Hello, I’m looking for a good first server for a homelab.
I do already have an old Dell poweredge 1950 I got for £30 but it’s:

  • Loud
  • Draws 350W
  • Costs too much to run
  • Only has 2 HDD slots
  • DRAC card needs Internet explorer

I’m not too bothered by the noise because I can just move it, but the electricity cost is quite ridiculous for something less powerful than my PC in every way.
I live in the UK so electricity prices are a huge factor for this.

My Ideal specs are:

  • ~16 cores (total)
  • >= 128GB RAM
  • ~100W idle power draw
  • >= 4 3.5" HDD bays
  • Preferably HBA mode on RAID card
  • £100-200
  • 2U

Is this completely unreasonable? I have found servers that match this all except the 3.5" bays and 2U.
Initially I found a Dell server with 128GB of RAM and two 12 core CPUs for about £200 but I realised it only has 2.5" bays.
There is a nice R720 on ebay I am watching but it will probably skyrocket near the end of the bid. Also, it probably draws a lot of power.
Any suggestions? do I just need to raise my price?
Thanks

  • @themoonisacheese
    link
    11 year ago

    Unfortunately for that price you’re completely dependant on thing being able to be sniped. Look into liquidation auctions, as they generally sell out of warranty really cheap servers.