Right now I use an old Dell compaq (i3 3220, 12GB RAM, small SSD + 2TB HDD)
I use it for Owncloud, game hosting and automatic media management.
I want to upgrade to something more solid and with parity so I can actually use it for more than movies that I would be sad when lost but nothing world-ending. Plan is to use TrueNAS and throw maybe 4x 8TB drives in there with raidz1 with thy ability to add more later. And move all my docker stacks there.
I found a local seller of old refurbished servers and the prices and capabilities look very good but I want to go through reddit homelab experts first.
some of the good looking listings listings: (Prices converted from CZK to EUR)
- Dell PowerEdge R610 12-Core 2.26 GHz Low Power ( 2x 6-Core L5640 | 8 GB | 6x SFF | 6/I | iDRAC6 | 4x 1Gb Ethernet ) - 74€
- IBM System x3630 M3 12-Core 2.26 GHz Low Power ( 2x 6-Core L5640 | 16+ GB | 14 disků 3.5" | ServeRAID M5015 | IMM port | 2x 1Gb Ethernet ) - 102€
- Dell PowerEdge R620 12-Core 2.00 GHz Low Power ( 2x 6-Core E5-2630L | 16+ GB RAM | 8/10 disků 2.5" | 1Gb/10Gb | Ethernet/SFP+ ) - 139€
- Dell PowerEdge R510 12-Core 2.27 GHz Low Power ( 2x 6-Core Intel L5640 | 16 GB | 12x LFF | H700 | iDRAC6 | 2x 1Gb Ethernet ) - 167€
- Dell PowerEdge R620 v2 12-Core 2.40 GHz Low Power ( 2x 6-Core E5-2630Lv2 | 16+ GB RAM | 8/10 disků 2.5" | 1Gb/10Gb | Ethernet/SFP+ ) - 198€
and many, many more (you can check the link above).
Big plus is most of them have 2 year warranty.
Questions:
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Are they worth it? Can I find something better elsewhere?
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power consumption is bad right? :D. Could I turn one CPU off or take one out entirely?
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noise - can the fans be adjusted so it's actually usable somewhere where people live. Or can I upgrade the fans to something more manageable?
Those aren’t worth it imo. Those specs are pretty bad for the price. As someone who has a server like that (although newer specs), it is pretty expensive to run, sitting at between 100-200$ a month in electricity if run non-stop, granted I live in an area with higher-than-average electricity prices. Taking out 1 CPU will be negligible on power, but have drastic impact on performance. Another consideration is storage, which will be expensive with enterprise 2.5” drives, so be aware of that. Fans in dell servers (or at least the one I own) tend to be quiet if configured to use low fan speeds when under low load. I used to have one in my dorm room under my bed, and I could barely hear the fan whine when trying to sleep, but I could drown it out with a box fan or quiet music