Nick Builds a Server

I wanted to learn more about building and running computers, so I spent $1500 on a server build. Was it a smart purchase? No. Was it worth it? Also no.

I have my fair share of experience when it comes to building computers. But I wanted to build something more than just a basic desktop computer. I wanted to build a server; Something that could potentially out perform my desktop at certain functions. Furthermore, I wanted a place to store all my big media files, like movies, tv shows, music, stuff like that. I have three terabytes of storage on my desktop, but more than half of that was taken up by media, and I wanted to free up space without deleting everything. 

Essentially, I'm a data hoarder, and instead of just getting rid of stuff, I wanna by a shed to put it all in. And that's what I did.

Here's my journey, from start to finish, of how I build the Holo Server.

Part One: The Plan

Just like building any sort of housing or project, you have to have a plan. When it comes to computers, things can get expensive. On my desktop alone, I've spent approximately $1,200 building and upgrading it. So, how much more would a server cost? Much more, unfortunately.

"It's gonna be a no from me, dawg." ~Randy Jackson

I started by doing some casually window shopping online to see how much things cost. And things were looking bad. Prices were ranging from a couple thousand to ten's of thousands of dollars. Definitely more than I hoped to spend. From there, I had to think smaller. And think second-hand.

I was hoping I could go without having to by things from a third-party, but if I wanted to keep my life-savings in check, I had to think smaller. A quick browse on eBay told me that saving money was easily possible, but my plan would also need to be scaled down. A server rack, like the one pictured above, was not going to be affordable, so I was going to have to change plans. Again.

Not the form-factor I had in mind, but beggars can't be choosers.

After some research, I found I was not limited to a rack, but a desktop form case could function just fine. My desktop case, while similar in shape, can hold 3 different hard drives, while the case listed above can hold up to eight, giving me some elbow room for if (when) I want to expand my horizons. From here, my case was decided, but I only had the body. And a body can't function without internal organs.

I had already known I was going to have to purchase second hand for my parts, but the issue was buying from reliable sources. eBay was a new medium for me, so learning how to distinguish between respectable sellers and scammers made me nervous. But, after some window shopping, I got the jist of things. And after a few days of searching and pondering, I had a list of parts lined up, saving a hefty sum of money in the process. And after finding the other parts I would need from first hand sources, the only thing left to do was wait for the arrival.

Part Two: The Build

A couple weeks later, everything was here. Needless to say, there was a lot of stuff.

Not pictured: Tons of smaller parts. TONS.

The cat certainly thought the case was big.

The stuff was here, and the building had to begin! Obviously my desktop building experience would help, but there was still a lot of stuff to figure out. Does RAM need to go in specific slots? Does CPU placement matter? (For reference, I had two of them.) How do I install my fans correctly? Being the genius I am, I ignored the questions and dove right in. Miraculously, the building went pretty smoothly.

Unpackaged. More stuff still not in picture.

The computer case before installing hardware. Those cables came with the case.

Motherboard and power supply = Check

The power supply was a big confusing to put in, but fit right in after some effort. The motherboard made me pretty nervous, as I had to install some standoff's on the case to distribute the weight evenly. After sweating over it for a few minutes, I was after to get it all in place. 

Next was installing the CPU's and fans. Pretty much all laptops and desktops have one CPU. But, I wanted to go overkill on my server, so I got a motherboard that supported two. And, as expected, I was going to need two fans as well. The fans were a lot bigger than I expected them to be, but installed quite easily. Following that, I installed the RAM, which was a snap.

CPU and Fans are in.

Following that, the only thing left to do was plug in the hard drives, hook up the case wires, and the hook up the power supply. With that, it seemed to be just about done.

Just about done. Those empty slots on the right are extra RAM slots + PCI slots. Not using those right now.

So now, the moment of truth. The power button.

RAM failure of some sort.

POST screen showed that some of the RAM wasn't working. Odd. I removed the problem RAM and put it back in.

Presto. We have lift off.

The POST cleared, and the system successfully booted off of my USB drive to Windows Server 2016. Unfortunately, the same RAM would eventually act up again, and I eventually removed it altogether. It works fine without it, but that's 16gb of RAM I'm now missing. Shame.

 I had thought that the hard part was done. But I'd soon find out that I was oh so wrong. However, that's a story for another time. There's enough content there to cover a couple blog posts.