I'm sure there are many opinions about this, and what Dell calls a 'server' and what I think of as server components may not be the same, AND there are esoteric hardware distinctions that I do not know. Servers are optimized for speed and fault-tolerance. This means considering the type of processor, the chipset that controls data throughput on the motherboard, the hard drive sytem, and the LAN card. In general, a server box will have SCSI internals for its hard drives. It will have redundant power supplies. It will run a full-blown microprocessor (Pentium vs. Celeron, for example). It will have one, or better, two NICS at a minimum of 100Mbps (Dell is shipping servers with Gb Ethernet on the motherboard).
Now, here's where my knowledge gets spotty. Motherboards. Some motheboards/chipsets are more efficient at moving data to and from the processor. Also, different types of memory are more robust/faster. A RAID 5 array (you need 3 hard drives, minimum) will give you better performance than simple mirroring, as well as uninterrupted fault-tolerance if one drive fails. -Paul Schwebel, Lab Facilitator San Dieguito Union High School District --- Paul Rodr�guez <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > What exactly differentiates server grade hardware and desktop grade? > > I ask this because checking out some Dell servers (just above the price > range for this project, but wrangleable) they seem to be pretty much the > same hardware I would find in a desktop computer. IDE drives for > example, and not even ATA/100/133 RAID. > > -Paul Rodr�guez > > > > On Mon, 2001-11-12 at 13:55, Jim Dawson wrote: > > My only recomendation is to use 'server grade' hardware. 'Desktop' grade > computers are not designed to run 24/7. Unfortunately I don't know of any > server-grade computers that use AMD processors. > > <snip> __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com
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