RE: The Best Platform For Small Business Server 2003

Microsoft’s Small Business Server 2003 allows even small organizations to implement servers that provide big organization benefits. We discuss tips and ideas for balancing power, price and priorities.

[Via Tom’s Hardware Guide: Articles]

A nice SBS article that highlights the impact dual core technology on low cost server solutions. I have been really interested in dual core systems since I know that dual cpu systems work well with SBS. I run an old dual 700 MHz CPU server with SBS Premium. I originally ran the system with a single CPU since I am pretty price sensitive on a home server. When I bought a second CPU off of Ebay I was impressed with the performance improvement. The second CPU reduced the processing queue since the applications like Exchange and SQL Server are designed for multi-processors. My best guess is that a dual CPU/core system will degrade nicely under heavier loads. The Pentium D processor is particularly attractive at this price point since dual Xeon processors are more than twice as expensive. This extends the low cost servers to a slightly larger sized user base with adequate response time.