Any Network Administrators/IT Techs out there? Need advise...

[Eric5273]

I'm purchasing new computers for my company and I need some advise. I'm fairly knowledgeable about computers, but it's been over 5 years since we purchased a server, so I'm not familiar with all the new server hardware.

Background: We are a small business, have a server and 4 workstations, and mostly use Microsoft Office programs, including a large Microsoft Access database. Our email & website are hosted elsewhere.

I know what I need as far as workstations. Where I need help is the server. I am looking at Dell's low end servers, and while I understand the various options, I'm not sure what is actually necessary and what would be overkill. So I have some questions:

1) Processor: My options are (from cheapest to most expensive):

Pentium 4
Dual Core Pentium D
Xeon
Dual Core Xeon

The Dual Core Pentium D, and the regular Xeon both will cost around the same. The Dual Core Xeon is quite a bit more expensive. I really have no idea what the differences are between these. They all seem to have similar clock speeds. I do see that the Xeons have faster FSB speeds. I also see that the FSB speed various within each processor type and you can spend a few hundred extra just on getting a faster FSB speed. Any recommendations?

2) RAM: The Dell salesperson is recommending 2 GB RAM. Is that overkill and would we really notice a difference over 1 GB considering we only have 4 workstations?

3) Hard Drive Array: I want to get a RAID 1 system, as I like the security of knowing that a hard drive failure will not cause us any headaches. Last time around we got a SCSI RAID system, but now I see that they also have a SATA system RAID 1 system. Again, considering the size of our network, will we notice any real speed difference between the two? The cost to go with the SCSI system is about $600 additional, so unless the difference will be very noticeable, I'd rather not spend the money. Also, if we go for the SCSI, there is a more expensive controller that has "hardware RAID" as opposed to "software RAID" on the cheaper controller. On a system this small, will there be any difference between those two?


Thanks for any advise.