Where to Find Cheap Server Hardware? [closed]
Solution 1:
Well, in most people's conception of the word "server" you're not going to have much luck, but 1,000 is plenty for a quality desktop made from parts, even including RAID and name brand parts.
I'd go out and put together a last generation (core 2 quad) quad core box with plenty of ram, a motherboard with on board RAID and 3 or 4 hard drives. Buy a cheap video card, and a cheap case, and as many hard drives and as much RAM as you can afford/fit. You should be able to come in well under 1,000.
It's a poor man's porsche, no doubt, but I've seen a lot worse, and all the parts should have a decent manufacturers warantee, which is about as good as it's going to get for 1,000.
@Warren: Better something than nothing: not everyone has the budget to wait for server-class hardware. For 5,000 dollars you can get 1 nice (commodity intel) server, or 4 whiteboxes with good components. Cluster the white boxes, and you've got a better set up with more redundancy than you would have had with the server. Besides, unless you've got the scratch to get real hardware (talking sun or ibm or top notch hp) with fast support, you're not going to gain much more than a redundant power supply by getting a dell.
Solution 2:
If you don't mind being out of warranty, which you can probably live with if you want cheap, then have a look for ex-lease equipment.
Most hardware is written off the books after the lease period has passed. Usually at around 3 years. Which means that you pick up last-generation of hardware which has been well cared for at rock bottom prices.
There are a lot of resellers that trade specifically in buying up ex-lease equipment. Check around some such reputable sellers in your area. Have a hunt on Ebay. Don't rule out buying internationally - it may work out cheaper even after shipping and duty.
Solution 3:
eBay, newspaper classifieds in your area, and the alike.
Hosted services instead of self-hosted wherever possible, to reduce / remove the need for servers on premises. I.e. Google Apps instead of own email server, something like Jungle Disk for file server, etc.
Cold calling companies that are downsizing in your area; talking to your network of people in IT to see if anyone has computers heading for scrap.
Using desktop-class computers (sic) to reduce the expense, and virtualization to reduce the number of physical computers needed. And virtualization also allows easier migration to a new computer when that cheap desktop PC dies...