I have spent a fair amount of time looking into this for the community and have now come up with my final recommendation for the proposed hardware purchase which has now been approved by the Admins.
Background
Currently we have a half height P4 2.4GHz system with 1GB RAM and it is worked hard when the servers we want running are operational and with players connected. It is our wish to upgrade the server to provide us with a significant step up in performance to allow us to easily cope with the increasingly CPU intensive loads placed on it by modern games. We also want a good degree of future proofing in whatever we buy as we are a community relying on donations to fund our purchases.
NEW SERVER
I have reviewed a number of options and the recommended server has the following specs:
2 x Opteron 265 (Dual Core Opteron)
2U Case
460W PSU
4GB DDR ECC Reg3200 (4 x 1GB sticks to allow further RAM if needed)
2*74GB Western Digital 10K Raptor HDD
Aopen Chameleon DVDRW
Tyan s2882G3NR-D Motherboard
BUDGET
We currently have cash at bank of £1,824.58 and expect further receipts of £540 from LAN VIII, making our total funds £2,364.58. This leaves a shortfall of £343.42 which I am confident we can raise very rapidly from the community.
If you wish to make a donation then please either post here or PM me and I will provide details of how to make the donation.
Thank you.
TL.
Could you post or PM the details required to do a bank transfer. I'd rather avoid the Paypal charges.
PM sent but it may be worth just publishing the preferred method :)
Preferred method is direct to the bank account held by me, but I am not posting those publically.
TL.
QuoteOriginally posted by TeaLeaf@Sep 20 2005, 08:01 PM
Preferred method is direct to the bank account held by me, but I am not posting those publically.
TL.
[post=95524]Quoted post[/post]
Like to help if I can, PM me the details of somewhere I can pay, paypal, direct transfer etc, would donation at the LAN be too late?
QuoteOriginally posted by JB@Sep 20 2005, 09:08 PM
Like to help if I can, PM me the details of somewhere I can pay, paypal, direct transfer etc, would donation at the LAN be too late?
[post=95525]Quoted post[/post]
Donation at LAN time would be fine, but it will be purchased before the LAN, so I would need to know the guaranteed amount beforehand. Let me know, or I will send you the bank details.
TL.
QuoteOriginally posted by Whitey@Sep 20 2005, 07:59 PM
Could you post or PM the details required to do a bank transfer. I'd rather avoid the Paypal charges.
[post=95522]Quoted post[/post]
yup i agree
I will give you some at the lan ;) If that is k with you.
QuoteOriginally posted by TeaLeaf@Sep 20 2005, 09:01 PM
Preferred method is direct to the bank account held by me, but I am not posting those publically.
TL.
[post=95524]Quoted post[/post]
Pm me then please, will send some moolah your way after payday
cripes, is that really how much a server costs!? :blink: and here's me fretting about eh amount my replacement desktop is likely to cost in a year or so...
bugger, PM me the relevant numbers too :rolleyes: ? I don't suppose the dMw goodie bag has anything in it that needs getting rid of? I don't need a "half height server" but things like pc3200 ram are always nice esp with BF2...
TL, I'll give some money again at the LAN as it's easier for me. Don't put it in you beerfunds though ;).
TL - I will donate as we talked about. Having PayPal account problems, waiting for them to sort it out.
Pledge received from BlueBall - £30 - Thank you!
TL.
Pledge received from VincentVega - £30 - Thank you!
Funds Raised = £60
TL.
Pledge received from TeaLeaf - £30 - Thank you!
Funds Raised = £90
TL.
Pledge received from Ninja_Freak - £20 - Thank you!
Funds Raised = £110
TL.
On the strength of pledges made so far I will be placing the order for the server this morning.
I know we'll make up the shortfall fairly quickly and am happy to prep-pay the amount we expect to make as a profit from LAN VIII and be repaid at the LAN (I'll put it on a credit card, so I won't have to pay for it until after we get the money for LAN VIII).
I will PM the bank account details for you to transfer your funds to those who have sent me a PM so that a transfer can be made.
With luck, the new server will make an appearance at LAN VIII so you can all drool at it - just don't drool on it or it'll short ;)
TL.
Pledge received from 'someone' - £15 - Thank you!
Funds Raised = £125
TL.
Pledge received from Gandalf - £50 - Thank you!
Funds Raised = £175
TL.
Btw, please mention in your PM to me if you want 'no publicity' otherwise I have a habit of posting your name to say thank you :blush:
Many thanks for the donations to the Community Fund to date.
TL.
I'll see how much I can get from my brothers aswell for repairing their computers and reinstalling stuff on it and for the help they needed from the forum. :devil:
Pledge received from Cadaver- £25 - Thank you!
Funds Raised = £200
We're over half way to the total additional funds we need to raise for the server purchase :D
TL.
Pledge received from Blunt - £25 - Thank you!
Funds Raised = £225
TL.
A 'standard' wording has been sent to all those who have PM'd me to date and those who have indicated an interest in pledging or donating. Apologies for the standard format, but it is quickest for me!
TL.
Server has been ordered and should be delivered towards the end of next week.
