Post #2122033

My default suggestion is a used consumer PC (same gamer's non-pre-built if possible bcs of the slightly better parts, but standard office shit works too), swap out the PSU for something top tier (by which I don't mean super expensive, tho I do look at efficiency tests at low end bcs my serves idle a lot), and ofc storage for something enterprise. For CPU it depends what you need, but idle power consumption of average desktop CPUs are pretty matched (no sense of getting a Pentium over eg i7), I would say (bcs of market prices & availability) some Intel 10+gen (i7? ... but whatever really) or AMD 5000+ (I found a few 59x0 at good p/p value). Consumer hardware is easier to work with & easier to make the rig silent for your usecase (that's why I also like Exos & Red Plus drives). If you want additional quiets on top you can get a case with those (dense) foams. Also crucially all my HDDs (even in early 2000s) have been in these 5.25" cages/adapters with fans (noisy drives give off noise directly & via case vibrations ... also in one case I don't even have them in 5" bays, they are just bolted to the bottom of the case): \  \ (Various designs, I even made them diy 20 years ago, but they are super cheap today - the point being that the HDDs metal doesn't touch the case, not even via a bolt.) I prefer less redundancy in one server vs having two of them as copies (maybe have a secondary location) but cram as much as possible in one server bcs I don't need more (router is a separate box, but out of practical & second-hand-finds reasons).