Here’s how to score a sweet OpenSolaris-compatible 2TB file server for $1000 (USD). I’m running Solaris Express Developer Edition on it with a ZFS RAIDZ1 file system.
- Motherboard: Asus M2NPV-VM. A great, inexpensive mATX board w/4 SATA ports, 2 IDE, PCI-X, GigE, built-in nVidia graphics w/DVI and VGA outs, FireWire, and tons of USB love. Oh, and the official nVidia driver works like a charm. Sweet! (The only thing that hasn’t run out-of-the-box is the built-in audio controller. Oh well.) $100.
- CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Dual Core Processor. 2.5GHz, 2x512KB, 1GHz Bus. $130.
- Memory: 4x1GB via OCZ OCZ2G8002GK DDR2-800 PC2-6400 kits. $175 total (after MIR).
- Drives: 4x500GB Western Digital Caviar SE 16 WD5000AAKS 7200RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s for the ZFS data volume. $450. (Old, small, slow and cheap PATA disks reused for the system volume. FMV ~$25.)
- Optical Drive: Reused old typical IDE DVD-ROM. FMV ~$20.
- Case: Reused typical ATX tower w/450 watt PSU. FMV ~$80.
- Peripherals: Reused optical mouse and keyboard. FMV ~$20.
Total: $1,000. Nice!
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