Proposed Server Upgrade

[TeaLeaf]

I have spent a fair amount of time looking into this for the community and have now come up with my final recommendation to the Admins for the proposed hardware purchase.

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.

Reasearch
CPU:
I concluded early on that a dual CPU system would best meet our needs as it allows us to separate the various server loads we generate.  I also concluded that we were best served by a system capable of supporting dual core CPUs as this maximised our future proofing.  AMD are the only sensible choice in this respect and the most viable CPU from a price:performance perspective is the Opteron 265.
MOTHERBOARD:
I reviewed closely those motherboard manufactuers in the dual CPU market.  In particular I looked at SuperMicro, Tyan and the new Asus offerings.  Tyan were by far and away the best and in my opinion have the largest experience and support in the SMP community.
RAM:
Lots of it and fast please.
SELF-BUILD:
I have reviewed a self-build options, but where a dual CPU server is concerned then reliability of cooling etc becomes a much higher priority.  Whislt we could undoubtedly save a couple of hundred pounds building it ourself we would not have the experience to know if what we were building actually worked reliably in practice.  Reluctantly I therefore concluded that buying a ready made system was the best route to pursue.

I have reviewed a number of manufacturers and the one I feel most comfortable with whilst still remaining within what I believe will be an achievable budget is actually from the company Oldbloke referred me to in the public section of the forums: Sentral Systems Ltd (//www.sentralsystems.com) - Oldie orders a fair few systems from these people each year for BT.

I therefore propose we purchase the following system:

OPTIServ 2 x 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
The full cost of the above system is £2821, but I am already comfortable that we can get this down to £2708.  I am pretty sure I can get another £50-100 knocked off the price when we order.

We currently have cash at bank of £1,824.58
We 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.

So, that's my recommendation and I would appreciate it if you could post back your replies and comments to either question, debate or indicate your approval or otherwise of the proposal.

Thank you.

TL.

[Gandalf]

Looks good to me

[Dr Sadako]

Looks very good indeed. I don't think the £343 will be any trouble at all once told in the alpha section of the forum. I even think we will be able to raise more and maybe even get a bigger rig.

I say go go go!

[Anonymous]

You can count on me for £30 so it won't take long to get the rest. Appreciate your hard work TL. The man from BB says YES

[Vincentvega]

Originally posted by BlueBall@Sep 20 2005, 03:23 PM
You can count on me for £30 so it won't take long to get the rest. Appreciate your hard work TL. The man from BB says YES

[post=95490]Quoted post[/post]

[/b]

i agree put me down 4 the same TL...BTW it sounds goood m8.

[JonnyAppleSeed]

:dribble: I agree the shortfall in cash im sure would be made up in the lan ...buy it now :dribble:

[TeaLeaf]

I'll place the order tomorrow.

TL.

[TeaLeaf]

Server has been ordered and should be delivered towards the end of next week.

The full cost of the system was orignally quoted as £2821, but we got them down to £2,649.63 inc VAT.  In order to secure the additional discount I have to make payment immediately (they needed a cheque or bank transfer) which I have done.

I'll liaise with Oldie to see what we can do to get the new beastie up and running for LAN VIII

TL.

[TeaLeaf]

Originally posted by TeaLeaf@Sep 21 2005, 10:12 AM
£2,649.63 inc VAT.

Ok, they've slapped £15+VAT on for delivery.   So the new total is a bit higher.  I make it £2,667.25, their invoice says £2,667.26 - I'm querying the penny  :roflmao:

TL.

[TeaLeaf]

I attach the invoice which I have now paid in full by direct bank transfer.  Their accounting package incorrectly calculates VAT, it adds it to each item individually (each amount rounds) and then adds up the component VAT costs to get a total VAT.  hence they cock up the sumn and get the answer wrong     I couldn't be TANGO'd to argue it  :roflmao:
 
TL.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all your efforts TL

If you're good we'll let you play on the new server sometime  :narnar:

[TeaLeaf]

Well with luck I will be seeing a bit more of the BF2 and CS servers after my holiday, so please send me my server pass!

TL.

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by TeaLeaf@Sep 21 2005, 11:45 AM
Well with luck I will be seeing a bit more of the BF2 and CS servers after my holiday, so please send me my server pass!

TL.

[post=95628]Quoted post[/post]

[/b]

I got this from Ron. Don't know if it works.

Password is <>

[TeaLeaf]

:roflmao:  :roflmao:  :roflmao:

The old'uns are the best ones!

TL.

[Doorman]

Originally posted by BlueBall@Sep 21 2005, 01:14 PM
I got this from Ron. Don't know if it works.

Password is <>

[post=95630]Quoted post[/post]

[/b]

Har bloody har.    No, it doesn't work as you well know.  :angry: