Cube server

This year I purchased a server for persisting my data and for running applications that require intensive processing. For me it was very important to have a robust & performant way for archiving my data. Therefore I purchased a RAID card from Areca, the ARC-1120. The raid card is connected through 8 HD's of 200GB from Western Digital in RAID 5. Areca is currently one of the best RAID cards available. This page contains an extended review with benchmarks

My initial idea was to use my current ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe motherboard, which has 2x PCI-E Express ports, and to use one port for the RAID controller. At that time it was still not possible, but now ASUS has provided a new BIOS driver which fixes the issue. After a lot of research and certainly the many chats I had with Bruno, I decided to go for a server motherboard. This is simply the most recommended way and is more robust, uses registered memory, has PCI-X ports, dual CPU, more memory slots, etc.

I wanted a server motherboard that contains dual CPU core support and featuring one or two PCI-E ports. This way I can easily upgrade in the future if it is necessary. Therefore I purchased the Tyan K8WE, which is an NForce Pro based server motherboard with 2x PCI Express x16 slots @full speed x16 lanes and has even a firewire connection.

A lot of hardware components means a large case. Therefore I decided to buy the U2-UFO case from Mountainmods. It's really a case with a lot of space and most important it can contain up to 9 HD's and it's compatible with an Extended ATX motherboard.

I am still configuring the server, but I will certainly post some benchmarks and experiences. In the mean time you can find the specs and some pictures of my server.

server1

server2

Server3