optimum dedicated server configuration?

[tribedude]

I have hit the ceiling on on the Raq3 we are on and am going to custom build a server to handle our board which will be co-located at tera-byte (this is where our raq is presently located).

Our board gets about 4 million page views a month currently and will probably go up to 6 if it is running really fast.

I will probably get another vBulletin license for another board that will reside on the same server, a smaller board - maybe 1 million page views.

What kind of gear should I get to handle my traffic now and yet leave headroom for future growth?

I was thinking about a dual 1.13 pentium III (512 cache) with a 15,000 rmp scsi disk and 1 gig of ram. Is this good enough?

What brands of motherboard should I look for (for a 1U case)?

Any tips would be appreciated.

[JamesUS]

Have you thought about buying a server outright? Custom building a rack server is always tricky, especially a 1U server.
If you want to consider this I would highly recommend the Dell PoweEdge group - the 1550 for 1U and the 2550 for 2U.

I recently purchased a 2550 with dual PIII, 1GB ram and 60GB scsi hard drive and couldn't be happier with it.

If you still want to build one, http://www.anandtech.com has some great articles about how they custom built their own web servers that are definitely worth reading for anyone interested in building rack boxes.

[Chris Schreiber]

I have a Dell PowerEdge 1550, and have a few clients that have several of these... and they are very nice machines, very fast and problem free.