Second Opinion on Used Server

[suppaduppax]

Saw this server on my classifieds:

Fractal Design Define R4 w/ 3x 120mm Noctua NF-P12s(Rough shape as shown in photos, missing front connectivity ports)
SuperMicro X9SCL+-F
Intel Core i3 2120T w/ Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
32GB Crucial ECC DDR3 (1600mhz. 4x8gb DIMMs)
Corsair CX430 PSU
4x Toshiba DT01ABA300 3TB drives
1x Western Digital Black 640GB drive (Not pictured)

$500 CAD

Looking to replace my Dell T3600 which doesn’t have the room to put in more than 3 drives. And only has 8gb ECC ram. I mostly use it for Plex/Emby. Have a few jails (NextCloud, Radars, Sonarr) and have been playing around with VMs. The low amount of ram and lack of drives is killing me tho.

 

[suppaduppax]

 

[Chris Moore]

This is good bones, but you will likely want to do a couple upgrades.

w/ 3x 120mm Noctua NF-P12s

These fans might be a bit worn, so you might need to replace them, but they could be fine, just keep an eye, or ear, on them. You don't want them to stop running and cause an overheat situation.

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

Should be a fine cooler, but you will probably want to upgrade this:

Intel Core i3 2120T

CPU Mark score of 8855, good 1080p movies in Plex:
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201774043-what-kind-of-cpu-do-i-need-for-my-server/

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230V2 3.3GHz Quad-Core CPU Processor SR0P4 LGA1155
https://www.ebay.com/itm/202572624908
Price: US $74.00

Corsair CX430 PSU

Could be fine, but once you upgrade the processor and add more drives, you might want a bit more power. It just depends on how many drives you want. Here is a guide:

Proper Power Supply Sizing Guidance
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/proper-power-supply-sizing-guidance.38811/

4x Toshiba DT01ABA300 3TB drives

I have had bad luck with Toshiba drives. I wouldn't trust them.

1x Western Digital Black 640GB drive (Not pictured)

No purpose in using this drive at all. I am guessing they were using it for a boot drive, but it is just a waste of space.
I would get something like this for the boot media:

For the boot drive, I suggest a mirrored pair of drives, just on the off chance there is a fault with one of them.

Boot Drive: Intel 40GB 2.5" SATA Laptop Solid State Drive
https://www.ebay.com/itm/143086630041
Price: US $18.00

I connect my boot drives to the SATA ports on the system board and my data drives to the SAS controller.

If you need more than the six SATA ports, I suggest:

Drive Controller: Dell H310 6Gbps SAS HBA LSI 9211-8i P20 IT Mode
https://www.ebay.com/itm/162834659601
Price: US $56.55

To go with the HBA above, you will need:

Drive Cables: Lot of 2 Mini SAS to 4-SATA SFF-8087 Multi-Lane Forward Breakout Internal Cable
https://www.ebay.com/itm/371681252206
Price: US $12.99

I put something like this together myself:
https://www.ixsystems.com/community/resources/specific-build-components-list-up-to-32gb-ram.109/

 

[suppaduppax]

Thanks Chris! All your help is appreciated. I think I’m not gonna get it based on all the upgrades it’s eventually gonna need. I think the processor one especially won’t work for what I need from it. I’ll keep scouring the classifieds.

 

[Chris Moore]

Thanks Chris! All your help is appreciated. I think I’m not gonna get it based on all the upgrades it’s eventually gonna need. I think the processor one especially won’t work for what I need from it. I’ll keep scouring the classifieds.

You might want to take a look at the parts on these lists and see if you are able to get them.
https://www.ixsystems.com/community...anges-to-upgrade-as-high-as-512gb-of-ram.110/

 

[Chris Moore]

Thanks Chris! All your help is appreciated. I think I’m not gonna get it based on all the upgrades it’s eventually gonna need. I think the processor one especially won’t work for what I need from it. I’ll keep scouring the classifieds.

PS. The updates I listed are not something you would need to do straight out of the gate. You could do a little at a time and some you might not need depending on your plans for the system.
Just know going in, the seller is asking at or above market value for the used hardware they have. Maybe they would keep the hard drives and sell you the system at half price? They could probably put those hard drives on eBay and get $30 each for them.