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Apologies if this is not the correct place to ask.

I want to buy a used small scale server for personal use at home. My spending limit is around 60-70 bucks. What are my options? Any sites I should look at? What are the things I need to keep in mind while buying a used one? (apart from processing power, memory, storage) Also any company preference? I've heard DELL has better ones.

I want to experiment with it and learn - basic motive.

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you mean 600-700 yea ? – Sirex Oct 8 '10 at 9:28
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If not this is a troll. Voting to close based on that. Rethorical - there is no hardware for that price. – TomTom Oct 8 '10 at 9:58
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@TomTom, you are wrong. I picked up a HP DL380 G3 a year or so ago for about $50 on eBay. While old hardware, it is plenty good used enterprise hardware. Dual-everything and takes up to 6 Ultra320 disks. Disks come separately. – gWaldo Oct 8 '10 at 13:18
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Just be aware that 1) Hard drives are going to be extra, and a good chance that they'll need Ultra320 drives, 2) check out the model and find out how many power supplies, fans, processors, etc it can take and how many are included; If it takes dual power supplies, make sure yours comes with two, 3) Server hardware often needs server memory - ECC (fault tolerant) RAM. It'll be more expensive than normal desktop RAM. I think that's all the gotcha's. – gWaldo Oct 8 '10 at 17:56
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And as a general tip, if your computer can run on 240 power, and you have a 240 outlet, use that. Your computer will generate less heat. – gWaldo Oct 8 '10 at 18:00
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closed as off topic by Miles Erickson, Mark Henderson♦ Nov 14 '11 at 5:18

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2 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

eBay, Craigslist or local stores/friends/charity are going to be your only options at that budget. As for what to get, well again your budget doesn't give you much choice really - whatever you can get/find. Certainly HP/IBM/Dell make good servers and if you have a choice of kit then I'd side with them but given my mouse cost more than this you really will have to take what you can get.

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if the budget of 60-70 is correct, ebay is prolly the best bet - pref anything without p&p costs, but find something close by or it'll cost more than that in fuel. – Sirex Oct 8 '10 at 9:33
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It is worth noting that if you get a server with SAS/SCSI drives they can run you a pretty penny to replace, whereas the ide/sata drives will be more affordable for home use. Also, Craigslist has some great deals when local businesses move/close/consolidate and offload lots of equipment. I have purchased a few servers for the home for $25-$100 that are decent, upgrade the ram and they are rock solid for web development and home storage servers. – Chris Oct 8 '10 at 12:55
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time was when you could go on craigslist, get a P4/2GB/2x400GB and a half'n'half off an illegal immigrant for less than the price of a good meal - those were the days.... – Chopper3 Oct 8 '10 at 12:58
Sirex: thanks for a sane reply. – hari Oct 8 '10 at 17:03
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for 60-70 bucks, i would suggest you to get a virtual private server running in the cloud. There is a lot of providers, that you can get something like $70/year, with root access.. For $60/$70 you won't find a hardware that you can trust, so unless you really need/want something physical there, you should go to cloud.

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I don't see that as a good answer for "small server for personal use at home." If the OP wants something for movies, music, etc, a VPS is NOT the answer. – mfinni Oct 8 '10 at 14:00
Cloud is a no no. – hari Oct 8 '10 at 17:03
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he didn't explain why he needs a server, so vps is an option, for generic questions as he asked.. – VP. Oct 10 '10 at 13:58

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