tl;dr Impulse-purchased an IBM x3650 M4 7915 to serve as the keystone of my homelab build; I’m either a mad genius or simply insane
I should preface this by saying I’m of a certain age, and with that comes a weird combination of nostalgia and reverence for x86-based IBM hardware. The first computer I could call my own was an IBM PC-XT I got second hand in the mid-90s. Not long after, I graduated to a PS/2 Model 80 that was in amazing shape and kitted out with an original VGA monitor, model M keyboard, and second-gen PS/2 mouse—if only my teenage self understood the treasure that setup would become.
Anyway, last night, in addition to some other odds and ends, I impulse-purchased an IBM x3650 M4 7915 primarily because I really appreciate System x hardware, but also mostly because it was like $110 USD with free shipping.
Planning to use this as the basis of a scratch homelab build primarily for use as a learning platform. I know there’s a lot of trial and error, pain and frustration, but also the acquisition of knowledge, and that valuable kind of growth that only comes in the wake of tremendous failure and defeat, sprouting like fireweed on an expanse of charred wasteland after a cleansing wildfire.
Either I’m a mad genius, or I’m simply insane
Congrats! You just paid for shipping and got the server free.
If anyone will try to tell you it’s garbage - don’t listen. It’s still the cheapest way to get multicore performance with up to 768GB RAM. Downside? It’s noisy and power hungry. If you can live with that - you will enjoy it. It’s well designed machine that will serve you well.
I had a System X tower (forget what model right off hand) previously. Thing was an absolute beast in terms of size and weight, took two people to manhandle, poor FedEx guy complained about it lol. You think rack mounted servers are loud, my 1U is deathly quiet compared to the jet engines cooling that model of System X. Was always a thrill turning it on though!
I’ve been watching to add another System X to my collection. I love IBM gear where and when I can get it.
Downside? It’s noisy and power hungry
Pretty big downside tbh and pretty meh Xeon CPU at this point (equal to a 7th gen i7).
But plus side is the space for HDD, memory is easy to get cheap (DDR3) and a solid case to build in a new build at worse.
I’ve got space to keep this baby out of the way, so the noise problem is a non-issue, and we have residential solar panels installed which significantly mitigates our utility costs, so I’m in a situation where those factors—while still significant—aren’t as big an issue for me atm.
Like I said, nostalgia was an admittedly outsized factor in my decision making process, and I’m fully cognizant of the limitations of this rig, even with significant upgrades, but as a starting point, and with my current planned uses for it, I’m feeling fairly happy with my decision.
Well you can’t put two I7s on one board :)
That’s why I’m saying - it’s a cheap way to get to those levels of performance, not the best way.
In 90% of cases small 920x would be sufficient for homelab, but if someone likes big, loud enterprise machines - this one is oldie but goodie.
Well you can’t put two I7s on one board :)
Technically you can : https://www.newegg.ca/p/pl?d=dual+processor+motherboard
Question is, why would you? 😂 You will get better performance from a Xeon or Epyc cpu for probably less.
The x3650 M4 7915 is a fine server, although outdated to today standards can still pull his weight if hidden and not scared of power cost (like OP mentioned, he’s not haha.
