New Server Config/Build Help

What should I buy?

[carfac]

Hi:

I am about to pop for a new web server. There are a couple ways I can go. Price between the options is not much of an issue, just want to make sure I get the right thing. So, any advice is welcome!

Basic server info. This is to replace a Celeron 1000. Mainly static, low-hit web pages. However, I also use it to serve ads on a mid-traffic-level site (about Alexa 30,000). The ad server uses mod_perl, and has a front server/mod_perl back config.

Server runs FreeBSD 4.6 currently, will up that to FreeBSD 5.3. Apache is server software.

My first choice is between an Intel Pentium 4 and a Xeon. The 4 has a 400 FSB @ 2.4, or 800 FSB @ 2.8. The Xeon has a FSB of 533 @ 2.4 or 2.8. Any advantage to the Xeon over the plain vanilla 4?

The 4 can get SATA or SCSI, the Xeon ONLY SCSI. A bit of price bonus to SATA, if a 4 is fine. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks!

Dave

[jollymcfats]

You can go multi-processor with some Xeon boards, and you can also get the 64 bit extended version to go over 4GB of RAM. If you see your mod_perl needing even more RAM, or growing to use an object cache like memcached, I'd go with a Xeon with some expansion room.

If the Xeon has got a slot, you can always put an IDE controller in it. The choice of disk isn't going to impact much unless you're doing lots of writes.