RE: Opinons?

You definitely want duals vs. a single CPU.  Dual 3.2s should be quite
nice.  At a $200 bump over 3GHz chips, it's reasonable.  The other price
bumps are definitely dimishing returns and probably wouldn't be
worthwhile.

Leave the other components unchanged.  Or drop the disk to 2 mirrored
300GB 10K drives.  Less power/heat/noise but more capacity.  A little
less performance as well, but probably not so much less that it'll
matter that much to you.

How will it be backed up?  If data sets are small, tweak the CD to a DVD
burner.  Or pick up a used SCSI tape drive (does it have an external
SCSI port?).  Or over-the-wire to your iSeries.

Which xSeries model is it?


For OS handling, I would suggest checking out the VMWare Technology
Network subscription at $299 a year (
http://www.vmware.com/products/vplatform/vmtn_features.html ).  It gives
you developer licenses for all VMWare stuff and you could then run both
Windows 2003 & Linux concurrently.  Key is it's meant for developers
only, which is exactly what you're after.

BTW, when buying Windows 2003, or any version of Windows, if you're not
getting it dirticus cheapicus with the server, you can probably save a
bundle by getting the OEM version.  Identical to the retail, but must be
purcahsed with hardware.  Most places include some trivial piece of
hardware, like a power splitter cable or even just a case screw, to mee
the obligation.  Like this:
http://www.buycheapsoftware.com/details.asp?productID=1132&cid=71