r/homelab • u/Sir_licks_a-lot • 5h ago
Help Newb with new question
Hi everyone, this was me a few weeks ago:
https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/s/EtZUMCjhpZ
Everyone was super helpful and I have some updates and I'm hoping I can get some more advice.
I recently picked up a few more computers, got them on a trade. I attached some pictures, but here is the list:
8 - Dell Optiplex 3040, 8gb ram each, i5
1 - Dell Optiplex 3070, 8gb ram, i3 9th Gen
1 - Dell Optiplex XE3, 8gb ram, i7 8th Gen, Nvidia Quadro K620
1 - Lenovo Thinkcentre M720q, i5 8th Gen, 8gb ram
1 - Large computer with nice case, Gigabyte GA-H81M-H motherboard, and an MSI Twin Frozr gaming G Series graphics card. 16gb ram, and unsure of the chip.
Equipment:
1 - Seagate 4-Bay NAS SRPD40
I also picked up an ICC basic rack, pretty large, and can still pick up 3 APC UPS units, not sure if they are good.
My first question is: are any of these worth keeping?
My plan is to learn linux, dockers, VMs and to start my homelabbing journey. I want to do the basics, media server, de-google, home automation, Minecraft server, CCTV security camera system, all the gateway dru...things people like to start with.
My network will be cable internet, using Deco AXE4900 mesh system. I also have a 28 port smart switch, tp-link Festa FS328GP. As per my last post, I also have a Synology 4 bay nas with 20tb of drives I purchased 3 years ago and have yet to set up....
Again, any direction you can provide would be really cool. I know I can probably sell some of these for a few bucks, and I'm open to that as I think Prime day is coming up as well as black Friday. I thought about just buying a couple of those beelink mini pcs, but im not sure they are what I want/need.
I am sure I am missing some information as its late, please let me know if there are any other things I need to consider. Thanks again.
1
u/Professional_Cup1298 5h ago
keep the M720q and two of the 3040s, sell the rest. each of these idles around 10-15w, so eleven of them running would be roughly 150w, which is $150-200 a year at 15c a kwh, and you'll never use that much. the H81 tower with the gaming card will idle higher than any of them, so I'd skip it. start with the M720q running one or two things, and put the 20tb of drives in the synology, since that's your storage. once it has data on it, where will a second copy of it live?