In order to secure an additional discount of £50 I have to make payment immediately (they needed a cheque or bank transfer), so payment of your donations and pledges as soon as possible would be appreciated.
Many thanks.
TL.
Payment made.
Pledge received from BIG-Paddy - £30 - Thank you!
Funds Raised = £255
TL.
Pledge received from Ranger - £25 - Thank you!
Funds Raised = £280
TL.
Pledge received from BIG-Dewey - £25 - Thank you!
Funds Raised = £305
TL.
Pledge received from ThePENDRAGON - £25 - Thank you!
Funds Raised = £330
TL.
Whoohoo almost there - under 24 hours too :clap: :dmw:
Keep 'em coming folks - it would be nice to get the Community Fund back into credit!
TL.
Pledge received from Browne - £40 - Thank you!
Funds Raised = £370
TL.
Pledge received from Anon - £30 - Thank you!
Funds Raised = £400
TL.
I have started to reconcile the funds received now against the pledges made. One of th eimmediate difficulties I have faced is that none fo the references you entered have come across to me, just the name of the person paying.
IMPORTANT
If you have made a payment to me already, please PM me your real name so that I can reconcile the payments received against the pledges made.
Many thanks.
TL.
As money is arriving I am sending a PM to those people to confirm that money has safely arrived. If you haven't had a PM from me then the money probably hasn't arrived yet.
- Pledge funds received to date: £220
- Pledge funds expected to clear: £210+ (includes postal and some people who have not confirmed an amount)
- Pledge funds to be paid at LAN VIII: £130+ (includes some people who have not confirmed an amount)
All of the above funds have already been spent on the new server, so if you have not yet sent your pledge funds and have told me you will, then prompt payment would be appreciated.
Many thanks.
TL.
The spinky new BlackAdder3 arrived at my office today. :D
The OS build and game instalation starts tonight and we'll do some testing at the weekend I hope in preparation for the LAN.
TL.
QuoteOriginally posted by TeaLeaf@Sep 28 2005, 03:40 PM
The spinky new BlackAdder3 arrived at my office today. :D
The OS build and game instalation starts tonight and we'll do some testing at the weekend I hope in preparation for the LAN.
TL.
[post=96672]Quoted post[/post]
Sweeeet :D
I had apayment clear in the dMw account this morning that came across with no name reference at all. The only reference I was given was this:
Bank of Umboto Cadogo H47823551
If this was you then please could you PM me so that I can reconcile it with the records that I have?
Many thanks.
TL.
As money is arriving I am sending a PM to those people to confirm that money has safely arrived. If you haven't had a PM from me then the money probably hasn't arrived yet.
- Pledge funds received to date: £335
- Pledge funds expected to clear: £95+ (includes some people who have not confirmed an amount)
- Pledge funds to be paid at LAN VIII: £245
If you have indicated that you will ocntribute but have not yet sent your pledge funds, then prompt payment would be appreciated.
Many thanks.
TL.
QuoteOriginally posted by TeaLeaf@Sep 29 2005, 01:56 PM
As money is arriving I am sending a PM to those people to confirm that money has safely arrived. If you haven't had a PM from me then the money probably hasn't arrived yet.- Pledge funds received to date: £335
- Pledge funds expected to clear: £95+ (includes some people who have not confirmed an amount)
- Pledge funds to be paid at LAN VIII: £245
If you have indicated that you will ocntribute but have not yet sent your pledge funds, then prompt payment would be appreciated.
Many thanks.
TL.
[post=96889]Quoted post[/post]
BUMP[/SIZE]
Coz TL is out of pocket till you do ya scruffy lot of 'erberts. Get yer 'air cut an' all!
QuoteOriginally posted by TeaLeaf@Sep 29 2005, 09:44 AM
I had apayment clear in the dMw account this morning that came across with no name reference at all. The only reference I was given was this:
Bank of Umboto Cadogo H47823551
If this was you then please could you PM me so that I can reconcile it with the records that I have?
Many thanks.
TL.
[post=96834]Quoted post[/post]
This sounds like a 419 scam doesn't it :P
QuoteOriginally posted by ThePENDRAGON@Sep 29 2005, 04:50 PM
This sounds like a 419 scam doesn't it :P
Yeah, I removed the orignally posted reference as it was a real bank account number and replaced it with something a little less real :norty:
Btw, no more funds cleared in the dMw account today, so I'll next be checking on Monday.
TL.
Pledge received from Snooks - £50 - Thank you!
Funds Raised = £450
TL.
New pledge received - £25 - thank you.
As money is arriving I am sending a PM to those people to confirm that money has safely arrived. If you haven't had a PM from me then the money probably hasn't arrived yet.
- Pledge funds received and cleared to date: £378
- Unreconciled cleared funds receipts: Nil
- Pledge funds expected to clear: £120+ (includes some people who have not confirmed an amount)
- Pledge funds expected to be paid at LAN VIII: £295
If you have indicated that you will contribute but have not yet sent your pledge funds, then prompt payment would be appreciated.
Many thanks.
TL.
New Pledge received (11.53am today) - £30.
Thank you!
TL.