when to buy 'a proper server' (and not just put server OS on a desktop)

[Twice_Shy]

Currently my uses are pretty simple... I don't need to run 128 Epyc cores on a decade old platform sucking 1000 watts at low load for any of my use.

I'm currently planning a used skylake era (i call that anything 6th to 10th gen) desktop for my fairly minimal home needs of plex transcoding, serving some files and serving as a backup target for a couple of home PC's. Minimum wattage being the goal for something on 24/7.

I planned to move to a heavier SOHO NAS or two for a small cluster of 3-6 computers working on video files increasing in res/bitrate over time which will get more demanding. I might want 5-10gig ethernet on that to eventually allow direct editing of files stored on that server without lag.

I had a separate desire to play around with some hobby level virtualization with Proxmox mostly to learn more about it, but eventually to possibly use it to get more use out of workstation power, where like a second session could be provided to someone to remote in. (2 seats on 1 PC) Still possibly accessing video files just stored on the NAS. Maybe even play around with some AI/machine learning type stuff just because others are getting into it on a hobby level, and some of this has AV production use. (which is what it all comes back to for me right now)


This just had me wondering... is there any situation under which I would want to be looking at something other than a desktop board, running generic server type software (whether a microsoft windows server or linux type) to handle my needs?

What server specific features are something a workstation wouldn't have on the 1-2 socket level?

Or is there something where the raw computing power of certain used rackmount server gear is either newer OR costs less than it would in some $150-250 used workstation running the same software?

My power bill already hates that I tend to leave multiple computers on 24/7 already and i'm trying to reduce that in the future. Using old workstations wont help but I only plan them to be on when doing specific projects (part time work like 20-30hrs/week right now normally) unlike my current desktops. The 24/7 always on server replacing things like plex so I don't have to leave desktops on anymore for convenience.

 

[nabsltd]

What server specific features are something a workstation wouldn't have on the 1-2 socket level?

Consumer or workstation motherboards generally assume that you are going to install a discrete GPU, so they have one or more x16 slots. Most of the add-in cards that are desirable for a server (NIC, HBA, etc.) cannot take advantage of an x16 slot. Server motherboards tend to take those same 16 lanes and split them into two x8 slots. Even if you do want to install a discrete GPU for something like Plex transcoding, a physical x16 slot with x8 data is more than enough to handle the bandwidth. So, generally, server motherboard equals more usable PCIe slots.

The best thing to as far as power is concerned is to put everything that has to use a lot of power 24/7 into as few boxes as possible. Generally, this means that unless you are going for an all-SSD build for storage, you will have a box with as many spinning drives as you need, and fans to cool them. This would be your baseline 24/7 power cost. If it works for you to put CPU and/or GPU power into that same box, then that's the best for power. But, you are often limited by the fact that a system good for storage (which can be older and with less computing power) isn't good for compute.

To solve that, you can add a small box that has the CPU/GPU power you need. With all the mini-PCs out there, this is much easier to do than trying to find an affordable solution for CPU/GPU that fits in your storage box.

 

[i386]

There is no hard definition or specification what makes a server, a workstation or pc (excluding ibm pc from the 80s).
A server can be a small form factor system running a small website or a rack size system handling 150k+ transaction per seconds (ibm z mainframes). Same with workstations: some are basically just a "desktop pc" with ecc ram, others have quad cpus and 24+ dimm slots, others have 4 dual slot gpus.

When people say server they often think of rackmounted stuff. Rackmounted stuff is for high density (computing, storage), cooling (cold/hot aisles -> front to back airflow) and power providing purposes, built in a way to be "easy servicable" (not necessarily with the highly integrated 1u pizza boxes) with a lot of hot swappable things and often provide redundant power, networking etc.

 

[louie1961]

I run an HP 1 liter PC (aka tiny/mini/micro) as my main proxmox server. It has an i5-12500T CPU and 64gb of RAM. I run 3 instances of Wordpress (each in their own VM, for isolation reasons), an instance of Nextcloud (also in its own VM), and a couple of apps in LXC containers, and 12 different apps in docker containers running inside another 2 VMs. My CPU hardly ever goes above 25% utilization and usually idles around 1%. My memory is half used, and half of what is used is the ZFS cache in Proxmox. All of this is to say that in a tiny 1 liter PC, I have lots of headroom left. I don't run my firewall (pfSense) or any NAS operating systems on this server. I have pfSense in a separate device, and I run a Synology NAS. The only reason I can think of to go to a more traditional server motherboard (or even a repurposed workstation motherboard) would be if I decided I need to use ECC memory (which I don't, but that is a whole different debate) or if I needed lots of PCIe slots for things like HBAs, RAID adapters, video cards, 10gbe network cards, etc. My HP Elitedesk 800 G9 has an aftermarket 10 gbe NIC that I purchased (its uses the FlexIO port) and so I have no need for a traditional server board. On the plus side, my server runs at 12-13 watts at idle with the 10gbe NIC installed.

 

[BoredSysadmin]

relevant video: