Right now I am looking at NZ’s second hand marketplace TradeMe. But there are not very many options. Are there any other places I could look to buy? Or is it better to use a couple of Orange Pi 5s? My budget is $800 NZD or around $500 USD.
I once got a gigantic dinosaur storage array from a local university for 50 EUR. Check local stuff, it’s like used furniture if you are in any bigger city.
One DDG search gave me this site, this offer seems reasonable, just check if it works first: https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/computers/servers/servers/listing/4170528497
Watch out for noise and power consumption though. If you want to dip your feet in, OrangePi stuff is definitely a good place to start, set up some networking stuff like PiHole, they are nice projects and you are not saddled with a 30kg piece of metal that screams like a jet engine until you’re sure you want to.
Where would one find ‘local’ stuff? Should I just email places and hope they have old servers they need to get rid of? Thanks.