server build

[heX]

me and a friend are looking into either converting his old desktop into a server or just buying a new one all together.

for refference here is where the current computer is at

3200+ amd processor
1 gig of ddr2 ram
150 gig hard drive
256 mg nvidia

we would upgrade the ram and get new hardrives probably these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/TWO-300Gb-Seagate-Cheetah-HDs-10k-rpm-SCSI-Ultra320_W0QQitemZ150124690732QQihZ005QQcategoryZ3 9975QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

At this point would it be worth it, to just start from scratch?

Also weve never really messed with server building we are just assuming ram, and cpu, size and speed, would be the most important. is this inccorect?

Given the parts i listed what is the best we could build for 700 (maybe 1k) dollars? You can assume we have extra power supplies, hds, cases, 256/512 ram sticks, ect. laying around.


edit
we are also considering this
http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-Proliant-DL380-G3-DUAL-3-06Ghz-2GB-2x36GB-U320-10k_W0QQitemZ230130696839QQihZ013QQcategoryZ56102Q QrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[raublekick]

I have a web / ftp server running on an old Gateway PIII machine with 640MB RAM. Your really don't need to go overboard unless you expect a ) a lot of traffic and b ) a lot of simultaneous traffic.

The processor speed will help if you have a site that does a lot of small scripts or PHP stuff, but again if not a lot of people will be on at once, it doesn't matter much.

RAM is pretty much the same. One person on the server... low RAM usage. 100 people on the server... more RAM usage.

Don't even worry about the graphics card, as it will do you no good (no bad, but no good) for your server.

[heX]

I have a web / ftp server running on an old Gateway PIII machine with 640MB RAM. Your really don't need to go overboard unless you expect a ) a lot of traffic and b ) a lot of simultaneous traffic.

The processor speed will help if you have a site that does a lot of small scripts or PHP stuff, but again if not a lot of people will be on at once, it doesn't matter much.

RAM is pretty much the same. One person on the server... low RAM usage. 100 people on the server... more RAM usage.

Don't even worry about the graphics card, as it will do you no good (no bad, but no good) for your server.

we mainly plan to use it for multiple web page hosting. as well as quite a few php based forums.

we are also wondering how well it would do hosting games for personal lan use. weve really wanted a decent machine that can host supreme commander with 4+ players and 6 AI. after everyone has 400+ units our current machines have been crapping out.

we are currently winning the bid on
http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-Proliant-DL380-G3-DUAL-3-06Ghz-2GB-2x36GB-U320-10k_W0QQitemZ230130696839QQihZ013QQcategoryZ56102Q QrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

so unless were outbid i think this will be our new machine.

[heX]

either way i think were gonna end up with a pretty kick ass server... so...

my next question is: why is it when we set a server on one of our current computers the download rate is so bad?

is this just comcast capping the upload from the server, or is it a router issue, maybe both?

is there any free ways of taking care of this, or is the only method to pay comcast for a premium service?

[raublekick]

you mean the download speed from outside the network? in other words, your upload speed?

comcast has shitty up speeds. sure, you may be getting 6mbps down speeds, but the up speeds are usually something like 384kbps, which is not good at all for a server.

comcast's upper level package has 8mbps down / 768k up, but it also costs something like $55. i pay $35 for DSL and get 768k up, but only 3mbps down.