[Gloucs] Home desktop-server CPU

[Andrew Oakley]

What are folks' opinions on a good Intel LGA775 CPU for 24x7 server and light desktop use? The main consideration is reliability, low heat and near-silent fan noise.
 
I have an aging AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (2GHz single core) plus aging motherboard, RAM and AGP graphics card, which ran Red Hat and now runs Ubuntu LTS very nicely, very reliable. But recently I've come to the opinion that it is too slow, and the RAM and CPU are maxed out on that architecture. So, new motherboard, CPU and RAM, and hopefully I can get away with onboard graphics.
 
I use this as both my primary desktop machine, mostly for browsing websites and email, and as a home server. It runs 24x7x365 and I connect to it on an ADSL static IP when out and about. It also acts as a Samba fileserver for the house (2xRAID1 pairs) and as a NAT bandwidth-throttling firewall router for my public WiFi hotspot.
 
Recently I have noticed that complex web pages such as Facebook or Youtube run slow on this machine. Also I occasionally want to transcode video files, which kills performance.
 
I have a budget of £150 and need:
 
* An Intel LGA775 motherboard (beacuse i7 is still too expensive)
 
* Hopefully Intel onboard graphics. Have used this with Compiz on my laptop and it's fine. I don't intend to play games on this machine.
 
* 4 gigs of RAM (because it's only a fiver more than 2 gigs, so why settle for less?)
 
* A new LGA775 CPU, ideally something that can handle video transcoding + web browsing at the same time.
 
I'd guess 60 quid on the CPU, 60 quid on the motherboard and 30 quid on the RAM.
 
Any suggestions? The CPU is my main problem consideration. It must not require any complicated cooling systems, it must be reliable with a stock or quiet cooler. Sometimes people sleep in the same room so fan noise must be minimal. I'd happily sacrifice transcoding speed for quietness, reliability and multitasking ability.
 
The tower case, PSU etc. are all up to the job (both far newer than the mobo/CPU), and in any case my budget won't stretch to replace them for a while.
 
Also, can I just replace the mobo/CPU/RAM and boot back up with exactly the same hard drives, without needing to reinstall?
 
If I need to re-install anyway, I'll probably go with a 64-bit version of Ubuntu. Anyone with any experience of 64-bit Debian-based distros care to comment?
 
Andrew Oakley
Head of Software Development
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)
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