Best Place to Buy a Second Hand Server?

algy on 06/11/2015 - 22:16
Last edited 06/11/2015 - 22:41

I am currently using my 'gaming' machine as a server running Arch Linux, but I'm finishing my final exams and will be able to play games again, meaning I won't be able to use it as my server.
Generally I run a plex server and transmission (~ 1k torrents). What can I replace it with? Are there some cheap second-hand servers that I can buy - where would I source them? Ebay? I am currently using 2 main drives and an SSD for boot, I would like some room to expand as I'm currently ~100GB away from being out of space.
Here's a screenfetch - http://i.imgur.com/A3PwZ33.png

EDIT: I remember something about 1U servers on eBay like this (http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601…) is that a good idea these days?

Computing

Comments

  • Thrawn on 06/11/2015 - 23:15
    +1

    Be careful with datacenter oriented servers as they tend to have extremely loud fans.

    Home servers, the main concerns are:
    - Power efficiency, especially at idle. (every 10 watts costs $20 a year running 24/7)
    - For storage, sufficient SATA ports and room for HDDs. If going ZFS, needs 8GB RAM (preferably ECC) and decent CPU
    - Plex needs CPU power for transcoding… the more, the better
    - Virtualization lab if you're going to do that, you'd want cores and lots of RAM
    - Suitably sized case.

    There's a lot of secondhand old stuff that is very cheap but still quite powerful. Problem though is their power efficiency is usually pretty poor.

  • Diji1 on 07/11/2015 - 07:45

    You can check out Mason Grey Strange (IT is often part of the lots) and Pickles (IT auctions around the middle of every month) for IT auctions. Or Gumtree and other classifieds.

    Otherwise set alerts on Ebay and exercise patience and exercise buyer beware - for example ATM I want to build a rig so I can run 2 or 3 VMs at once to seperate my online identities and increase my security.

    So I picked up 2 x Xeon X5520 for $11. So then I need a mobo … only dual CPU mobo that's a "good" price is HP Z800 for $99. But if I get that mobo it requires a particularly rare case standard (HPTX) and a custom power connector. But then I can get past that because some guy did a guide on drilling more mounting holes and so on … just trying to make sue you realise that if you didn't research properly and you buy using auctions you can end up with major lemons and the rules are once you pay you have no recourse in the case of not doing good researcrh ;)

    Edit: Come to think of it I know people who run Plex and torrent on NAS type setups which may suit you a lot better.

    • Thrawn on 07/11/2015 - 08:44
      +1

      Problem with the old Xeon setups is the awful idle wattage. That Z800 idles at over 150 watts. A single CPU 2600K idles at about 50 watts and is roughly comparable in performance even at stock. That 100 watt difference is $200/year on a 24/7 setup.

  • [Deactivated] on 08/11/2015 - 21:52

    Do you really want a rack server? Could you just use something like the HP N54L?

    • algy on 08/11/2015 - 22:22

      I thought they would just be good value for money and that the microserver's would be underpowered, do you think they would be ok?

      • [Deactivated] on 09/11/2015 - 10:53

        For Plex and torrents yeah

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