Hi,

I'm looking to pick up a dedicated server from Rackspace. I plan on hosting about 70 sites to start with another 30-40 being added shortly. Most are brochureware, but I would like the server to be able to handle e-commerce sites, a few bulletin boards, and some other PHP-based apps.

The specs and price I'm looking at are:
OS - RedHat 7.2
Processor - PIII 1.26Ghz (on a dual board)
Memory - 512Mb
Hard Drive - 18Gb SCSI
Backup - 18Gb SCSI (weekly via Bounce)
Plesk - 100 domain license
Transfer - 30 Gb/month

For a 12 month contract it's $613.70/month with a $361 set up fee.

I can upgrade to a dual PIII 1.26 system for an additional $80/mo, I can upgrade to 1Gb of memory for $42.00/mo, and I can downgrade the drives to 20Gb EIDE drives and save $70/mo/drive. I can also go for a system with either a single or dual AMD 1.67 Ghz - the single is $170 cheaper than the single Pentium and the dual is $80 cheaper than the dual Pentium.

So here are my questions:
1) Does the system I've outlined above look like it can handle my current and future needs?
2) Is the upgrade to dual processor and a full Gig of RAM worth it? (Will I see a noticeable performance boost?)
3) Which is better (faster and more reliable) the AMDs or the Pentiums?
4) If I downgrade the drives, will I see a noticeable decrease in performance? The sales rep indicated it might be a good idea to use a SCSI for the main drive and an EIDE drive for the backup.
5) Lastly, I understand that Rackspace prices are high and I'm not looking for a cheaper deal from another company, but is the deal I'm getting from this Rackspace sales rep a good deal? Or, should I push for waiving the set up fee, tossing in the processor and memory upgrades, etc.? If anyone out there has picked up a similar system from them recently, I'd love to know what kind of deal you got.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

I would definatly not use a scsi for a backup solution. Aside from that, the price looks high, and i would opt for AMD as with rackspace, you know its not gonna break, if it does, they'll have it instant fixed, and you'll get a lot more kick for a lot less $$$, and theres nothing wrong with that :D.

By your response, I'm guessing that the AMD's are faster but less reliable, is that right?

some people think that. AMD's are typically faster, but most configurations are less reliable as AMD's can be put together with dirt cheap hardware. When using bad hardware, any system can be made unrealible, AMD's are just more prone to this. If properly assembled they should be no less reliable then a p3.