Hi all: Just wondering if someone could give me some advice. I'm currently in the process of building a server to house SQL Server 2005. The issue I have is choosing the right motherboard! Looked into using Intel, however the budjet I have for motherboard is no more than £60. I require no less than 4GB, 4 SATA ports, HT, and no less than 800MHZ front-side bus. I hear that ASUS aren't the preferred board of choice when considering server performance? I have looked into purchasing a: Gigabyte GA-8I915P Duo, however the last time I had a Gigabyte motherboard it didn't have the required 15pin female connector for my monitor, therefore I had to resort to purchasing an Intel board. Any suggestion very much appreciated. CPU will be either an Intel 775 or AMD 939, 32-bit processor, no less than 3.0GHz Cheers olly
GHz is a very misleading figure, as 2GHz AMD => 3.5 Ghz Pentium... so AMD labels all of its processors with a performance index, comparing them to Intell chips (aka the AMD 64 3200+ runs around 2.2 Ghz, but it has the same amount of processing power as a 3.2Ghz pentium) I would recomend that you use a AMD-64, All current AMD processors are 64 bit but are able to run 32 bit programs/operating systems. It gives you more upgrade options in the future, such as a 64 bit operating system! "I had a Gigabyte motherboard it didn't have the required 15pin female connector for my monitor" a motherboard does not normally have on-board graphics, you have to buy a graphics card! (you can get brand new graphics cards for £20 easily). What sort of 'load' is this machine going to be under? THIS motherboard will support upto 4GB of memory, has 4 SATA ports and 1000 Mhz FSB and will support any "Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX, Athlon 64 X2" socket 939 processor. Athlon 64 - The standard AMD-64, cheap powerful 64 bit processing! Athlon 64 FX - "The Athlon 64 FX is an AMD K8 series processor targeted at enthusiasts." a very powerful, completely overclockable (by defualt) and also very expensive! Athlon 64 X2 - a Dual Core processor, it has two CPU's on a single die!
