Buy new server - suggestions needed

Hello randomguy1

I would suggest looking at the low end rack servers like an R320. You don't need anything more than that according to your requirements. The higher end servers have additional memory, CPU, and hard drive capacity. Since you only need a single 8 core CPU the R320 would probably be the best option, and possibly the only option to stay within budget.

I just spec'd out an R320 that would meet your requirements and it came in at about $3100 US dollars. These are the selected specs:

CPU: Intel® Xeon® E5-2470 2.30GHz, 20M Cache, 8.0GT/s QPI, Turbo, 8C, 95W, Max Mem 1600MHz
Memory: 16GB RDIMM, 1600MT/s, Low Volt, Dual Rank, x4 Data Width
RAID Controller: Embedded S110 driver based RAID controller(Windows Only)
HDD: 3x2TB 7.2K RPM SATA 3Gbps 3.5in Cabled Hard Drive(3 drive RAID 5 for 4TB of usable space)

That falls within your budget, but I would recommend increasing your budget to accomodate a few upgrades:

• Either get Near-Line SAS or upgrade to a prosupport warranty. SATA drives only carry a 1 year warranty. Near-Line SAS is a SATA drive with a built in interposer. We consider them to be the same as SAS drives and they carry the full warranty of the server. The other two options are to purchase the SATA HDD warranty extension at time of purchase or upgrade to a prosupport warranty. SATA drives carry the full warranty of the server under a prosupport contract. I would recommend doing one of those three things to make sure the drives have more than 1 year warranty.
• Upgrade to a hardware controller with cache. If you need moderate performance out of the drives then you should get an H710. There is very little performance difference between the S110 and H310, but there is a substantial difference between those and the H710. To get the most out of your SATA drives I would recommend getting the H710. RAID 5 performance on a controller without cache is not very good, and you may encounter a bottleneck . If you opt to stick with the S110 or H310 then I would recommend going with a 4 drive RAID 10 instead of a RAID 5 to avoid performance loss due to parity calculations and other performance issues encountered with controllers not containing cache.

I priced this from the web site and I don't have access to any special sales tools. If you make this purchase with a sales rep there may be promotions available that could get you those extra options and keep you within budget.

Thanks