server or desktop or both?

[enhanced08]

what is the real difference between a server and a desktop computer? is a server just like a desktop on steroids or something? can a server be used as a normal desktop, only with more power and memory and can a desktop be used as a server????

the reason i'm asking is because i'm building a powerful computer for myself, building my sister a computer, building the rest of my family a gaming system and upgrading the one i'm on now. so there will be a total of 4 computers in our house and i want to network them all but if i can, i was going to use mine (the most powerful one) as the server and as my desktop. can i do that? or do i need a different server and use it only as a server?

[yellohut]

you'll be fine using your computer as a server and a desktop...
for home (or even small office) use a server doesn't need to be powerful. It's really just a place where you store shared files, and for backup purposes. Right now I'm using my old K6-II with 128MB ram as my server, and it works just fine. Although you may want a more powerful one if you plan to use to to host games for the house.
But you don't need a seperate computer.. yours should do just fine.

[enhanced08]

ok, thanks. i posted on here awhile ago about building a dual cpu desktop just because i wanted one. i had no real use for one. would this be a good use for it? would it be worth the money to run a dualie as a desktop and server?

[glc]

It depends exactly what you will be using a "server" for. For home use, a desktop workstation can normally act as a server.

Generally, a dedicated server for business use will not have a super fast processor, it will have tons of error correcting code ram and a scsi disk system for best I/O performance.

[mairving]

A server would follow the client-server model as a general rule, whereas in a home network you would generally have a peer to peer relationship. Basically a server is the boss that tells the other machines how to act. For instance, if you use a router that dishes out IP addresses at home, this would function as a dhcp server. In a peer to peer file sharing environment, you don't have all that great a control of who does what.

[AlwaysUp]

You can also set up your server as an application server. Office apps can be accessed by all authorized users of the network without loading the software on every PC. Be aware though, that most office suites like Microsoft Office XP are "one license only" unless you purchase a multi-user license.

[yellohut]

multiprocessing would be a waste of time and money for home use. The applications you'd be running in that environment wouldn't even use both processors. A regular desktop should work just fine as a home server.

[enhanced08]

ok thanks guys!

[Blakhart]

Real servers have dual Intel processors, multiple 10,000rpm scsi drives, and at least a gig of ram... plus some fine tuning.