Ivy Bridge: Should I or shouldn't I?

OK, so I've recently done a little bit of a PC makeover with my now overclocked i7-920, SSD drives, and just today, an upgrade to 24GB or RAM.

OK, so here's the deal. I am in I.T. and for reasons I won't get into here, I want to build up a few "servers" by commissioning the various PC's I have scattered about the house. IThese will all have Windows Server 2008 R2 on them and will have various different software on them, like SQL Server, Sharepoint, etc. Actually, one of them, a Q9450 quad PC have been converted already. I have another with another Qxxx quad that's never used so I'll be converting that as well.

I'm looking for a third one to sacrifice. I was going to buy a used PC that was available for sale here that would have cost me around $300 (older i5-xxx chip), but then thought hey, why not see what I can build for $300 and use an existing case. (I've got plenty of those that have Pentium 4 chips inside. So gut the innards out basically)

Sooooo...I have 8GB of spare DDR3 RAM and PLENTY of spare hard drives. I looked at the flyer for my local Micro Center and I can put together an i5 Ivy Bridge system for $300.

Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz LGA 1155 Processor ($189)
ASRock Z77 Pro3 1155 ATX Intel Motherboard (When bought with the CPU, it's like $45!)
Enermax 500 Watt ATX Power Supply ($40!)
Add NY State tax and it chimes in around $300.

But then, it got me thinking, this ain't right. This thing is more powerful than my i7-920! Plus I can actually use my SSD drives in true SATA 6G mode thanks to the Z77 chipset.

So now I am wondering what the heck to do!

Any thoughts?

Spend a little more, get the i7 as your primary PC, and retire your PC to be a server. Or just virtualise everything and put in a bucket of RAM, you have more than enough CPU in the 920 to run a bunch of stuff.

Yea, Tim, of course that would be the way to go. Get a good i7 IB chip, new Mobo, and call it a day. But I guess I am getting way too greedy. Again, my original plan was to get a used PC for $300, and use it as a server for experimentation purposes. It doesn't need to be a powerhouse. It can be a basic quad code with 8GB of RAM.

Upgrading the i7 IB would cost me a lot more, even using the cheapest motherboard. Certainly cannot be had for $300. Money of course is not really an issue. Just don't want to commit to IB for my main machine. When I eventually do decide to upgrade my editing machine, I'll go all out. But it has to be worth it. Right now, with IB, I don't think it's worth it.

Do your servers really need to be physical, or can they be virtual?

I would echo a virtual server unless you have the need for large applications running off it/a lot of user connecting or you want a low power server.

tim wrote in post #14800946
Do your servers really need to be physical, or can they be virtual?

Was going to suggest virtualizing the environment as well.

tim wrote in post #14800946
Do your servers really need to be physical, or can they be virtual?

Sure, they can be VMs. But when I've got a few Quad Core PC's scattered about in the house not being used at all, why not use them?

Noise, power, hassle?

tim wrote in post #14801723
Noise, power, hassle?

I've got "server room" in my basement. My entire house is wired with Gigabit Ethernet.
Noise = non-issue.

But I absolutely get your point. I'm thinking about the whole thing...

I've check that mobo (ASRock Z77 Pro3) specifications and its really good!

Anyway you said you have one pc that is quad processor that is never been used?
So you can just buy a motherboard for that and i think it will be cheaper than that Asus mobo.
then the rest for the other parts: HDD, Casings etc..

I think Win server 2008 will be okay on that one..

Keema wrote in post #14803457
I've check that mobo (ASRock Z77 Pro3) specifications and its really good!

Anyway you said you have one pc that is quad processor that is never been used?
So you can just buy a motherboard for that and i think it will be cheaper than that Asus mobo.
then the rest for the other parts: HDD, Casings etc..

I think Win server 2008 will be okay on that one..

My impression is that ASRock is a budget mobo manufacturer. I can pay a little more and get a board with 4 x USB 3.0 ports and other incremental upgrades. But that's a moot point if I am just using this as a server PC.

Which is why I was thinking about swapping, but I think I've decided to buy the i5 IB chip, Mobo, and PSU for $300 and call it a day. I'll continue to use the i7-920 PC as my photo editing PC and when something really eye popping comes out, I'll go all out and upgrade then.

I have 2 PC's with quad proc that are never used. One was a secondary editing machine which I never, ever used, so that's already been converted to a Windows 2008 Server R2 machine. The other one is hooked up to a projector for movies, but that hasn't been switched on in like a year since we have a 58" Panel in our living room. So that will be commissioned for another server.

I have a few older PC's that have P4 procs in there, so I am planning out gutting out one of them and putting in the new components plus the 8GB of DDR3 RAM I have left over. That'll be yet another server.

Server 1: Active Directory Domain Services, etc. (Essentially this will be a PDC)

Server 2: Sharepoint and other middleware stuff.

Server 3: Databases

OK, so today, I went the local computer store and bought the stuff for under $300 actually.
Case closed.

What, you put it into the case already?

tim wrote in post #14812618
What, you put it into the case already?

Ha! No pun intended of course!

@nicksan,

I have sent you a PM. Just need your help.

Thanks..