[Pc_Support] Home Server, is PCIe it?

[Jason Boxman]

On Sunday 02 July 2006 00:49, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> On Sat, 2006-07-01 at 23:53 -0400, Jason Boxman wrote:
> > For a commodity x86 file server with a couple users at most, is PCIe
> > where it's at?
>
> PCIe for what?

Well, for the bandwidth.  From reading below it sounds like I'm in the same 
boat as before, though.  Oh well.

> For a NIC, a "dumb" PCIe x1 is sub-$50,
>  "entry-server" PCIe x4 is sub-$200,
>  "enterprise-class" PCIe x4/x8 is $500+.
>
> For a storage controller, a "dumb" PCIe x1 is sub-$50,
>  "entry-server" PCIe x4 is sub-$300,
>  "enterprise-class" is PCIe x4/x8 is $500+
>
> At some point, the "added cost" of the card makes PCIe v. PCI-X less
> relevant.  Furthermore, even most "entry-server" PCIe cards are PCIe x4,
> and they do _not_ work in PCIe x1.

I figured as much.

My goal would probably be dedicated channels for storage and network, as 
that's all the box would be doing.

> CASE-IN-POINT:  Before PCIe, it was _difficult_ to get "segmented" and
> "higher-DTR" I/O out of "consumer" mainboards.  Now that PCIe is here,
> you _can_ get a few PCIe mainboards with x1 slots, maybe x2 or x4.  But
> the "server-class" PCIe slot is a x8.
>
> In other words, "server-class" mainboards have PCI-X and/or PCIe x8
> slots.

Okay.  My objective is primarily to have enough bandwidth to push serious I/O 
over GbE without contention between storage and network I/O.

> > I know in the past, I'd buy an entry level server mainboard with
> > independent PCI channels.  (I haven't made it up to PCI-X systems yet.)
>
> PCI-X is just the evolution of 3.3V PCI 64-bit, more clock (and a few
> other things).  No big difference.

Sure, but the mainboards that come with PCI-X tend to have more than one 
segment. ;)  So, I guess I meant I hadn't moved to boards that have multiple, 
independent PCI-X busses, let alone a single one.

The problem is probably I simply don't know what I need -- so I probably don't 
need anything right now, then.  Someday, I'd like to be able to push more 
than 10MB/s on the network.  (Pretending I have a switch that can handle that 
and all my cabling is good and the only missing component is a box with a GbE 
NIC.)

I guess I'm not awake anymore tonight.

Further, I'm really looking to shift all my future workstation/desktop 
purchases to favorite low wattage, even at the expense of some performance 
for my house.

-- 

Jason Boxman
http://edseek.com/ - Linux and FOSS stuff