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What's your opinion about computers with non standard parts? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by KyotoBeerNinja@alien.top to c/homelab@selfhosted.forum

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Hi,

I know a company here in Japan that sells second-hand computers, cleaned, repaired, and with a 3 years warranty. Lots of the usual suspects (HP, Dell, Lenovo), from entry level office desktops to higher end Xeon workstations/servers. Prices vary, obviously.

As you know, these computers often do not use standard off-the-shelf parts, which can be a problem if the motherboard or PSU fails.

What's your opinion about these computers? Is it worth the pain buying one (for a Linux or BSD based torrenting/seedbox machine, or build a NAS) or should I rather go another route -- either build a PC with standard parts or buy a brand new cheap mini PC?

Thanks!

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[–] Emu1981@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If they are cheap then they are ok to buy in my opinion but when you are paying around as much for one as you would for a equivalent computer with standard parts then it is no longer worth it.

[–] KyotoBeerNinja@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

It's actually my main issue : finding the right point where the cost of a used computer is no longer competitive compared to buying new or building.

On a personal level, even though we'll have to deal with currency exchange rate and cost of life etc., where would you put your limit?

While the cheapest office desktop bottoms out at about ¥12,000, the first server/workstation computers seem to start at about ¥40,000 (a Precision 5820 with a Xeon W-2102, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD + 500GB HDD https://www.pcwrap.com/item/detail/1324009 )

Where to draw the line, I'm not sure...