I'm trying to put together a server that's primary purpose will be a
GNU/Linux MySQL server. Here is the specs I've decided on...

- 1 x SR2520SAXSRNA - Case/motherboard
- 1 x BX80574E5440P/A - Xeon E5440 (active or passive cooled?)
- 8 x KVR667D2D4F5/2GI - Ram (16GB total)
- 4 x ST3146856SS - Four SAS drives for RAID10 (mysql data dir)
- 2 x ST31000340AS - Mirrored 1000GB SATA drives for everything else

Questions are as follows:

1) How do I decide whether to go with a passively or actively cooled
processor?

2) Some people are telling me that mixing SAS and SATA drives on the same
controller with this system with force the SAS drives to run at the speed of
the SATA drives. Is this true even if they aren't mixed in an array?

3) Is there actually room in this server for all size drives? They needn't
be hot swap accessible. (hot swap access is only 4 drives).

4) This doesn't relate to intel, but what is the difference between an
ST3146356SS and a ST3146355SS?

5) Is this actually a complete system?