Home fileserver build - parts look okay?

[ChromWolf]

Okay, so I've FINALLY picked out the parts I want to use for my home fileserver. Keep in mind I'm coming into this knowing full well I'm WAY overkilling what I actually need here; I only need redundant storage. That said, I wanted to play with how things worked, have a fun system build, and set something up I could reasonably use for a long time to come.

Budget: I figured about $1300, including a moderate-level UPS along with all the system components. I'm just under that, which is good, but would consider some minor upgrades should they be necessary (and not kick the price up too much).

Role: Will run Server 2003, serve as a DHCP/DNS/WINS server with minor IIS duties, possibly as a perimeter router and ideally with RRAS up for VPN. That said, actual number of users who will connect: 2. Not exactly a corporate exchange server. ;>

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PARTS----
Motherboard - ASUS P5QL-E LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131322

CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115017

I went with a Quad Core because I still intend to host the RAID arrays (RAID 1 for the OS drives, and RAID 5 or the data drives) off the motherboard; this is just a place for me to dump my crap, where only my girlfriend and I would ever access it, so I'm cool with Fake Raid, and even cooler with a quad core taking it on.

Memory - Kingston HyperX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820104008

Could also swap out for 4GB of DDR2 800 memory for just $40 more, and if that will noticeably increase performance on a fake RAID system, I'll gladly do it if the sacrifice of the 1066 bus is negligible. Thoughts?

Video - ZOTAC ZT-72SE120-HSS GeForce 7200GS 128MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814500036

No onboard video, this was $24, and PCIe. Just need something that supports VGA, lol.

Hard Drive (OS) - (2x) - Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136075

To be set up in a mobo-controlled RAID1.

Hard Drive (Data Storage) - (4x) - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073

To be set up in a mobo-controlled RAID5.

Optical Drive - Pioneer Black 2MB Cache IDE DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827129018

Just so I can burn stuff off the server if it really comes down to that.

Case - ARK GL-09A Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811128044

Just need a cheap case with good cooling, no PSU, black, no doors over the drivebays, this fit the bill.

Case - Thermaltake Purepower RX W0143RU 550W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153051

UPS - CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W UPS - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16842102048

Wanted something to last 10ish minutes for my system, something that would shut the system down on its own after X minutes of power loss.

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How does this look? Anything I should change? What do you guys think?

[Panama Red]

I'm not going to pretend to know all about business servers or the features you find desirous but I wonder if you've taken a look at Windows Home Server as an option? My home server consists of an old Gateway case painted black, an Antec 350 watt psu, an old Asus 845 chipset mobo with a 533 fsb P4 (2.53GHz), an ATI AGP 9200 video card, 1Gb of ram and two 320Gb Seagate ide hard drives. Most of the hardware was salvaged from jobs. I paid $170 for Windows Home Server software and I see it now for $160 or less. Now, what can you do with WHS?

-backup all your home pc's daily - automatically
-provide secure, remote access to any pc when you are away from home (just like sitting in front of your home pc)
-Redundant backup on the server as long as you run multiple hard drives (backup to your backup)
-secure file server
-able to restore a complete hard drive image with the simple use of Restore disk. A perfect solution to those times when recovering data from a crashed hard drive is a must.
-specialized add-ons that are continually being developed for the WHS platform.

Keep in mind, WHS is based on Windows Server 2003. I bet I have less than $500 in my entire server. Just something for you to consider if you aren't aware of WHS.

[ChromWolf]

Meh, not really shooting for a business server really, in fact I specifically picked desktop PC parts so they'd be cheaper to replace should any of them fail... Not to mention cheaper during initial construction. :P In any case, I did actually take a good long look at Windows Home Server... I especially liked the backup options it features, specifically for other desktops on the network--some very handy and yet easy-to-setup features along those lines. There was a very good chance I was going to go with WHS. Why didn't I?

Basically, the only reason is because my older brother, who works at a computer training company, handed me a leftover courtesy copy of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition (with a 25-user CAL no less!!) they would normally hand out to the types of clients who would enroll corporate network admins and the like for various MCSA/MCSE/other Microsoft training. I don't know much about the things Microsoft does to entice potential clients into using their server OSs for their corporate solutions, but I hear having a TechNet subscription is quite profitable! Nevertheless, having a legit copy of Win2003 EE is too much to pass up, and I always told myself I wanted to build a respectable server to put it on... I used to have a similar mish-mashed server, but we're talking P3-550MHz with 384 MB of normal SDRAM (not even DDR!). :P