What to do with full server rack (and more) of older equipment - anyone have experience with this?

T

tankman1989

Gawd
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
588
With the advancement of servers over the last 5 years, I'm not sure what the possibilities of this hardware is and what potential it has from an economic standpoint. I know they would work for web servers, file servers, VM hosts, etc but some of the new servers out there with 4 CPU's with 12 cores each, makes these things look anaemic. A brief list of the hardware is below:

(4) Dell 1950's with dual CPU quad core Xenon 5450 3.0Ghz - 32 GB ECC (Samsung) Perc 5i - 6 3.5" drives SAS, Dual broadcom gigabit
(7) Dell 2950's with dual CPU dual core 2.66Ghz (same gen as the E5450 but dual core) - 32GB ECC (Samsung), Perc 5i, 2 3.5" SAS ports, Dual broadcom gigabit
(1) Dell 2850 Dual CPU Dual core Xenon - 6 SAS drives
(5) Cisco (MCS-7835H) 2 Xenon 3.4ghz CPU, 8GB DDR2 SCSI U320 hard drives (6 bays) dual gigabit ports, dual power supply
HP Proliant BL460c Blade server Gen 5 (or maybe 6?) (5 Blades) all dual CPU Dual core 3 GHz - 16 GB each
APC 6Kw UPS (6000w continuous supply for 20 minutes I beleive)
2 APC 3000w UPS's

As far as networking equipment there is about 18U-23U worth of components - all Cisco professional. Cisco gigabit switches (48 port) routers, large networking setup This includes PoE switches along with power supplies for them, networking telephony equipment, etc. 3600 routers. All have fiber ports or fiber to copper modulators (and copper to fiber)

I'm making an inventory list of everything that needs to find a home, find a purpose or take the long march to the E-waste facility (not a great thought).

There are also a number of laptops, about 20 that are about 6 years old, but are in great shape and have been in storage for the last 3 years after they came off lease.

Looking on Ebay for these items gives such a wide price range ranging from $30 for a server to $400 for the same one, maybe with slight differences in specs (2.33 Ghz vs 2.66) and other things that just don't seem to justify those price differences. I can't get an accurate price for what some of this stuff would actually sell for, if it would sell at all.

If anyone has experience in this and can give me some places to look to find if there is demand OR if maybe they could be networked into a more robust system for someone who might need the computing power this could offer.
 
You can probably get at least a few hundred bucks each for the servers.
The UPSes are tough unless you sell directly to someone in your area. Mostly because they're expensive as fuck to ship due to their size and weight.
 
Take some pics and put them up for sale here. You can probably even get a few local pickups too to avoid shipping costs.
 
Honestly it's probably not worth your time to sell the servers anymore, they're just too old and the market is already saturated.
The 1950s and 2950s are worth ~ $70-$80 each.
The last sale on ebay of a 2850 w/ dual DC xeons was for $27.48, and there are plenty more still up for $30-$40.
Even if it were a g7, the BL460c is worth ~ $20.

You could part out all the servers and make a bit more, but again, how much time are you willing to dedicate to this? A xeon E5450 is worth less than $20 shipped right now, and that's the most "precious" component I saw in your list (assuming those sas drives aren't 300gb or larger).

The switches, UPSes, and laptops are probably worth selling, and you can always sell the UPSes without the batteries to save on shipping costs.
 
Sorry to jump into your thread, but I have the same issue. 2x 4-CPU G34 systems, some AM3 Phenon X6 II, etc... I dont think it's worth to sell them... I try to justify a reason to have them, let me know what you do.
You either come up with some BS way to use them (firewall, file server, etc), donate, or just trash it
 
I would suggest a donation so that your company could have a write-off, or maybe contacting one of those office equipment buyback places. Maybe ebay is an option if you have a good shipping rate setup with UPS, and have the original boxes or packing equipment, but there is a ton of old gear out there on the market so it will probably go for the lesser of $$$. As far as your old batteries did you upgrade these to new ones because you could always wire them up as a backup array to get you more run time on your setup. Also of note depending on their age you might have to do some new battery swaps. Just my 2c though ;)
 
How well will they crunch WCG projects? I'd be willing to put all those dual, quad cores to use for [H] DC team.
 
rhansen5_99 said:
I would suggest a donation so that your company could have a write-off, or maybe contacting one of those office equipment buyback places. Maybe ebay is an option if you have a good shipping rate setup with UPS, and have the original boxes or packing equipment, but there is a ton of old gear out there on the market so it will probably go for the lesser of $$$. As far as your old batteries did you upgrade these to new ones because you could always wire them up as a backup array to get you more run time on your setup. Also of note depending on their age you might have to do some new battery swaps. Just my 2c though ;)
Click to expand...


The battery thing for the 6Kw system is on hold indefinately as it needs 32 batteries (4 trays of 8 batteries - 7AH each). I found some that can fit 9ah in each battery but they are like 35% more - not bad if you really need the capacity in the same space.

I'd like to find some way to parallel them and make it a mini super computer for graphics generation of something. IDK how much CPU power is needed to do animation work as each machine (dell 1950 and 2950) has at least 2 8x PCI-e slots which could be utilized with cost efficient GPU's for processing.

Maybe an art school that does CGI? All they would need to do is buy some graphics cards, bond the ethernet ports (or install a fiber channel card) and the Dell's and HP could be decent. Probably more computing power than when Shrek of anything before 2007/2008 was made.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top