Home virtualized server

[Reddax]

I'm wanting to build a home server for running numerous instances of windows in a virtualized environment for testing and recovery & a plex transcoding server

Because of this, it will need a beefy cpu to run multiple instances of windows.I feel that my options are of 2;

Upgrading my gaming pc and using the current i7-4790k for the server. (This will cost around £600 for the i7-8700k + new mboard + new ram for my gaming pc upgrade) as well as a new case and psu for the server which may make it around £700.

Or the other option is to look around, hotukdeals etc for a cheap pre-built server or build a new server from scratch, in which I would like recommendations on the best CPU's & parts for virtualization. It will also be used as a plex transcoding server. I need it to be power efficient also, so i feel that the latter option may be the best, especially as my gaming pc isn't being dragged down by the cpu yet.

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Do you want a faster gaming pc?

 

How many plex streams?

 

What does you need to do in the virtual windows vms?

 

What os?

 

Normally your ram limited before cpu limted with vms.

 

Id also look at something like a dell r710, cheap ram and lots of it(32gb max o the 4790k), upto 12 cores and a bit faster multithreaded performance.

 

 

[Reddax]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

 

Do you want a faster gaming pc?

I don't need one, really.The cpu isn't bottlenecked by my gtx 1080

 

How many plex streams?

I currently have the N54l server which is heavily struggling and cant cope with any sort of transcoding of plex, probably around a max of 2

 

What does you need to do in the virtual windows vms?

I'll be running a couple with SharePoint servers, and one dedicated to IIS hosting wordpress sites, plex.

 

What os?

Windows server 2016's

 

My current server N54l is currently heavily struggling to keep up with one OS and can't handle plex transcoding at all and wordpress hits hard, all bottlenecked by the cpu

 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

6 minutes ago, Reddax said:

 

Id just get a bigger server. How about a dell r710? 

 

Id get something like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-R710-Server-Intel-Quad-Core-Xeon-Dual-E5504-2-0-GHz-4-GB/263672397922?hash=item3d64198062:g:rTUAAOSwadda8qIO

 

and put more ram and cpu if you need it.

[Reddax]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id just get a bigger server. How about a dell r710? 

 

Id get something like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-R710-Server-Intel-Quad-Core-Xeon-Dual-E5504-2-0-GHz-4-GB/263672397922?hash=item3d64198062:g:rTUAAOSwadda8qIO

 

and put more ram and cpu if you need it.

I'd probably prefer something that allows 3.5" hard drives and quiter, like an acutal tower, as i have 4x 3.5" hard drives that i'll be moving into the new server.

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 minutes ago, Reddax said:

I'd probably prefer something that allows 3.5" hard drives and quiter, like an acutal tower, as i have 4x 3.5" hard drives that i'll be moving into the new server.

those r710's aren't too bad noise wise, and that has x 3.5 bays, but there is a tower version called the t610. 

[Razor Blade]

If you decide to go retired enterprise server search local to your country. By posting the £ sign you are probably somewhere in or around the UK? Just search ebay or local classifieds for retired server gear. If you have any questions please get back to us. There are many strange quirks with messing with old server gear...

 

For example specific to the Dell R710

 

• There are 2 generations of motherboard. the first generation will only support CPUs up to 95W TDP and while it will support 5600 series Xeon CPUs, you will need the 6.4 BIOS (which would be free to update as you can still download it from Dell's website)
• While that server @Electronics Wizardy listed DOES take 3.5" hard drives, it does not include the trays you'll need to install them. So if the server doesn't say it comes with trays, assume it doesn't come with any trays...
• Next is the Perc6/i raid controller will support up to 2TB drives. If you want to go bigger, you'll need to buy a more modern raid card and possibly two 1 meter mini SAS cables.

 

There can be other got-chas too and it is different for any brand, model, generation, etc... so don't be afraid to ask!

[Reddax]

4 minutes ago, Razor Blade said:

If you decide to go retired enterprise server search local to your country. By displaying the £ sign you are somewhere in England? Just search ebay or local classifieds for retired server gear. If you have any questions please get back to us. There are many strange quirks with messing with old server gear...

 

For example specific to the Dell R710

 

• There are 2 generations of motherboard. the first generation will only support CPUs up to 95W TDP and while it will support 5600 series Xeon CPUs, you will need the 6.4 BIOS (which would be free to update as you can still download it from Dell's website)
• While that server @Electronics Wizardy listed DOES take 3.5" hard drives, it does not include the trays you'll need to install them. So if the server doesn't say it comes with trays, assume it doesn't come with any trays...
• Next is the Perc6/i raid controller will support up to 2TB drives. If you want to go bigger, you'll need to buy a more modern raid card and possibly two 1 meter mini SAS cables.

 

There can be other got-chas too and it is different for any brand, model, generation, etc... so don't be afraid to ask!

Thanks, yes, i'm from England.

I found this;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Poweredge-T610-Dual-X5650-2-66GHz-24GB-Perc6/273130399777?hash=item3f97d72821:g:xNsAAOSw06xanskg&autorefresh=true

This is for £325.49 ( 438.37 dollars) which, i think for 2 processors and 24gb of ram and the rest of it, is a good price.

However it says no caddies for the 3.5" drive bays, I assume this is a problem?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Reddax said:

Thanks, yes, i'm from England.

I found this;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Poweredge-T610-Dual-X5650-2-66GHz-24GB-Perc6/273130399777?hash=item3f97d72821:g:xNsAAOSw06xanskg&autorefresh=true

This is for £325.49 ( 438.37 dollars) which, i think for 2 processors and 24gb of ram and the rest of it, is a good price.

However it says no caddies for the 3.5" drive bays, I assume this is a problem?

You can buy caddies pretty cheap, check surplus stores. Looks good to be, you may want to replace the prec 6i with a h200 if you want big drives.

[Razor Blade]

6 minutes ago, Reddax said:

Thanks, yes, i'm from England.

I found this;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Poweredge-T610-Dual-X5650-2-66GHz-24GB-Perc6/273130399777?hash=item3f97d72821:g:xNsAAOSw06xanskg&autorefresh=true

This is for £325.49 ( 438.37 dollars) which, i think for 2 processors and 24gb of ram and the rest of it, is a good price.

However it says no caddies for the 3.5" drive bays, I assume this is a problem?

Nope no problem at all!

 

Here is a listing for eaches, you can buy however many you want (up to 8 for that server).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-3-5-SAS-SATA-Tray-Caddy-Sled-F238F-Poweredge-T710-T610-T410-T310-T420-T320/131864804536?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D50546%26meid%3D4ec2b59c34e542b386cd308766bded8e%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D161509745156%26itm%3D131864804536&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

 

You can get them in bundle deals for less most of the time. You could also contact the seller to see if they can give you a better price on postage. just make sure if you buy a caddy that it comes with screws!

[Reddax]

51 minutes ago, Razor Blade said:

Nope no problem at all!

 

Here is a listing for eaches, you can buy however many you want (up to 8 for that server).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-3-5-SAS-SATA-Tray-Caddy-Sled-F238F-Poweredge-T710-T610-T410-T310-T420-T320/131864804536?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D50546%26meid%3D4ec2b59c34e542b386cd308766bded8e%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D161509745156%26itm%3D131864804536&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

 

You can get them in bundle deals for less most of the time. You could also contact the seller to see if they can give you a better price on postage. just make sure if you buy a caddy that it comes with screws!

 

 

Found an even cheaper machine;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Poweredge-T610-server-2x-4C-E5530-Xeon-4GB-4x-250GB-PERC-6-i-RAID-DVD/282953054425?epid=219509637&hash=item41e150f8d9:g:A00AAOSwWGda7UvX&autorefresh=true

 

Slightly less powerfull cpu but definitely worth for £200 less? and comes with caddys and hard drives?

 

[Razor Blade]

34 minutes ago, Reddax said:

 

 

Found an even cheaper machine;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Poweredge-T610-server-2x-4C-E5530-Xeon-4GB-4x-250GB-PERC-6-i-RAID-DVD/282953054425?epid=219509637&hash=item41e150f8d9:g:A00AAOSwWGda7UvX&autorefresh=true

 

Slightly less powerfull cpu but definitely worth for £200 less? and comes with caddys and hard drives?

 

Keep in mind those drives are very small at 250GB and that computer only comes with 4GB of RAM which is a very small amount as well. Definitely not enough for virtualization machine. The 55xx Xeon, while still decently capable for a lot of things, won't be compatible with anything that requires AES-NI in the CPU.

[Reddax]

2 minutes ago, Razor Blade said:

Keep in mind those drives are very small at 250GB and that computer only comes with 4GB of RAM which is a very small amount as well. Definitely not enough for virtualization machine. The 55xx Xeon, while still decently capable for a lot of things, won't be compatible with anything that requires AES-NI in the CPU.

I'll be bringing in my own drives so i'll probably just be removing those, and using my own, assuming that those bays are 3.5"? And I have spare ECC ram so that's not a problem

[Razor Blade]

9 minutes ago, Reddax said:

I'll be bringing in my own drives so i'll probably just be removing those, and using my own, assuming that those bays are 3.5"? And I have spare ECC ram so that's not a problem

That would be a question for the seller... but based on the description of the drives in the listing I would venture to guess they are 2.5" drives. That server came in both variants.