Can anyone offer an opinion on whether any of these used servers (below) might be useful for a DIY build? Either just for the case, perhaps with custom modifications (e.g. new fans) - or even as they are running now. I'm guessing they are loud and power hungry, but maybe the cases would be worth salvaging? I am happy with my MSS, but this might be a fun project that I don't really have time for. TIA

Dell Poweredge 6300/550, 2GB RAM, no disks, RAID controller has dead battery $10

Dell Poweredge 4400, 1.5GB RAM total, single 1Ghz processor, no disks $10

Three (3) Dell Poweredge 6450/700 quad processor servers. Two with 8GB RAM each, one with no RAM. 15 assorted drives (9GB-36GB). One bad power supply (8 good ones, total). $150 for all or BO

They'd all likely work, but IMHO be suboptimal. They likely don't use SATA drives, or don't have the ability to store many drives internally. They'll also probably be abominably loud and consume lots of power. I think we could better advise if you gave us an indication of what you're trying to accomplish. You mention a fun project, but do you anticipate making this your primary server? How much content do you expect to store?

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Thanks. Yeah, they use SCSI drives and appear to be pretty old. I don't have a real goal -- just came across these being sold by my university as surplus and thought it might be fun to try to put something together. My current MSS meets my needs fine, so this wouldn't be a replacement or even supplement. I'd probably give it away to family or a friend if I built anything. But it sounds like it isn't worth messing around with it. Thanks for weighing in!
-David

I've had all three and the fans are real loud and they like the power. Given the choice, I'd take the 6300 or 4400 since thouse could support, if I remember correctly, up to nine drives with the right backplane. They also only support SCSI drives and the backplane itself also limits the transfer since, again, if I remember right, the 6300 only supported Ultra2/LVD and the 4400 supported Ultra160. Though at the price you mentioned, they might be nice to have to mess around with.

Cheers!
Dave

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