Dell PowerEdge T105: Dual Core AMD Athlon 4450B 2.3GHz, 2 (Two) 160GB HDDs, 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2, 16X SATA DVD Drive $299 plus shipping

intel platform (poweredge t100) is only $30 more...
http://configure.us.dell.com/dell...=bsd&cs=04

base config is the same.. except cpu and chipset, obviously... base cpu is:
Dual Core Intel® Pentium®E2220, 2.4GHz, 1MB Cache, 800MHz FSB

____

these do NOT have PCIe x16 slot for video cards, best they have is x8. they do have on-board graphics, although i'd be surprised if they supported even vista's aero interface. they also do not have on-board sound, so for a desktop, you'd probably want to consider the cost of adding a sound card; and (according to crucial.com's configurator, and dell's own specs on the T105) they use ECC memory.

as a desktop, they'd work great so long as you do not require powerful graphics

as a server, it's a fine basic server, but note that they do not have PCI-X [wikipedia.org] slot.

Quote from 2cheap4retail : intel platform (poweredge t100) is only $30 more... http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=bedwa1e&c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04 base config is the same.. except cpu and chipset, obviously... base cpu is: Dual Core Intel® Pentium®E2220, 2.4GHz, 1MB Cache, 800MHz FSB ____ these do NOT have PCIe x16 slot for video cards, best they have is x8. they do have on-board graphics, although i'd be surprised if they supported even vista's aero interface. as a desktop, they'd work great so long as you do not require powerful graphics as a server, it's a fine basic server, but note that they do not have PCI-X slot.

thanks. added that one too. repped

Quote from Lila : Dell has the PowerEdge T105 for $299 Dual Core AMD Athlon 4450B; 2.3GHz,2X512K Cache 2GB, DDR2, 800MHz, 2x1GB,Single Ranked DIMMs 2 Hard Drives: 160GB 7.2K RPM SATA 3Gbps 3.5-in Cabled Hard Drive 16X SATA DVD Drive On-Board Single Gigabit Network Adapter shipping is $20 They also have the PowerEdge T100 [dell.com] for $329 (thanks to 2cheap4retail) same configuration but the Processor is Intel Dual Core Intel® Pentium®E2220, 2.4GHz, 1MB Cache, 800MHz FSB

No OS included! warm deal only.

Quote from compy168 : No OS included! warm deal only.

The deal is still good, considering what you get! I would classify it as a hot deal

For servers, PCI-X is pretty outdated, so the fact it doesn't have this is a good thing. The PCI Express slot, on the other hand, works great for a hardware-based RAID card or extra Gigabit card, though there are only two hard drive mounting brackets.

There are no PS/2 keyboard or mouse ports--keep this in mind if you use a PS/2 KVM like I do. There is a build option on this machine for a PS/2-to-USB converter for $29 (which you can find elsewhere for $6).

Quote from aegrotatio : For servers, PCI-X is pretty outdated, so the fact it doesn't have this is a good thing. The PCI Express slot, on the other hand, works great for a hardware-based RAID card or extra Gigabit card, though there are only two hard drive mounting brackets. There are no PS/2 keyboard or mouse ports--keep this in mind if you use a PS/2 KVM like I do. There is a build option on this machine for a PS/2-to-USB converter for $29 (which you can find elsewhere for $6).

The T105 is a nice little basic server. The T100 is is pretty similar. While they only have two internal 3.5" drive bays, they have a 3.5" external drive bay that can be used for a hard drive if you're clever about hooking it up. For that matter, even with the DVD installed there is a spare 5.25" bay that could be used with a converter for a 3.5" drive.

Keep in mind that there are only 4 SATA ports, so you're limited to 4 disks or 3 disks and a DVD.

Regarding the hardware-based RAID card, I have not heard of anyone successfully using a non-Dell card in this server. Apparently there is something in the BIOS that prevents it, so if you have to have RAID then you need to buy their card.

These boxes are quiet...very quiet. I have one that sits on top of my desk and I can never hear it. I used it for a Hyper-V test platform, though it would work well with Windows Home Server or some sort file server too. You could load it up with a couple of 1 TB or 1.5 TB hard disks and have some serious storage capacity.

One thing to keep in mind about the CPUs...the Athlon and Opteron CPU options on the T105 server all support NX and AMD-V, which means that you could use them to run Hyper-V or XenServer. However, if you opt for the T100 with the Pentium 2220 you cannot because it does not support Intel-VT (the Intel equivalent of AMD-V). You would have to go with a Core 2 Duo or Xeon to get that funtionality on the T100. That probably won't make a difference to a lot of people, but if it applies to you it's a pretty important distinction.

anybody use these for Windows Home Server?

These are meant for servers. If you want a workstation or PC, take a look at the Optiplex models at Dell.com/outlet. They start at about the same price, but with less hard drive, three-year warranty.

CK804Pro (nForce Professional 2200) northbridge, not surprisingly is somewhat dated (Jan 2005 release), but you get what you pay for. I didn't feel like waiting another 20 minutes for Dell live chat to tell me any other specs not mentioned on the site. They actually asked me why I wanted to know the specs. Does Dell really deal with people that buy servers and don't want to know specifications on them?

Anyway, not a bad deal at all for an entry level server.

Quote from kubel : Does Dell really deal with people that buy servers and don't want to know specifications on them? Anyway, not a bad deal at all for an entry level server.

Yes & Yes... sad but those people do exist...

i bought a t105 about 1yr ago:
upgraded the memory to 8Gb
installed a 2nd HD 500Gb

I have VM ESXi running (via USB)
very quiet & reliable (so far) in my opinion... much better than the SC400 i had previously. one the CAP melted & the other the nic went out after a few years.

if the proc was better i'd pick up another in this deal.

Quote from philoyboy : anybody use these for Windows Home Server?

I use an SC420 for WHS and it has performed flawlessly for almost 2 years. Good, steady machine.
Cruise

Quote from goibhniu : Regarding the hardware-based RAID card, I have not heard of anyone successfully using a non-Dell card in this server. Apparently there is something in the BIOS that prevents it, so if you have to have RAID then you need to buy their card.

You can pick up 4 port dell perc 5/i SAS cards for about 100$ on ebay.. they do RAID 1/0/5/10 easily.

Quote from hotcrandel : You can pick up 4 port dell perc 5/i SAS cards for about 100$ on ebay.. they do RAID 1/0/5/10 easily.

I don't think this server will take a PERC 5/i. They list the SAS 6i/R as the only RAID card option, though it might also work with the older gen SAS 5i/R. Unfortunately those only have two ports on them.