Dell PowerEdge R610

[HesCalledTheStig]

I have a friend that found one of these at a yard sale and offered it to me. He says it powers on and posts but has no hard disks.  Here are my questions.  First, can I run any 2.5in hdd/ssd’s in this?  And second, can any OS be installed or does it need to be an actual server OS?  I just thought it would be a fun project to build a gaming PC out of an old rack server or make a simple NAS. 

[Lurick]

Yes, you can use normal SSDs/HDDs in this. I've done it many times with mine

Any OS for the most part although if you use a consumer copy of Windows it might have issues (Home/Pro instead of Server) but you can always give it a shot before putting a license key in.

[HesCalledTheStig]

Just now, Lurick said:

Yes, you can use normal SSDs/HDDs in this. I've done it many times with mine

Any OS for the most part although if you use a consumer copy of Windows it might have issues (Home/Pro instead of Server) but you can always give it a shot before putting a license key in.

So if I get a copy of Windows server edition I’ll save myself some headaches?  Will that edition support everything a home/pro version would?  Like would I still be able to run any software I wanted or would it limit me?  Sorry for the dumb questions. This is my first server project. A bit of a learning experience. 

[Lurick]

11 minutes ago, HesCalledTheStig said:

So if I get a copy of Windows server edition I’ll save myself some headaches?  Will that edition support everything a home/pro version would?  Like would I still be able to run any software I wanted or would it limit me?  Sorry for the dumb questions. This is my first server project. A bit of a learning experience. 

No such dumb questions

Honestly I would just boot an ISO of Windows Pro first and see if things work, if not then think about getting a copy of Windows server.

The other option would be Proxmox or EXSi as a hypervisor and THEN run VMs of whatever you want on top of that without issue. It's a bit more advanced but cleaner setup imo.

 

Edit:

Remember "server" is just a role moreso than the hardware. A desktop PC build could be a server if you wanted it to.

[Needfuldoer]

1 hour ago, HesCalledTheStig said:

I just thought it would be a fun project to build a gaming PC out of an old rack server or make a simple NAS. 

The Rx10 line are very old Nehalem servers, so temper your expectations accordingly and don't get too financially invested in buying parts for it. (Not many of the parts from this generation carried forward to the Rx20 and Rx30 generations.)

 

It's great as a first homelab machine, and for getting your feet wet with TrueNAS or Unraid. If you decide you want an always-on NAS, a newer desktop will run circles around it and eventually pay for itself in power savings (vs running the R610 24/7).

[wseaton]

I think you should have left it at the yard sale. 

 

Assuming the onboard SATA ports are type III vs II you might have trouble properly detecting newer SSDs properly. Assuming there's a RAID card in it most of these have PERC 6/i  or 300s in them - basically Intel RST , and those are utter rubbish. Also a fire hazard with the aging battery pack. If it has a higher end PERC it might be worth spinning up. Again, good luck getting them to detect a newer SSD properly.

 

The Xeon 5500 / 5600 ranked up there with an Etch-A-Sketch or Light-Brite in terms of CPU power. They were P4 killers...not much else.

 

These older Dell servers were built to last eons and their dual PSU config was what really made them popular. They will outlive us all, and are very efficient at converting 115VAC to thermal energy.

 

A $50 refurb business PC would be a much better NAS box.

 

 

[Needfuldoer]

3 hours ago, wseaton said:

These older Dell servers were built to last eons and their dual PSU config was what really made them popular. They will outlive us all, and are very efficient at converting 115VAC to thermal energy.

To be fair, that's just Nehalem in general. Even a Mac Pro or HP Z800 with dual X5675s will get toasty. Sandy Bridge (Rx20) and Haswell (Rx30) were huge leaps forward in terms of power efficiency and density.

 

That's the biggest reason I stopped tinkering with the R610s, R710, Z600, Z800, and 2950 III that used to make up my homelab. The machines themselves were cheap as free, but they guzzled power.