Energy-efficient, virtualization-capable replacement to my current server

[AKDev]

I’m a college student studying computer science, and I recently came upon a retired custom-built server from my current internship. It was given to me for free, so I set it up at my parents’ place with the intention of creating a “playground” virtualization environment with Windows Server for running ASP.NET web applications and Ubuntu Server for open-source development. Turns out it uses about $2 worth of power a day (running idle), and there’s no way I can justify a $60 / month increase to my parents’ electricity bill.

So now I’m looking to sell it (I do have permission from the company) and replace it with something more energy-efficient, but also capable of running a virtualization environment, specifically VMWare’s ESXi HyperVisor free edition.

Here are the specs on the custom-built machine:
- 2x Intel Xeon CPU @ 3.00 GHz. I believe each one has two cores, because the device manager lists four individual processors.
- 8 GB memory – this is maxed out
- 4x 500 GB SATA 3.5” HDD in a RAID5 configuration. There are 8 drive bays on the case, but only four are used right now, and the current RAID controller only has four slots.
- LSI 3ware 9550SX SATA RAID Controller with four slots
- I don’t know the specifics on the case, so I’ll just link to an image to give you all an idea. It's not the best picture but the machine is a couple hundred miles away. I'll try to get my dad to take a few inside the case. http://tinypic.com/r/2ezpr3m/8

For the replacement machine, I think a solid desktop PC would suffice. I’m just not sure on the specs, specifically virtualization capability vs. energy efficiency vs. what I can afford from the machine I was given.

I don’t need a lot of hard drive capacity, because this will be used mostly for web applications which don’t require huge amounts of data storage. I’m fine with backing up to an external hard drive in case of failure, so I don’t think something with a RAID controller is necessary. A good 1TB HDD with another external for data backup would be more than enough for my purposes. I also don’t think any special graphics card would be necessary.

So I have two questions:
1) Given the hardware, how much could I get for this machine?
2) What would be a cost-equivalent replacement that satisfies my needs? I’d prefer to buy something pre-built, I just need an idea of what specs I should/can afford be.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice!

 

[logainofhades]

I fully recommend building your own system. You will learn far more on the ins and outs of PC's that way. I find it sad that there are people I know that have far more certs than I do, yet they still come and ask me for anything hardware related. I would prefer some kind of raid solution over an external backup.

 

[logainofhades]

I was thinking something like this. You could go a bit cheaper if you felt the need on GPU. I just chose the cheapest of the current gen.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($244.68 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($14.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($93.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team Xtreem Dark Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($107.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.94 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.94 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 240 2GB Video Card ($69.24 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Source 220 ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.91 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 450W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $813.65
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-13 17:55 EDT-0400)

 

[AKDev]

I was thinking something like this. You could go a bit cheaper if you felt the need on GPU. I just chose the cheapest of the current gen.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($244.68 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($14.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($93.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team Xtreem Dark Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($107.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.94 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.94 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 240 2GB Video Card ($69.24 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Source 220 ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.91 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 450W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $813.65
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-13 17:55 EDT-0400)

How would the energy efficiency on this one compare to what I currently have? Do you think I could sell the machine I currently have for enough to buy all of those parts? Also, I see where you're coming from about building my own system as a way of learning, but I'm currently working a full time internship, taking a couple classes, and have an ongoing project outside of work to earn some extra money. I don't have the time to devote to this without neglecting other responsibilities. I'm also leaving the country for the summer and would like to have something finished at home to work with remotely. If I had the time I would totally build something myself, but I'll definitely still consider it a long-term option.

 

[logainofhades]

It doesn't take long really to build. I usually spend more time with my picky cable management than I do anything else. :lol: If you can read and can use a phillips screwdriver, you can build a PC. It is super simple. Without knowing the exact model of Xeon that server has, I really cannot judge the energy efficiency difference. I do know the power supply in my build is probably far more efficient than what is in that server. I lowered the price an wattage a bit. I changed to a Xeon with integrated graphics.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1245 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($287.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($14.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($93.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team Xtreem Dark Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($107.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.00 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Source 220 ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 450W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $787.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-13 18:28 EDT-0400)

 

[AKDev]

It doesn't take long really to build. I usually spend more time with my picky cable management than I do anything else. :lol: If you can read and can use a phillips screwdriver, you can build a PC. It is super simple. Without knowing the exact model of Xeon that server has, I really cannot judge the energy efficiency difference. I do know the power supply in my build is probably far more efficient than what is in that server. I lowered the price an wattage a bit. I changed to a Xeon with integrated graphics.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1245 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($287.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($14.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($93.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team Xtreem Dark Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($107.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.00 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Source 220 ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 450W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $787.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-13 18:28 EDT-0400)

That's true. I suppose I could get it done fairly quickly if all of the components are compatible. I know just saying it's two Intel Xeon's is vague, so here are screenshots from when I ran the Intel Processor Identifier:
http://tinypic.com/r/21shnk/8
http://tinypic.com/r/2411pg3/8
http://tinypic.com/r/slpto5/8

Is that enough to be able to compare the performance and efficiency?

 

[logainofhades]

Those chips are basically Pentium 4's with hyperthreading, from what I am seeing. Pentium 4's were space heaters. The 1245 v3 doesn't have to work anywhere near as hard to do anything. Those Xeons you have will have to work harder to do anything, spending more time at max load. They didn't even have bronze rated power supplies back then much less gold. :lol:

 

[AKDev]

I've noticed they create a lot of heat. So right now the machine running idle draws between 2.7 and 3.1 amps. Could I expect much better by building one with the parts you specified? Also, to everyone, what would be a reasonable price for selling potentially this server.