[ainarssems]

So have had a little play with Microserver testing and now have transferred my stuff over to it, I have some software still to install and still waiting for another 4GB of RAM to arrive. 8GB should be enough for my needs as the Dell had 16GB but was normally using 4.6-4.8GB

One issue I had was with 2.5" HDD that I was using for OS as it was running rather hot 45-50C and causing fan to spin 50-54% speed at idle making it rather loud, still nothing comparing to Dell server, but that was living in the loft due to noise so could not be heard much but I was going to use HP in under stairs cabinet so wanted it to be more quite. Swapped HDD for 500GB SSD that I had bought with intention to fit in one of laptops and this has resolved fan speed /noise issue, now fan is down to 6-10% in idle and pretty much quite.

Also updated from Celeron G1610T 2 core with no hyperthreading CPU to Xeon E3 1265L, 4 cores + hyperthreading.

Currently running 4x2TB Seagate HDD's in RAID 1+0, 1x 500 GB Samsung Evo 850 SSD, Xeon E3 1265L CPU, 1x 4GB original RAM, soon to be joined by another 4GB.

Power consumption with original CPU, idle 48-54W, full load running Crystal disk mark locally on RAID array to load HDD's, another Crystal Disk Mark from another PC over network for SSD and Prime95 running full load on CPU power consumption 70W.

Interestingly with Xeon CPU while it brings full load power consumption higher than Celeron as expected being 45W part instead of 35W Celeron CPU it does jump by more than 10W difference to 93W but it is lower at idle 42-44W. Highest power consumption is 144W during startup for a second or 2 while HDD's spin up.

The costs including VAT and shipping have been:
Server (new, 1 year warranty) - paid £173.88 ( expecting £55 rebate so should be £118.88)
Xeon E3 1265L CPU (used) - £150
Extra 4GB of RAM(used) - £25.99
Samsung Evo 850 500GB SSD (new, 5 year warranty) - £118.70 ( this was a bit unexpected and could have used smaller/cheaper disk but this was what I already had bought and will need to buy another one for laptop now)

HDD's were transferred over from Dell server.

So total comes to £413.57. If I sell Dell for £100 it will take about 1.6-1.7 years to recover remaining costs in power savings. I am expecting it to run at least 3 years so it was worth doing and while the performance is lower than Dell server it is still sufficient for me now with Xeon CPU.