Sorry about the blank post... new here.

I'm going to take a bit of an issue with your article's conclusions. While you may be able to compete with OEMs from a performance perspective you seem to have missed a major issue.

We went through the same analysis when we decided to upgrade our internal LAN servers at my workplace. While the requirements for web servers and LAN servers are somewhat different I think one issue is applicable to your web server article.

Something you didn't address is maintainability. You chose great components for a server that should last you years. Unfortunately, if that mobo dies it's possible that you may not be able to find an exact replacement a couple of years down the road. This is a huge problem because of that integrated RAID controller. Some other RAID controller, even from the same manufacturer, may not be able to just plug in and work with the data you have on those drives. Slight implimentation differences between models and manufacturers would most likely mean that you would have to have an exact replacement for that controller to have those drives come up again without a full reformat, OS install and config, and data restore. That's also assuming your manufacturer is still around in two years...

The availability of "legacy" replacement parts is one very good reason to pay more for a brand-name server. When I order a Dell, Compaq, or IBM server, part of the premium I pay is the certain knowledge that they keep a stock of exact replacement parts for years and they can get them to me quickly.

Should my RAID controller die a few years from now, I know I can order an exact replacement from my vendor, plug it in, and get my server back up quickly, even if that RAID card is 4 years old. You will not be able to do that with your server so when (not if) something fails, it will be down longer while you work out compatability issues with replacement parts.

There's nothing wrong with the server you built but there's more to it than just price and performance. The more valuable your uptime the more you'll be willing to pay for your server and the better some of those OEMs begin to look.

Have a nice day,

Varek B