Re: cheap low power base unit for server?

John Stumbles wrote:
I keep thinking of sticking a large HDD or two into a smallish
low-powered base unit running NFS, rsync backups and apache (for
intranet) and putting it in the server room (aka cupboard under the stairs
:-)). However a quick trawl through dabs, ebuyer and novatech reveals a
complete lack of cheap PCs of any kind: nothing much under £200, whereas
a year or two back you used to be able to get a basic machine with a
Linux distro for about £160. Any pointers?


As new components go, you're looking at: £25 for an Asrock Socket A mainboard, £28 for a 2800 Sempron processor with HSF, £20 for case&psu, £8 for half a Gig of branded memory. Apart from the hard drive, that's change out of a tun for something that'll boot POST. (all prices ish and probably 8 months out of date!)

For a really tiny unit, take a peek at the VIA Epia 10000 (1.0GHz Nehemiah processor), which go for around £90. Another £30 gets you a 12V-ATX power converter (so you could run it directly off of a /car battery/), and the board/processor bundle between them suck less than 8 Watts under max load - so apart from the obvious efficiencies in power, you're looking at an extremely quiet (nay silent) base for a server. I got one of these boards in what would otherwise have been a scrap Shuttle XPC case (they don't supply spare boards, the gits!) and it runs as a media server in my living room - powered by a bank of PV panels and a marine gell battery. It's not had to be plugged in to the mains, ever.

For pricing where I shop, check http://thecomputershop.x2tek.co.uk

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