Refurb 2U storage server for unRaid: Terrible idea or genius?

[malebron]

I've been running unRaid for a while on a refurb Dell PC which can only accommodate 2x3.5in HDDs.  Now I'm looking for better CPU performance (than i5 6500 3.2GHz) and to move the drives from my old Netgear NAS over to unRaid.  Refurb PCs just don't have enough drive bays.

 

I started researching tower cases and DIY motherboards, but then discovered that you can buy used commercial rack servers very cheaply. For the same money or less I can buy a used 2U 19in rack server with 12-24 3.5in bays, dual Xenon E5-2600 series CPUs, dual 1000W PSUs etc.

 

Would this be a really dumb idea? Would unRaid run on such a platform? Would controller support be an issue? Despite being "server grade", would the older Xeon processors have good performance compared to more recent desktop CPUs? Would I need to add any hardware?

 

If this is a viable option, do you have any recommendations for specific manufacturers or models to look out for? (or avoid!)

 

Thanks!

[MAM59]

the xeons are ok generally.

 

But you have to keep two things in mind:

1) power consumption will be excessive

2) noise production will be enourmous (and heat too, so watch out for good cooling!)

 

These boxes are not meant to be run near to people, put them into the garage or something.

 

And be prepared that "booting" might take ages (15mins are nothing if the server contains a lot of RAM)

 

CPU performance depends. For some cases (eg large databases, VMs and so) they are great, but things like video encoding/playback are lame to non existant.

 

So you need to make up your mind what you like the machine to do. If plain server stuff is wanted and energy costs are low or do not exist, they are ok.

If you want to watch videos or play games: AVOID!