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Rack mount servers have hidden costs. Sitting next to what sounds like a swarm of drones for one. Enterprise pricing for replacement parts is the other. (Dells

Rack mount servers have hidden costs. Sitting next to what sounds like a swarm of drones for one. Enterprise pricing for replacement parts is the other. (Dells have worked out for me ok, but not without having to replace backplanes and other parts immediately.)

RecycledEle 3y ago
Workstations are (to me, magic) computers that use server processors and server RAM in kind of normal PC cases. Check out HP z440 and z840 systems on eBay (fleabay?) and Amazon.
- organsnyder 3y ago
  All my recent additions to my homelab have been Dell Poweredge SFP systems. Businesses use them for a few years and then upgrading, so they're always available. I do make sure to get ones that have a PCIe slot so I can add a 10gbps card.
  - RecycledEle 3y ago
    > All my recent additions to my homelab have been Dell Poweredge SFP systems. When I read that, I assumed Dell had a line of servers I did not know about. After a few days, I doubt that that is the case. SFP means "Small Form-Factor Pluggable" in my world. It's a connector on a NIC or on a router that lets you pick the physical media you want and then install a SFP adapter. What did you mean to say before spell-check garbled it? Or, am I mistaken?
    - organsnyder 3y ago
      Oh! I meant SFF (small form-factor) desktops (to which I add SFP+ cards—that must have been where my mind was).
tombert 3y ago
Counting my blessings, but I never had to replace any parts on them. They used boring SATA drives, which I had a few spares of even at the time. The bigger issues were the noise and the heat and power consumption. Not only did they take upwards of a kilowatt of power each, but being Texas I also had to take into the account the increased cost of air conditioning. I was only bitten by that one month where my power bill was like $150 more than usual, and from that point on I was vigilant about turning the servers off between uses.
RuggedPineapple 3y ago
>Sitting next to what sounds like a swarm of drones for one. When I was in high school I (for reasons I can't really remember) ended up being given a dual P3 rack server. I ran that as my primary machine for 2 years. We called it 'the Hurricane'.
teddyh 3y ago
I stopped considering Dell servers when they started requiring Dell branded hard drives in their newer server models.
- jstarfish 3y ago
  That's the sort of shenanigans I've come to expect from the likes of HP. Sad to hear Dell does it now too. Thanks for the heads up.
bombcar 3y ago
Old enterprise hardware was a godsend in college, where airconditioning and power was included in room and board. And since we were in the old dorms, nobody cared, even when one room was running A/C in the middle of (admittedly mild) winter ...

RecycledEle 3y ago

Workstations are (to me, magic) computers that use server processors and server RAM in kind of normal PC cases. Check out HP z440 and z840 systems on eBay (fleabay?) and Amazon.

organsnyder 3y ago
All my recent additions to my homelab have been Dell Poweredge SFP systems. Businesses use them for a few years and then upgrading, so they're always available. I do make sure to get ones that have a PCIe slot so I can add a 10gbps card.
- RecycledEle 3y ago
  > All my recent additions to my homelab have been Dell Poweredge SFP systems. When I read that, I assumed Dell had a line of servers I did not know about. After a few days, I doubt that that is the case. SFP means "Small Form-Factor Pluggable" in my world. It's a connector on a NIC or on a router that lets you pick the physical media you want and then install a SFP adapter. What did you mean to say before spell-check garbled it? Or, am I mistaken?
  - organsnyder 3y ago
    Oh! I meant SFF (small form-factor) desktops (to which I add SFP+ cards—that must have been where my mind was).

tombert 3y ago

Counting my blessings, but I never had to replace any parts on them. They used boring SATA drives, which I had a few spares of even at the time. The bigger issues were the noise and the heat and power consumption. Not only did they take upwards of a kilowatt of power each, but being Texas I also had to take into the account the increased cost of air conditioning. I was only bitten by that one month where my power bill was like $150 more than usual, and from that point on I was vigilant about turning the servers off between uses.

RuggedPineapple 3y ago

>Sitting next to what sounds like a swarm of drones for one. When I was in high school I (for reasons I can't really remember) ended up being given a dual P3 rack server. I ran that as my primary machine for 2 years. We called it 'the Hurricane'.

teddyh 3y ago

I stopped considering Dell servers when they started requiring Dell branded hard drives in their newer server models.

jstarfish 3y ago
That's the sort of shenanigans I've come to expect from the likes of HP. Sad to hear Dell does it now too. Thanks for the heads up.

bombcar 3y ago

Old enterprise hardware was a godsend in college, where airconditioning and power was included in room and board. And since we were in the old dorms, nobody cared, even when one room was running A/C in the middle of (admittedly mild) winter ...