I am currently serving a photoprism instance for my self and the wife. I want to expand to have everyone’s home folder on the server. So we would have 5 home folders, all lunuxes. Anyway so I’m looking at some old servers that actually look pretty good.
HPE Proliant DL360 Gen9
I’ve been comparing it with other servers and it seems to be the easiest to use for the semi intrepid admin wannabe that I am. Is there anything better in the sub $300 range?
Unless you’re hardcore I’d highly suggest not getting an actual server, especially a 1U server like that. Servers are loud, use a lot of power, and especially in 1U form not that expandable. CPU and RAM upgrades are cheap, but say you want more drives, or to install some weird expansion card it might not have the space.
If photoprism is actually “AI” you’ll want a GPU to do the processing, and 1U servers limit you to oddly sized 1U GPUs. But considering they say it will run on a raspberry pi I’d assume any desktop with a core i7 would do the job. If you can find a desktop with 4 ram slots of DDR5 that would get you plenty of expandability. The DDR5 spec is rated for up to 512gb per stick, so assuming the memory controller (and bios) supports it you’d be PLENTY future proof. But even DDR4 with 32gb sticks should be plenty, and those machines are CHEAP.
I am WAY ootl on shopping for PCs and hardware, all the sites I used last time i did anything (god, around like 2008?) are quite defunct. Anywhere you’d recommend looking for a desktop like you’re talking about? I’d love to get my home on a selfhosted network.
Facebook Marketplace is my go to here in the US. Pre built computers don’t hold their value for shit, so you can pick one up with a nice i5 or a medicore i7 office computer for almost nothing. Just look for Dell optiplexs or the HP/Lenovo equivalents. If you don’t need a lot of drive space (or are fine with external storage) those mini PCs litter marketplace and can go for stupid cheap.
I’d target 8th gen or newer, ideally 10th gen, but one that comes with an i7 might cost a bit more than $300. You can always go with an i3 for now, then if you need more power then the non k i7s tank in value after a few years of being out.
Amazon typically has a few vendors that specialize in refurbished Optiplexes and/or HP Elites in small or ultra small form factor sizes.
A word of caution about these refurbs though…the memory and storage they include are often dollar store brands (Kingfast) that I wouldn’t even trust for a child’s PC. It’s worth purchasing your own after the fact.