Getting a Dell Poweredge 2650

Hey all,
I'm going to be getting a Dell Poweredge 2650. My work just has it sitting, unused with windows 2000 server on it. I am in the process of building a home lab and thought it would be a nice addition. Does anyone have experience with these or own one? I have plans to install Server 03 or 08 on it. However, I will probably need to upgrade ram, and add drives.

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Comments

kriscamaro68

You will probably spend more on drives for it than you could get out of it if you resale it. I have had a couple of these but in the end I just get rid of them because they are to loud and use lots of power. I just use desktops with server08r2 and hyper-v. Something about it makes me think they don't work with server08 but I could be wrong. It may be that it doesn't work with esxi 4.0 or higher. Its one of the two.

Vontech615

It's already got drives totalinig ~140 GB. I just learned that I'll be able to get a copy of Windows 2008 r2 HPC server edition from one my old instructors. It's upgradable to 12 GB of RAM and 5 drives at ~140 a piece so I think it may run it. THe HPC version of server is all he can get me... not sure why he has that version.

kriscamaro68

If you have the drives then that is good cause scsi drives cost alot still. Hopefully it all works out. Check ebay out for ram.

TeKniques

Might want to double check the CPU capabilities. If I remember correctly the PowerEdge 2650's do not support 64-bit architecture.

We decommisioned a bunch of those during our Domain migration from 2003 to 2008 R2.

Vontech615

How about Windows 2008 r2 HPC edition? Has anyone had experience with this version? I know it has the normal server roles built in but on Microsoft's page it says it can't be used as a general purpose server. I'll just be using to play with at the house.

Zartanasaurus

It's better than nothing if it's free. I'd prefer a PE1950 at a minimum. I think that's the oldest one you can get with 64-bit/virtualization support.

amplify

As mentioned, the 2650 processor doesn't have 64-bit support so no R2 edition will install. A 2850 would work, those are cheap.

Tackle

We have a few of these running ESXi 3.5. Not a bad server at all, especially if the price is right (which it sounds like it is).

Vontech615

Tackle wrote: »

We have a few of these running ESXi 3.5. Not a bad server at all, especially if the price is right (which it sounds like it is).

Yeah, I'm going to take it because it's free. I will probably still look at getting something 64 bit. Maybe a 2850 as amplify stated.