[Blog] New Server Build (Daydreaming)

Current Setup:

Dell PowerEdge T110 II (Hiigara)

• Xeon E3-1230v2
• 32GB of DDR3
• 750GB SATA SSD, 1TB HDD
• 10Gbit SFP+
• ESXi 7.0

Why am I upgrading?

TLDR; Wife is tired of having another mini tower in the living room. Wants it in the server rack. Instead of jerry-rigging a mount, better to upgrade to a 2U/3U/4U form factor. 

I currently have this server running in the living room. This is a limitation of the configuration of the house and where the internet comes in. My wife, understanding as she is, has finally had enough of the pile of computers in the living room, and has decreed that this server MUST go into the server rack to help declutter. 

Having done a ton of research, they don't make an easy to use rack-kit for this model of Dell. I could rig something up using a shelf but that seemed annoying and not that cheap ( $80-100). I could also transplant the components into a 3/4U case, but that would cost about as much, and be no gurantee that the motherboard and PSU would fit. 

My esxi server has been running great for the past 10 years. Performance-wise, I haven't been disappointed in it. It certainly hasn't "felt" like I needed an upgrade. I'm guessing this was helped by the fact that every other non-work computer I have access to are slower than this computer, and I haven't got a new computer since this one. 

That all changed when I got into my head to build a gaming computer. It's relatively modest with a circa 2019 Ryzen processor, and 2nd hand graphics card ( featured in another blog post). Because of the research I did for that machine, it showed me just how old and slow this server is compared to modern systems. 

With all that, if I'm putting money into this server, maybe its more worth it to add more budget, and purposely create an esxi machine for the rack. 

Needs and Wants

• Relatively modern performance. Let's say at-or-better than a mid-teir Ryzen processor.
• 6C/12T minimum, 12C/24T preferably. Likely Single Processor, but Dual Processor would be slick
• 64+GB of RAM, maybe up to 128GB
• 3U preferably, 4U if absolutely needed, 2U if possible
• "budget" not looking to break the bank, aiming for $600 range, but could go higher if I find I need to
• transcoding support - Either via Intel Quicksync in the processor, or via cheap-ish GP