Originally posted by: NickCauston
Server for a network say max 15-20 users, running Exchange, handling Internet traffic (virus scanning) etc.
Reason I started looking at the dual boards is because none of the single Athlon boards allow use of ECC memory, which is something I have always built into servers. Apart from dual Athlon boards would need to go socket 940 to get a board that supports ECC.
So actually we probably don't need the twin cpus just that if we are forced to go for a dual motherboard we might as well use it, maybe even with a pair of 2400mobiles.
Over here in th UK Opterons are still not available through most normal trade suppliers, only specialist overclocker outlets.
If you want ECC, go with a XEON or Opteron system, and get a duallie board so you can add a second processor later.
Exchange for 15-20 people will run comfortably on a 800mhz P3 with 384mb of ram even when the usage is HEAVY and the message store is large (don't ask me why I know this; it wasn't my idea). So I doubt you're going to tax the system too heavily, at least initially.
Rather than invest in an obsolete platform, my preference would be a dual-Opteron board, with a single 24x processor. I'm sure a similar setup with a single XEON to start would work just as well though if you work somewhere with an intel bias.
Edit - just had a quick look, and opteron 242 (1.6ghz) seems like it might be the sweet-spot right now, at least in Canada. A pair of these is considerably cheaper than a single 248. I also noticed that you can't get Opteron easily - could you buy a preconfigured server from one of the major OEMs?