[ryurek]

Hey all,
Building a computer for work. Needs to be run 24 hours a day. Typically our systems last about 2-3 years. I'm hoping to better this average by at least a year or so.

There's a lot of new technology out here that I really don't think I need to care about. Should I care if it's a SATA or PATA drive? Speed isn't a requirement, just has to last long and have a cost benifit of building ourselves as opposed to just buying at local store.

We'll probably end up with DDR for memory, just because it's not going to be easy to find SDRAM in 3 years when it goes. Video card just needs to be a quality dual head. No big graphics capabilities requirements. Again, endurance is what we're after.

I want a good quality MB with a nice processor that will last. PS only needs to be enough to keep it running well.

Any recomendations on what I should be looking at? I want to start with MB and Processor and work from there.

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Its not PATA its IDE or ATA(sorry its one of those things that bugs me), yes there is a difference theres a significant performance boost on SATA drives compared to IDE and they are usually cheaper as well for the better sizes.

For quality mobos that are cheap i would try MSI or Gigabyte with a vanilla nf4. And then probably a 3000+ venice if you dont want speed its the cheapest, really depends on what you want to use the system for specifically.

Im not going to look up parts for you, you can do that yourself. We technically arent supposed to help for business use we are here to help home users.

[warriorscot]

Its not PATA its IDE or ATA(sorry its one of those things that bugs me), yes there is a difference theres a significant performance boost on SATA drives compared to IDE and they are usually cheaper as well for the better sizes.

For quality mobos that are cheap i would try MSI or Gigabyte with a vanilla nf4. And then probably a 3000+ venice if you dont want speed its the cheapest, really depends on what you want to use the system for specifically.

Im not going to look up parts for you, you can do that yourself. We technically arent supposed to help for business use we are here to help home users.

[Neil Jones]

There is no guarantee that a system will last for three years, its the luck of the draw. Whatever you buy will die at some point for any one of a number of reasons - it could die three months down the line, it could die three years down the line, it could die twenty three years down the line.

Plus of course if you're running it 24/7, the chances of it getting affected by power fluctuations, brownouts, surges, etc go up. Most boards just aren't designed to run 24/7, though most of them will.

Anyway, hardware wise, all (new) systems are DDR memory now, plus in three years time everything will have changed again so there's no fully futureproof solution. There never has been and there probably never will be.

[ryurek]

The types of RAM, MB and Processors is what I was looking for, thank you. I will have to look into SATA drives a bit to find one that meets the requirements.

As for business, I can understand and respect that stipulation. I won't ask anymore about this. Unfortunately they figure I'm the geekiest guy here so they give me the additional duty of computer maintenance/building instead of hiring someone who actually does it for a living. Small town government mentality, what can I say? I appreciate the direction you've faced me, thanks.

[-=blaster=-]

Look for parts with the longer warantees, if it does fail, it won't cost but the shipping to replace. And, if possible, obtain some spare parts when the purchase is made to minimize downtime when something fails.

Notice the "when".