buy a server or use a hosting plan?

[supermanjnk]

I currently host a couple sites for small business of friends/families. These are the specs of the system it's running on:

AMD ATHLON 2700
512MB DDR 2700 (one dimm)
120gb 7200RPM IDE HDD
10/100 NIC

However I also use this machine for all my other computing needs (gaming, photoshop, ect.)

I'm currently running out of a 3mb down 314kb up, however it's cable so the speed fluxuates. I'd like to get a stand alone machine to use as the webserver, and what i'm wondering is how much power should I have?

I'd like to get at least a dual processor with 2 gigs of ram, other then that I don't have any idea what to get. (i'm considering a low end poweredge server from dell)

my other option is to get a hosting plan (which costs monthly) but would save me from having to maintain the server.

[moishe]

You can host 20 web sites for $20 a month.....

I have looked at doing my own hosting, my business partner was the head admin for an isp so it is certainly do-able, but why. Even cheap hosting accounts provide UPS systems, backup generators and redundant internet connections.

But if you are set on doing it yourself watch Dells website, I have seen some killer deals on thos Poweredge servers you mentioned and with a switch you could just run both boxes on 1 monitor/kb/mouse.

[tolachi]

The poweredge servers are solid, but I don't see any point in getting a nice server if you aren't going to put it behind some screaming bandwidth. If you are going to keep things at home behind cable or a T1 why not save a few bucks and get a solid lesser known brand of box?

[SEOMike]

tolachi has a good point. There's no need for an enterprise type server for light use. You can get a nice "out of the box" server for around $800.

[raptorix]

I did build my own server last year with the following specs:

-Intel Pentium 4 2,40GHz (S478, 512KB, 800Mhz FSB, Boxed)
-Mainboard: SuperMicro P4SCE Intel 875P 2x LAN VGA S-ATA
-2x Kingston 512MB DDR 400MHz ECC DIMM CL3 (3-3-3)
-2x Western Digital Raptor WD360GD, 36GB (10000rpm, SATA, 8MB)
-1x Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9, 120GB (7200rpm, ATA133, 2MB)
-Case: 2U Procase IPC-C2R

I think you shouldn't save on a decent mainboard, mine was about 360 euro but then you have all onboard, like 2 gigabit connections, raid controller, videocard.

I think i did spent about 1600 euro on it, but i think the money is spend good.

[FourDegreez]

It would also depend on the type of sites. Are they vanilla HTML or dynamic and database driven? I put my own server together with dual Athlon MPs because my pages are dynamic and CPU intensive. But that's probably overkill for a lot of people. I know some people out there are running servers with cheap and outdated Celerons with no problem. Unless your pages are CPU intensive, your bandwidth will be the limiting factor, not the server.