done instead of being tethered to a phone for an hour or more.
What was particularly attractive about this server was that they were throwing in a 3 year on-site warranty instead of the usual one year with it. That's nice peace of mind. You also have the option of having them send you the replacement parts via advance RMA 2 day air. They are more than happy to ship you the parts instead of sending a tech out as it saves them money, and if you know what you're doing you don't need a tech coming to your home or office.
Okay, it's not a gaming system, it's just a server so once I got it setup it was a bit of an emotional let-down, but now I don't have to worry about the server crashing in the middle of an Old Fart's Clan COD4 game.
