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My boss gave me a potential setup for an additional server, which is as follows, and asked my advice.

  • 2 x Intel Xeon E5-2630 CPU
  • ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS (EEB) Motherboard
  • 32GB DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz Memory
  • Western Digital Caviar Black 2 TB SATA 3 GB/s 7200 RPM
  • ATI Radeon HD 7770

Now I haven't set up a server before (I'm a designer) and we have no dedicated sysadmin. Is this setup feasible (doable) without problems?

Clarification: Currently I'm interested in knowing if there are any errors with the setup that would prevent the server from actually working (mismatched sockets etc etc).

Thanks everyone :)

Jane Wright
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  • What's the server for? Where is it being deployed? Your question is far too vague. – Ben Lessani Sep 05 '12 at 17:33
  • I'm sorry, the server will be used to run some business apps (project management and the like) and network storage. It is being deployed in a small business and will be used by less than 25 people. Currently I'm focused on if the setup has any errors that I missed, not if it is optimal. – Jane Wright Sep 05 '12 at 17:35
  • Optimal for what? You haven't defined any specific applications or what it is required for exactly. How would anyone know if its optimal if they don't know what it is supposed to be for!? – Ben Lessani Sep 05 '12 at 17:37
  • Knowing if it is optimal comes second to knowing if it actually works. The applications are business software (SAP I think), network storage and user authentication. The server is to be used in another department so I don't know the specifics. – Jane Wright Sep 05 '12 at 17:39
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    Looks fine - ie. ***it would all fit together***. **But** the board isn't a typical server/enterprise motherboard; the RAM isn't ECC (recommended for dual CPU); the HDD is low-end (and should be RAID1 at least for a server); you're using a gaming/desktop graphics card in a server?! – Ben Lessani Sep 05 '12 at 17:43

1 Answers1

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Obviously you don't mention what the server's role is but it's highly unlikely that the GPU will be of any benefit whatsoever over the most basic card you could get - server OS's almost never make use of anything but a basic frame-buffer.

Also that's not a server motherboard, it's for a top-end workstation, try to pick one that's designed to be in a server. And those disks are likely to be very slow too and will die under load quickly, they're consumer disks, try to stick to SAS disks if your budget allows.

Generally building your own server is a bad idea, just pick an off the shelf pre-built one from your vendor of choice (Dell, HP, IBM are usually a good place to start). Either way that spec is generally not very appropriate (the CPUs are good though, perhaps overkill for what you want to do).

Chopper3
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  • +1 for building your own being a bad idea. Support is priceless whne you need it. And you will likely need it at some point. – Dave M Sep 05 '12 at 17:46
  • Thanks for the reply! Just 1 question, would Supermicro X9DR7-LN4F work as a server motherboard? – Jane Wright Sep 05 '12 at 18:05
  • Yes, that's more like it, you can tell by the increased number of memory slots, ECC memory support, lots of SAS ports and out-of-band IPMI port and on-board video card - that's a nice server board - buy that ;) – Chopper3 Sep 05 '12 at 18:10