Ideas for use of old windows computer and server

[Dahoffman85]

I have recently come into possession of some old but still very usable equipment and I'm just not sure what I can or should do with them. Any ideas would be awesome and I really appreciate any and all input from you guys! Specs below:

Dell Desktop with:
QUadcore i5 3.4ghz processor
32gb ram
256 ssd for the OS
4tb additional HD

Dell Poweredge 2900 Server:
at the moment I don't know anything about the specs other than a 300gb and (3) 73gb HD's in it

Just an FYI while I do use both Mac and Windows in my day to day life, I only use Windows for work and that's just for email and an as400 dos proprietary system. On my home Mac I already use it for a plex server amongst other normal day to day use. Thanks again!

 

[jeyf]

something like pfsense
do the research thinking there is a open source router project, file server...

 

[Thysanoptera]

• move Plex server to it
• use the new box for backup storage (not for timemachine though, technically you can create a sparsebundle on it and point time machine to use it, but it always breaks after some time),
• turn it into security cameras DVR using BlueIris,
• grab a copy of Bitvise SSH server and use it to tunnel remote desktop connections from outside without using VPN server
• put a decent video card in that quadcore desktop and play some games.

That's what I use my desktop and home server for.

 

[Mikael H]

My $.02:
That server today is the computer equivalent of a Harley Davidson motorcycle: It will generate a lot of unnecessary noise and heat per unit of performance. Not saying that there aren't people who enjoy that sort of thing - and I don't hold that against them - but it's not an efficient use of your money over time. A modern six-core NUC with SSD storage and some memory can probably embarrass that Poweredge server for most regular use cases at a fraction of the power draw.

The desktop machine is probably considerably less inefficient. If you want to learn something new, put a Linux distribution on it and see how you like it. Or use it for some server project, as other posters have mentioned.

 

[jeyf]

If your current needs are met w/o the old desktop not a sin to give it to Goodwill.

you could virtualize some the things like Plex or Pfsense and keep everything on one desk top