dual Xeon motherboard of choice?

[David Raistrick]

Hey folks.

I'm shopping around for a new development server.

Probably will run a pair of 533 2.4Ghz Xeons and 512 megs of ram.  An
Adaptec 2200S will eventually make its way into the box when the RAID
gets upgraded, with a 2100S running it to start.

Only two disks will likely be housed in the system.  I'm currently looking
at the Seagate Cheetah's, 36 gigs or so, 15k.


I'm looking at 2u or so systems, since the RAID is and will be housed in
its own case.  I'm not space crunched so I don't see any reason to cram a
pair of Xeons into a 1u case! :)


Currently I'm looking at the X5DLR-8G2 powered Supermicro 6023L-8R or
6023P-8R. (the 6023P requires low profile cards only.)

I'm also considering the SE7501WV2 powered Intel SR2300.

I'll be taking advantage of the redundant power supplies in either of
these chassis.


Both of these chassis use SCA2 hotswap cages for the disks.

Does anyone have any experience using either of these systems?  Anything
to watch out for (SMP, the Broadcom NICs on the supermicro, etc)?  Any
known issues?

For the time being the system will run 4.8-RELEASE for some time.  No
timeline is in place for migration to 5.x, though any current issues with
5.x and these systems would be good to know. :)

Alternative system/chassis/board suggestions are also welcome.

Thanks.


...david

---
david raistrick
drais at atlasta.net		http://www.expita.com/nomime.html