Congrats! At 16, I only had a 486DX2-66 with a 28.8K modem and a UPS. For other teenagers and teenagers-in-spirit to accomplish this feat: - Search for used e

Congrats! At 16, I only had a 486DX2-66 with a 28.8K modem and a UPS. For other teenagers and teenagers-in-spirit to accomplish this feat: - Search for used enterprise servers on eBay. HP, Lenovo, Dell, and Supermicro are the typical brands to choose from. - Before purchase, find the specification docs, drivers, and firmware on the specific model to be sure it's something that's complete and usable, or can be completed for reasonable $$. - If you plan on running XenServer or VMware ESXi to then run multiple virtual machines on it, make sure the hardware is compatible by checking the OS hardware compatibility list (HCL) before buying it. - Avoid 1U servers because they're louder than 2U+ designs due to having to use shorter, smaller fans that spin very fast. - Make sure the CPU is at least as fast as a computer you own, or it might be a very expensive doorstop or an oversized "Raspberry PI": https://www.cpubenchmark.net https://www.cpubenchmark.net - There is a gotcha with Dell, Lenovo, and HP servers using AMD CPUs where they are vendor locked. The plus side is sometimes sellers offer locked CPUs cheap enough that it makes sense. - ECC RAM. Friends don't let friends drive non-ECC RAM. https://cr.yp.to/hardware/ecc.html https://cr.yp.to/hardware/ecc.html - SSD. Because spinning rust is for storage, not the OS. https://web.archive.org/web/20110831080738/http://buyafuckingssd.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20110831080738/http://buyafuckin... - Try to get something with lights-out remote management (iLO or iDRAC) if it's already licensed. - When received, it's probably going to be dirty and have some scratches. Open it up and clean it with compressed air outside. - Bonus points: Convince the parental unit(s) to put a 19" patch panel and half rack in the garage. :]