OT(ish) - spec for new server

["Graham Howe <graham@xxxxxxx>" <graham@xxxxxxx>]

I have just sent off my server for an insurance claim (the raid card 
appears to have been damaged in a recent storm, but they will almost 
ccertainly write off the whole thing) so I will need to put together 
a new one.

I am expecting to have somewhere in the region of =A31500 ex vat to 
play with (but could donate a little more myself) but I am quite out 
of touch with the current technology trends.

The intention is to use the server as a media server, but NOT as my 
main file/e-mail/web server. I want to rip dvds to the hard disk and 
play them from there.

I will almost certainly run XP Pro or W2K Server on it as I want to 
access it remotely using remote desktop/terminal services. However, I 
*could* be convinved to go down the Linux route if it really makes 
more sense for this type of application.

I want to have raid-5 with probably 6 large disks (minimum 120Gb 
each), hot swap caddies for all disks, fast processor(s) and DVD rom 
for ripping DVDs, possibly a DVD-RW for achiving off movies and for 
general back up. I have no requirement for a monitor, floppy disk, cd-
rom or parallel port. It will not be connected to HA systems 
(Homevision/Comfort etc) and so doesn't require much in the way of 
serial ports.

What I'm looking for is recommendations on the following:
- case with 8 5.25" bays to take the caddies and dvd rom and rw
drives=
- motherboard capable of taking todays (and tomorrows) fastest 
processors (not sure about dual and not sure about AMD/Intel)
- processors(s)
- psu capable of powering 8 drives and fast processors
- graphics and sound cards for play back of movies to remote 
TV/Projector and AV amp. This *must* give s-video quality pictues and 
5.1 digital sound.

I am happy to wait for a few weeks before ordering to take advantage 
of any expected price drops (for example Intel processors are due to 
drop next month) but I am hoping to get the system built before the 
end of April.

Any suggestions?

Graham



http://www.automatedhome.co.uk 
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