June 16, 201313 yr So as stated I currently have a few parts from old machines that I would like to re-purpose: AMD Sempron LE 1300 (Socket AM2) w/ cpu cooler Intel Xeon 3070 w/ cpu cooler 512mb PC3500 DDR-433MHz 512mb PC3200 DDR-400MHz 512MB PC2-4200 DDR2-533MHz 2x 512mb PC2-4200 DDR2-533MHz Set 1gb PC2-6400 DDR2 A few adequate cases CX430 PSU Plenty of drives ___________________________________________________ So, should I attempt to find a matching mobo for the cpu's that I have or should I buy a new cpu/mobo combo (or used)? Thanks for your help in advance!
June 16, 201313 yr Well ... the simplest answer is Don't bother. For what you'd spend on a motherboard and compatible memory, you could buy an inexpensive motherboard/CPU/memory combo that would significantly outperform either of those CPUs. But if you DO want to use them ... For Sempron LE1300: This motherboard would work: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157274&IsVirtualParent=1 ... your DDR2 533 modules will work on this board, but it only supports 2 modules, so you'd be limited to 1GB of RAM instead of the 8GB it supports if you use 4GB modules. For the Xeon 3070: This motherboard would work: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182145 ... but the DDR2 memory you have is, except for the 1GB module, slower than the minimum specified for the board. The slower DDR2 modules would PROBABLY work => but they'd all run at the PC-4200 speed (and there's a chance they simply wouldn't work). If you use two of the 533 modules for a Sempron board (above), you'd only have one 533 module left anyway, so I'd simply buy all new memory if you wanted to use this board. Your DDR memory isn't useable for either of those CPUs. It has a VERY limited resale value on e-bay .... or you could simply discard it.
June 16, 201313 yr My answer would be buy a used mobo from ebay. Probably get one for next to nothing. My main system has been running on a board I bought for about £30 on ebay 3 years ago. Establishing there are no problems with the LAN controller or disk controllers can be done by searching the forums, or you can just search for known working motherboards.... Depends how many disks you are looking to use in the long term really.
June 16, 201313 yr It all depends of course on what you want to ultimately do with the server build... It is always nice to re-use old hardware. Also if you look around in your area and ask people you know and look at local listings in adds, you probably can get some older hardware for free, or close to it... That would either work with what you have, or be a full usable computer to add drives to. Also before getting rid of anything... look here - http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?board=40.0 - and see if anyone needs what you have! There may even be things there that will help you out! :-)
June 17, 201313 yr Agree, there are still good uses for older hardware. I help a LOT of folks, and am always being given older systems to salvage and/or re-purpose. I reload a lot of them and donate them to various local charities. At any given moment I'll typically have 5-10 PC's ranging from old Dell Pentium boxes to some early Core architecture machines. Any of these would easily work as an UnRAID server for a modest # of drives; but I think a more modern, energy-efficient, system is a better choice for a system that's likely to be on 24/7 ... it'll use notably less power and be far less likely to have age-related failures like leaking/bulging capacitors. However, if you DO want to use the older CPUs, I agree you could get a motherboard on e-bay for very little. For example, there are several AM2 motherboards listed right now for $20-30 that would work for the Sempron; and a few in the $35-60 range that would work for the Xeon.
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