Build my own or buy a small home server?

Hey all,

I have an HP N36L micro server running WHS 2011. It pretty much meets all of my needs apart from a couple of minor points: it sometimes can't cope when transcoding HD video to my PS3, and the 2TB backup limit.

I'm really enjoying the whs environment so I'm fairly happy to live with the backup limit, but I was thinking of upgrading the hardware to improve PS3 HD playback.

Originally I was going to go with a new N54L or something as the box meets my needs perfectly. However, the fact that HP are going to charge for firmware upgrades etc is a little concerning.

So my other option is to build my own server, but I'm not really sure where to start!! I've built a number of desktop PCs over the years but never looked into building a server. Can it be done cheaper than an N54 - especially when they have £100 cash back or similar?

Also, I've seen lots of people using win 8 as a server. Is this a good idea, or is it best to stick with whs 2011 for now?

Grateful for any thoughts!

Cheaper, not a chance. Your best bet for something with more grunt is probably a xeon tower server off ebay if you're talking that kind of money.

So if not cheaper then comparable..?!!! And is there anyone else who makes anything similar to the microserver for a similar price?

Depends what form factor you are after, and just what your requirements are. Where are you going to be putting it, what does it have to look like are probably the first things to get straight.

I went from an HTPC microATX case (Antec Fusion) to an ITX case (Cooler Master Elite 120). TBH I am thinking of going back to the Antec as I really like the machine to be whisper quiet, and that is easy in a bigger case.

So HTPC is easier to hide in a living room, something like http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...ov-vision.html (that one is short on hard drive bays, I would probably use the DVD bay for a second drive).
New version of the Elite 120 is this: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...FWvkwgodFSMAhw

I went for a quad core AMD APU, the machine runs on one core most of the time, at idle it is very power efficient but has enough grunt to perform its server duties with a couple of virtual machines hosted on it (video camera monitoring and a public facing minecraft server). It seems to have three of its cores idle most of the time, and one of them cranked up to max.

So my box cost me more than the HP server, but it looks fine in under the TV has plenty of grunt and expansion capability.

What is your budget?

It's just going to be a functional home server that will sit out of they way / view, so I'm not too fussed about amazing looks!

Case just need to have room for 4 or 5 5.25" HDDs, and a nice efficient PSU, like the HP Microservers do.

It's just going to be running whs, serving files backing up and transcoding videos for the PS3.

The question was - is it possible to build a comparable home sever in specs and budget to that of the HP microserver?

For what is essentially £97 after the £100 rebate, absolutely not, unless you got really lucky with second hard stuff/ebay.
I just picked up two of the N54L's as ESX hosts and to play with,and although they're not quite my i5 processing wise, for a small, quiet, cheap server to do basic stuff, you can't get better.

Yep, those HP servers are a bit of a bargain if they can do what you need.

I wanted more grunt, I paid more money. Quite a lot more money truth be told. CPU cost £100, motherboard £60, case £40, PSU £40, ram £40, pair of WD red drives were I think £80 each.

Sips power at idle and goes like stink though :D

If you can switch to uATX case and motherboard you can shave some off of those. Drop the CPU requirement, that can be £30 or under for an FM2 dual core.

Cool - thanks!!

Is there generally issues getting whs 2011 to run on home built server systems? I'm thinking mostly about chipset, nic, sata controller drivers etc?