Server Build CPU question

pbtampawolf

New Member
G'Day!


I am hoping someone could help with my questions. I have a spare gygbyte MOBO and I am going to build a 64-bit system that I will use for self training on Windows server 2008. As part of this server slef training
I am going to installl an elvaution copy of MS exchange 2010 on it and that requires 64bit hardware. This mobo is compatable with the following CPu's: core 2 extreme quad-core/ core 2 extreme dual-core/ core 2 Quad / Core2 duo / pentium extreme edition /pentium D/ Pentium 4/ Celeron D.

I checked the requirements for exchange server 2010 on ms website > see link and these option were not listed. I am trying to avoid spending money that I barley have.
Link Removed due to 404 Error
 
Please forgive me if I tell you something that you already know. I'm not familiar with what you do and don't know.

Nomintie, it is really irreverent what type you get. The more cores you get the better though. Exchange 2010 is designed to run multiple threads. So that means it will take advantage of up four threads at one time. I would get a the best quad core you can. Also the faster the hard drive the better. Exchange reads and writes a lot to the disk so that is really important. I understand money is a big factor, if needs be go with a hyper threaded dual core.

A few helpful hints are:

Be pasent once exchange starts installing, it is a long install. Just let it do its thing, it will finish given time.
Also before you install exchange, finish you OS and all other installs first. After exchange is installed, it is not meant to be shut down. So the shut down process can take up to ten or even twenty minutes.

That is all I can think of at the moment. Let me know if you need any other help. If I can I will be glad to help.
 
Also worth noting you can pick up Intel "Core2" Quad cpus rather cheap on ebay, (picked a 2.3ghz 1333fsb yorktown for £50 just the other day in fact for my daughters's rig) many of which can overclock like ninjas on steriods with a suitable cooler saving a lot of money vs the hardly better extreme editions that cost a lot more (although for stability I'd avoid overclocking), and they can even compete with newer tech of the i5 cpus. I'd avoid anything using Pentium4 tech, even the best dual core models of that generation perform worse than the lowest core2 running on a single core
 
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Oh yea, P4 was a consumer product, and not meant to be put in servers. The only two real differences in the i5 and the Core 2 Quad would be memory size, cache on chip. Also from what I remember, the main difference is that the core 2 Quad is set up like two dual cores tied together by the FSB. That is if I remember correctly.
 
I also noticed a hell of a lot of Xeons floating about for equally cheap prices on Ebay which are virtually the sames as the Core2 chips, just with better longevity and better power consumption.
 
They are based on the same architecture and will perform similarly. Typically server motherboards will be much more expensive, but also support multiple CPU slots and ECC memory. For the price of a more expensive board, you may instead want to take a look at investing further in the consumer line of products. Windows Server will operate just fine on any Core 2 or higher consumer infrastructure design. The main benefit of the server platform is the extra CPU capability and added memory support. If you go the consumer route, you can focus on a stronger commercial processor as opposed to buying server memory or additional procs.
 
I am going to build a 64-bit system that I will use for self training on Windows server 2008. As part of this server slef training

Depending on the existing system you have, you may want to consider simply buying VMWare Workstation or a product of similar ilk. This would allow you to run Server 2008 and various clients in a virtualized environment on your network. But if you are interested in using such a direct method, you should not concern yourself with an excessively powerful system. Server requirements are often rated high because we have to take into account the idea that the server may serve a number of roles. Included in those roles could be that of a domain controller, terminal server, IIS server, Exchange server, and more. Exchange itself will utilize a lot of memory with Microsoft Office Small Business Server also installed, and this is where things get tricky.

If you will only have one or two clients connected for testing you do not have to worry about the extended requirements that come with a powerful server. A small office of around a dozen computers could easily run Windows Server 2008 R2 with Exchange, Microsoft Office 2010 for Small Business (SQL), and as a file server if you utilize an Intel Quad Core infrastructure (commercial) and multiple 7200 RPM hard drives (if not RAID-5 or 10 than install the server using 2 hard drives as best practice and have a backup solution). When implementing a server for this type of functionality, we look to use multiple hard drives to ease disk I/O requirements and preserve parts of the operating system were a critical failure to take place.
 
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