Looking to buy or build a home server

[kmote]

My advice would be to build a quad core machine with a single CPU and lots of RAM.
The mobo, case and PSU will depend on how your storage is configured (which you said could change in the future). I think it is quite unlikely that you will have any more than 4 HDDs and a DVD-RW so an m-ATX mobo, 450W PSU (think about the connectors), and a mid-size case will be adequate.

 

[znullz]

I absolutely appreciate your help! I wasn't quite sure if building a dedicated server was any different than building a home pc or not. It seems as if it is not and all I have to do is throw windows server on it.

Would it be worth looking into eco friendly hardware or would this start to interfere with my performance? I can also assume this will make the rig much more costly to build.

 

[kmote]

Building a server is only different to building a desktop in that your priorities are different. Hardware and software are ways of realising those priorities but your budget will limit your options here. Unless you are a student or otherwise able to get MS Server at a vastly reduced price, Server 08 will take a considerable portion of your budget.

 

[znullz]

I have found both of these systems via craigslist. Would they work for what I want to do?

First one is a :

IBM x3400

Has a 1.86ghz quad core xeon processor
Two 300gb 15k SAS drives
16GB (8x2gb) DDR2 ECC Memory (upgraded)
Dual power supplies
DAT Tape drive with controller (no tapes)
DVD Burner (Upgraded)

650$ price tag. Maybe able to talk down to 600.

Second is a :

HP ML350 G3

Two 2.2ghz Xeon Processors
1.5g ram
Two 36gb 15,000rpm drives
Two 146gb 15,000pm drives
10/100/1000 network
Dvd-Rom
Tape Drive

And he is asking 250$ obo.

The second one is a good price for me and it has a 2.2 Xeon(I was told this is equal to 4 processors some how?) where as the first has a 1.86. Minecraft (java) can only use one core so I thought maybe the 2.2 would be better to handle the high processing load. The only problem is it has a ram cap of 8gb. The first one is in price range but if I do not need all of that power for what I am using it for it would be a waste of money. Again, I plan on using it for the game server , backup, and streaming. The most traffic it would get at once is the game server and sharing a movie with a pc/laptop. I looked over what hosting a web page would require and it just simply isn't going to happen. lol.

Also, that is copy and pasted, could you explain the DAT Tape drive with controller (no tapes) + Tape Drive to me?

Ty you again for your responses!

 

[uzi9mm]

After reading your post, maybe you should look into building just a normal tower.

After all a server is defined by:
Reliability
Redundancy
And Performance


I would just get a mid range quad, with a decent power supply, a SSD based storage for the OS and APP's, a cheap SATA drive for storing movies+music. 4GB+ of ram and that should do it. And I would hook it up to a UPS (something to keep it running for at least an hour or two during an outage)

And keeping tabs on it with maybe VNC to remotely control it.