Yay! Getting a new computer :D

[crenn]

Yep! I've gotten permission to build a new computer, although I need to wait for a payment first before I can get it. I budgeted myself $300 to do it, and I'm only going to be spending $245 in total.

This is the list of parts I'm getting:
AMD Socket FM1 A4-3400 2.7GHz APU
Gigabyte GA-A55M-S2H
CoolerMaster RC-343 with 420W PSU (Good enough for me)
4GB of Corsair DDR3-1600 XMS3 RAM

As you might be able to tell, it's not a gaming machine, it's going to be a media/file server and be for general purpose stuff while being as low powered as possible.

My current desktop will be staying though

[NightrainSrt4]

Nice! It's nice to have a file server. I've got mine running Server 2008 R2 with the file server running in Hyper-V. I like having different roles separate. If I mess up one system, it doesn't mess up everything else.

The fiancee didn't understand the big deal at first. When she realized she could have her own space and put anything she wanted there and have access to it on any computer just a click away, it made her a believer.

The big thing, for her, is having all our DVDs, CDs, etc. ripped to the server. She can turn on the WDTV in the bedroom and have instant access to all the media at the push of a button.

[AmEv]

Built myself a file server out of my old parts.

Ubuntu Server Edition with OpenSSH.
It's a server; do you need a GUI hogging up RAM and CPU cycles????????

[NightrainSrt4]

My enthusiasm for a home server started with a pair of 1U Pentium 3 servers I picked up on craigslist for $20. Put the faster of the two CPUs and the largest RAM sticks in the one I cleaned up (even washed the case in the tub to try to get rid of the smoke smell).

Eventually I grew out of that one, but it was one of the best $20 I've spent. Having it is such a convenience.

There were a few reasons I used a bulky OS, but one of the biggest ones was simply that I had the licenses and wished to learn a new system.

[Fuganater]

Nice. I'm building a HTPC for my mother-in-law and it will only cost me $200-250

[crenn]

Nice! It's nice to have a file server. I've got mine running Server 2008 R2 with the file server running in Hyper-V. I like having different roles separate. If I mess up one system, it doesn't mess up everything else.

The fiancee didn't understand the big deal at first. When she realized she could have her own space and put anything she wanted there and have access to it on any computer just a click away, it made her a believer.

The big thing, for her, is having all our DVDs, CDs, etc. ripped to the server. She can turn on the WDTV in the bedroom and have instant access to all the media at the push of a button.

The fun thing is that I'm going to be running Windows 7 Pro x64 on it since I don't have a Server License nor do I really need the server features. I'm also going to have a little NAS for other purposes, but the file server will be my main machine instead of my gaming machine which is hosting all of the files.

Built myself a file server out of my old parts.

Ubuntu Server Edition with OpenSSH.
It's a server; do you need a GUI hogging up RAM and CPU cycles????????

Yep! Because instead of using my powerful desktop to surf the web, I'll use my file server. I know a lot of people will say it's not a file server because of the OS I picked, but for me, it's a server which has 8.5TBs of HDD space serving files to the rest of the network.

My enthusiasm for a home server started with a pair of 1U Pentium 3 servers I picked up on craigslist for $20. Put the faster of the two CPUs and the largest RAM sticks in the one I cleaned up (even washed the case in the tub to try to get rid of the smoke smell).

Eventually I grew out of that one, but it was one of the best $20 I've spent. Having it is such a convenience.

There were a few reasons I used a bulky OS, but one of the biggest ones was simply that I had the licenses and wished to learn a new system.

When I was originally planning to build a file server, I was looking at spending $500 on it, however because I couldn't afford to and I wanted an APU over what I could have gotten then (X2 with a motherboard with integrated GPU), I shelved the idea until I got bored very recently and decided that I'd look into it again, and just picked the cheapest components I was comfortable with, and that's how I came up with this system!
After asking my girlfriend if I could build it, here I am!

Nice. I'm building a HTPC for my mother-in-law and it will only cost me $200-250

But I'm guessing that that would be in USD not AUD. Computer prices are still cheaper in the USA