I am doing some upgrades and a big part of that for me is aesthetics and future upgrades.
I currently have a couple 7020 I5 Dell Optiplexs but I am thinking about purchasing a couple Dell R210ii.
Is this a crazy move? I love the idea of a small 1U rack mount server and plus they are cheap. I can pick them up for $150 while I would be paying $150 alone for a chasie.
Is this a crazy move?
I still run an aging R210ii, and it's been great. Mostly....
If you're going to use the server for storage (or I/O heavy tasks), you might be better to get the Optiplex since it has SATA-III (6 Gbps) and the R210ii only has SATA-II (3 Gbps). The R210ii also only has one PCI-E slot which limits expansion options.
I planned on attached some direct storage and using a truenas VM, for what I do I don't think sataii will be that much of a downgrade