Building a home server, need some advise on the CPU - Hardware & Software

I'm thinking of building a home server some point. It will be primarily for storage as I have Lots of work that needs backing up and I'd also like a place to dump all the home videos onto. I have been looking into it and I'm a little worried about the CPU. I also plan to do a bit of XEN virtualisation with GPU passthrough on one vm and maybe another vm on the side. I would buy an Xeon E5 series processor from 2009 but I can't find a decent board that has 4 ram slots and 6 sata slots that's that old. Would I get away with an older i7 or newer/older i5? What would be my best option? I'd go with AMD as it's cheaper but I know Intel is good for multithreading which I'd imagine would benefit me for the XEN virtualisation. I'm also worried about power consumption, preferably nothing higher than 80TDP.

[url]http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80637e31220v2[/url] This may interest you

E5's are overkill, even when doing some virtualization, in a home server. i'd say grab an i7 or E3 like the one Levelog showed if you wanna pour some extra money into it. here's a start of a build i'd recommend [url]http://pcpartpicker.com/p/NPrGnQ[/url]

Don't get that board unless you have a sandy bridge chip laying around to flash the bios. You'll need a 7x board [editline]11th June 2014[/editline] Also you will need a GPU with the Xeon. Literally any will do to render the desktop [editline]11th June 2014[/editline] For instance something like [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z3V4Bm"]this[/URL].

What would be my cheapest option for a CPU to do all this with? Im looking at under £70 if im not being too ridicules. [editline]12th June 2014[/editline] I do also have a spare GTX 570 coming my way which Il be using for Xen GPU passthrough so I can use that I guess

You're going to be looking at either the minimum end i3, or a non-retail place like ebay for something in that budget

I could go higher than £70 but it would be a huge push. Im also looking for as low as possible power consumption... Im looking for something that doesn't exist but I wil try and make the best of it lol PS: Sorry for the replies instead of edits, the edit button isnt working :c [editline]12th June 2014[/editline] With what Il be doing (potentially) in the XEN VMs it probably isnt a good idea to go with an i3. I might go with an FX 8350, seems like a good option but the TDP is 90 watts.... Id like to go below 70 or even 60 but I think thats a bit of an unrealistic prospect.

You [I]might[/I] be able to find a sandy bridge i5 in that range on ebay. A 2500t or 2500s or 2405s would fit the bill

[QUOTE=Chizbang;45085597]I might go with an FX 8350, seems like a good option but the TDP is 90 watts.... Id like to go below 70 or even 60 but I think thats a bit of an unrealistic prospect.[/QUOTE] FX8350 is 125W, not 90W. And under peak loads it's known to pull up to 200W. If you want a cheap CPU/board, you could just go with an old 775 board with a modded 771 Xeon quad to work in a 775 socket: [url]http://www.delidded.com/lga-771-to-775-adapter/[/url] Benchmarks on the quad core Xeons with 12M of cache somewhere between Lynnfield and Sandy Bridge performance wise in most tests. An old 775 board and an old Xeon can be had for less than $150 total if you get them from the right place.

[QUOTE=GiGaBiTe;45089385]FX8350 is 125W, not 90W. And under peak loads it's known to pull up to 200W. If you want a cheap CPU/board, you could just go with an old 775 board with a modded 771 Xeon quad to work in a 775 socket: [url]http://www.delidded.com/lga-771-to-775-adapter/[/url] Benchmarks on the quad core Xeons with 12M of cache somewhere between Lynnfield and Sandy Bridge performance wise in most tests. An old 775 board and an old Xeon can be had for less than $150 total if you get them from the right place.[/QUOTE] Isnt that from 2006? Would I be better off getting a Phenom with a low TDP?

[QUOTE=Chizbang;45095425]Isnt that from 2006? Would I be better off getting a Phenom with a low TDP?[/QUOTE] 2007-2008. And age doesn't mean anything. The Xeon E5xxx / X5xxx is more efficient than a Phenom II and draws much less power. And there are no Phenom IIs with "low TDPs" they're all 95/125/140W parts.

[QUOTE=Chizbang;45095425]Isnt that from 2006? Would I be better off getting a Phenom with a low TDP?[/QUOTE] The old phenoms got friggin destroyed by the core 2 duo stuff, not only that i can get an 80 watt e5450 for £28, it's heaps cheaper.

[QUOTE='[EG] Pepper;45105071']The old phenoms got friggin destroyed by the core 2 duo stuff, not only that i can get an 80 watt e5450 for £28, it's heaps cheaper.[/QUOTE] Phenoms really aren't that bad - my 1055t at max OC geekbenches the same as my brother's 2500k at max oc, and the extra cores are increasingly relevant for gaming etc