expiredchaofun posted Jun 24, 2022 04:31 PM
Item 1 of 3
Item 1 of 3
expiredchaofun posted Jun 24, 2022 04:31 PM
Dell Optiplex 3050 Small Form Desktop (Refurb): i5-6500, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD
+ Free Shipping$170
$650
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Assuming 25W average, that's less than $32/year running 24/7 at the US average 14.47 cents/kWh. You might be able to knock $20 a year off that number if you get a super power efficient 8W system, but I wouldn't call a delta of $0.05 a day costly. (Obviously this may change a bit for people in CA/AK/HI or the north east, but even then we're still only talking maybe $0.10/day.)
Indeed great for home servers
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The main draw of the T620+ (and subsequent newer T730 and T740 units) was the inclusion of a PCIe expansion slot, so you could add in your own NIC (the newer versions even have the bandwidth for 10 and 25GbE networking).
If you buy the T620+ and quad NIC separately, you can probably find the T620+ for ~$75, and something like an Intel i340-t4/HP NC365T for ~$50, for a full system well under $150. Check on T730 and similar low-power options as well, as the relative pricing will fluctuate, making an option much more/less attractive at the time.
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My Jellyfin server is an i7 11700, with 7x 6tb sas drives and 10gb Ethernet. At idle it uses 100w and under load maybe 110w. Not much in the grand scheme of things. Equivalent to a porch light left on.
My older server is running an i5 3470 on a z170 mobo, with 8x 3tb sas drives, it idles at 70-80w, but under load pulls 160.
At my current electricity rate, having both nas machines running 24/7 costs me about $12 a month.
That barely covers the cost of a big Mac meal these days.
You may can save $4-$5 a month with something less robust, but is it really worth it at that point?
Indeed great for home servers
My Jellyfin server is an i7 11700, with 7x 6tb sas drives and 10gb Ethernet. At idle it uses 100w and under load maybe 110w. Not much in the grand scheme of things. Equivalent to a porch light left on.
My older server is running an i5 3470 on a z170 mobo, with 8x 3tb sas drives, it idles at 70-80w, but under load pulls 160.
At my current electricity rate, having both nas machines running 24/7 costs me about $12 a month.
That barely covers the cost of a big Mac meal these days.
You may can save $4-$5 a month with something less robust, but is it really worth it at that point?
Plus, spending extra on the device itself - here's another deal, a full 50 dollars less than this with considerably lower at-idle energy and heat requirements:
https://slickdeals.net/f/15861442-acer-recertified-xc-830-uw91-slim-desktop-j4125-quad-core-4gb-ddr4-256gb-pcie-ssd-802-11ac-4k-hdmi-114-39?src=frontpag
The question boils down to one of requirements - it's not a matter of 'more robust' - it's more compute power that you may or may not need. pfSense/OPNSense are both built to run on low spec equipment. Unless you're running gigabit ethernet firewall speeds and need a lot of content inspection/filtering (suricata, etc.), you won't use the extra compute capacity, not by a longshot. So why pay for the extra up front cost, energy and heating required if you don't need it?
If not - a machine like this might even be overkill for $50 less and less power at idle:
https://slickdeals.net/f/15861442-acer-recertified-xc-830-uw91-slim-desktop-j4125-quad-core-4gb-ddr4-256gb-pcie-ssd-802-11ac-4k-hdmi-114-39?src=frontpag
Further, you can get all sorts of cheap HP thin clients, Lenovo USFFs, that will idle between 15-20W and still provide i3/i5 6th gen performance around this price range and take up less space. If you need multiple ethernet ports, you'll have to get one that can take an expansion NIC, so some might fall off that list (not the one above or the HP T620 mentioned earlier).
Both were well under $100 on ebay. They run Plex fine. They even play most Steam games without issues.
Shop by locale on ebay, the shipping is what affects the prices. I found a local dealer, so shipping was under $20
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