WTB: Old, cheap desktop\server to run Amahi Home server

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Forums › Offers and Wanted › WTB: Old, cheap desktop\server to run Amahi Home server

sidefx

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#106324 22-Jul-2012 11:01

I'm currently running an old Dell Dimension 2400 as my home server (running Amahi) It's a bit of a pain though because it has doesn't have SATA and I suspect the weedy CPU (Northwood celeron 2.4Ghz) is bottlenecking the system - greyhole runs quite slowly and samba performance is not great.

So I'm looking for something to replace it. Does anybody have an old desktop or home server that might work and they're no longer using? My criteria would be:

Space for a few HDDs, 6-8 would be good
4-6 SATA and a PATA\IDE
No HDDs required - I have plenty!
Lowish power consumption
Integrated graphics - doesn't need anything flash
gigE or a PCI slot for a gigE network card (I already have one)
Old\Cheap - only looking to spend around $50-60. I've seen a few go on trademe that would serve around this price, but thought I would check on GZ first :)
Somewhere in Auckland; I can pick it up

I have a spare C2D E6420 and some DDR2 RAM, so if anyone has a system missing or with faulty cpu\ram that these would fit in, that would be a bonus

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SATTV

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#660050 22-Jul-2012 20:50

I have a large Dell that should suit your needs, I think it has 4 sata ports, it does have a video card that I woud keeping but can put in another card if I have one. It has 1GB Ethernet. It has 512M DDR2.
The downside is the CPU fan is very noisy.
If you want it let me know.
I am in New Windsor, Auckland 0600.
John

I know enough to be dangerous

SATTV

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#660053 22-Jul-2012 20:52

i will run speccy tomorrow and post the results.

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sidefx

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#660161 22-Jul-2012 23:28

Sounds good; yeah let me know the specs. Also physical dimensions would be helpful if possible - just a rough idea.

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SATTV

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#660231 23-Jul-2012 09:11

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/GfIN1ElWUJUUDsZjYQd7pgF

Dell Dimension 8400

Cheers
John

I know enough to be dangerous

sidefx

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#660247 23-Jul-2012 10:17

Thanks looks hopeful - I'm PM'd you.

cheers,
Simon

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

sidefx

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#662190 26-Jul-2012 09:22

@SATTV: Thanks for the trade John! Had a brief play last night and all looking good. Installed Amahi and am now downloading\uploading from it at ~55-60MB/s and 50MB/s respectively. Old server was only managing something like 16MB/s and 20MB/s.

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

ChevronX

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#662201 26-Jul-2012 09:47

So SideFX, your Amahi doing the job? Sounds like you got it well sorted by now.

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sidefx

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#662213 26-Jul-2012 10:12

Yup I'm really liking it; been doing the job fine, if a little slow, on the older machine. Now I need to transfer to this new box and ubuntu 12.04. It looks like you can transplant the greyhole array into a new machine\amahi install by coping samba\greyhole configs but I've yet to try. I'll add more info in the Amahi thread in linux forum as I go ;-)

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman