--- "Kelsay, Brian - Kansas City, MO" wrote:
...
That said, hear this. I would not necessarily run most business critical functions off something like this. For personal use it's cool, but you don't want to have heat-related lockups in a business because you went cheap. There is such a thing as server-class motherboards. They are built a bit tougher and with better components, but they cost about 2-3x your average motherboard.
Well, you do have a point about server-class MBs, but that is not necessarily what you will get by buying a commercial 1U system. Whether or not a MB will be robust enough for business depends on the quality of the MB. That is not the only consideration though. You can easily build a solid 1U server from components cheaper than buying one. The things to consider in building a rock solid server is the quality of the fans, this is an often overlooked critical step. The server also has to have sufficient design to allow proper cooling of the system. One will want to buy high-end storage devices, top quality fans, efficient heat-sinks, a well layed out MB, and a case that can handle all of the above. Then lastly the placement of the server may also be important. Having a well ventilated properly cooled server is useless if the server is situated over the pizza oven of Joe's Pizza and ISP.
I would probably prefer to go to a 2U system.
Brianjd