Is this a good deal? $338 for Dell 2900 G3 (2xE5450, 48GB, 8x146 15k SAS)

[Draknor]

Hey all -

I'm interesting in getting/building a home lab to learn more about running various virtualization platforms (ESXi, KVM, maybe Xen or Proxmox), spin up various server OS's to experiment with, and become more familiar with enterprise-class gear. I'd like to start out with something relatively cheap (<$500 all-in), and found this guy while browsing Craigslist:

CyberWeek_48-GB +8 CORES-SERVER DELL 2900 III- X8 146 GB SAS HD

Dell PowerEdge 2900 Gen III
2x Xeon E5450 quad-core 3GHz
48 GB ECC RAM
8x 146 GB 15k SAS on Perc6i
Dual 930W PSU
$338

I've been finding a variety of Dell PowerEdge 1950 & 2950 in the <$200 range, although not usually with the RAM or storage that I'd want. This listing would certainly be enough to get started without any additional upgrades right away.

Thoughts?

I was reading some of the threads about the C6100 craze - and I see some of them still floating around on eBay for $300-$400. Obviously that would give me more physical hosts to play with. But sentiment seems to be those are getting pretty dated and not a good value anymore.

 

[BackupProphet]

Its really old, I would say no. You can get Xeon 5500 5600 with DDR3 for less, though most systems do not include hard drives. I'm not sure if 8 old and smal SAS drives and Perc6i is even worth 50 USD alone.

 

[Scott Laird]

The C6100 may be getting old, but they have 5500 or 5600 CPUs, this is a 5400. It's going to be slow and draw a lot of power.

I wouldn't go older than 5500s now, and it looks like E5 v1 (the rev after 5600) is starting to get cheap. Power use improved pretty dramatically during this timeframe.

Something like Supermicro 2U Server X8DTN+ 2x Xeon E5620 2.4ghz Quad Core 16gb might be a better pick. DDR3 ECC is cheap and easy to buy from ebay these days, and I'd skip the 15k drives and pick up a SSD or two.

 

[Draknor]

Thanks guys! Very helpful to get a sense of perspective - looks like I need to do more research on what's what before I start plopping down any money.

@scott - thanks for the link for a better option. That gives me some concrete stuff to look at!

 

[Marsh]

@Draknor
Keep an eye out for Lenovo TS140 E3-1225v3 or Dell T20 E3-1225v3 sales.
You could find it around $250 to $300.
Shop for ECC unbuffered ram on Ebay, add 1 or 2 SSD for local VM storage.
The whole setup would cost around $550.
Lots of CPU horsepower , quiet , low power.

Pros:
E3-1225v3 would beat the pants of E5450.
E3 CPU support all current visualization software.

 

[SeanFi]

If you're looking for a relatively inexpensive but hugely expandable chassis that can use 5500 and 5600 series Xeons, you might want to check out the DL370 G6 line. They are an oddball server in terms of what they have in them, but occasionally come up on eBay for a good bit less than what a comparable but more common system would be.

Slap a couple of L5630 processors in them, and you have a quiet 4U chassis with loads of expansion options. They have 8 or 9 PCIe slots, have a P40i controller built in, and you can cram a lot of hard drives in them with a little creativity (if they don't already have the drive cages). The standard model comes with a single 8-bay SFF drive cage, but you can remove that and use the two big drive bays in the front to house 6 LFF drives each. You can use backplanes to plug the LFF drives into (expensive) or just use a little cable wizardry with the few molex adapters in there to get things working.

 

[chuotvy]

Is this a good deal?

Dell PowerEdge T20 Intel Pentium G3220 Dual-Core Tower Server $139 - Techbargains

 

[SeanFi]

Is this a good deal?

Dell PowerEdge T20 Intel Pentium G3220 Dual-Core Tower Server $139 - Techbargains

Off hand, yes, that is an OK deal. Really it depends on what you want it for. It comes with a dual-core socket 1150 Pentium processor, which could be upgraded to a socket 1150 Xeon. Looks like the base unit can use 4 3.5" drives. If you need a basic server/virtualization machine it looks all right. You'll probably want more memory in it for doing any sort of homelab work.