Rackmount, or desktop?

Servers Server Hardware
1

So as I posted earlier I’m going to be returning my server, SaveMyServer won’t let me return it, I’m thinking about selling it for like 250 (dell poweredge 2tb 16gb) and building a desktop server, or I could just get a new rackmount, I was wondering what you guys thought I should do, what are the pro’s and con’s of rackmount?

2

It’s all depend on what you do with it and where you put it,

  • Will you run the server 7/7 24/24?
  • Do you have space for a rackmount?(I suppose yes because you already had one…)
  • Do you plan to upgrade it?

Brand server are pretty low in price, but you don’t any the freedom you get when you choose the each component, but sometime a brand server is exactly what you want…

3

I’ll be hosting some websites and some game servers, and just using it in general. I’ll be running it 24/7, I got a rackmount but I don’t have a rackmount rack, I might end up getting another server and maybe like a switch and nas or something, space isn’t an issue, noise kind of is though and I’ve noticed that my rackmount makes A LOT of noise

4

If you already have a rack or cabinet i would go for the Rackmount style,

Rackmount:
1u-2u make alot of noise because of the small fan,
3u-4u take more space but normaly they have larger fan that more less noise,

5

I have a 2U 2950, I don’t have a rackmount cabinet, but they look exspensive

6

I know several people will disagree with me, but something that is going to run 24/7 should be a server, especially if you’re gonna hammer it. Server hardware is built to take the wear and tear (part of the reason you can find decent servers on places like ebay). Whereas desktop hardware isn’t meant to run 24/7/365.

7

@WizardTux I totaly agree with you but they sell some motherboard/PSU that are the size of desktop that are meant to be for server,
Like http://www.newegg.com/Server-Motherboards/SubCategory/ID-302
I would recommend all intel server motherboad… for supermicro i would check the review…

  • Make sure you get one with ECC memory or at least compatible with…
  • Try to take motherboard/server with intel nic also…
8

I was reading another post and it clicked that, thats probably what @Seafoam meant.

9

Obviously price range could be an issue here, but if your welling to spend a few thousand you could get something like a well specced R610 and they are quiet as, I have one and I love it!

EDIT, You guys have cheap servers on Ebay, maybe one thousand ?

10

If you have a rack and rails for the server go rackmount. Either way if it was my choice the only major factor would be getting a server with dual CPU’s and dual PSU’s.

Redundancy FTW!