I've been using this desktop since '08 and never shut it down... Only thing I had to do was install a new PSU and a case fan and it hasn't failed me yet.
I'm getting into IT jobs and want to create my own lab for training.
I have two questions:
1) Why do people create home labs? What purpose does it serve? I have a desktop in my moms room that she uses, my brother uses his macbook and I use this desktop in my room and my laptop on occasion. Would it be smart to just leave it be and not make a lab or go and do it anyway? I don't know what I'd do with the VMs when I made them.
That will actually make a nice server. I suggest, instead of VMware, that you have a look at Proxmox Virtual Environment. I have a server running that, and I use it for tests as well as actual servers. You can test a lot of networking, and multiple different things (for example, im in high school and I use a couple Windows 7 Pro VMs and a Windows Server 08 VM to teach myself about Windows domains). I also use mine for hosting actual servers (I have local DNS, and a web server, and a several game servers)
If you want to get into IT, just find a few trial versions of Windows ISOs on the internet, download some Linux ISOs and test things. Try to deploy an OwnCloud based file server, set up SSH access to it, and if youre really looking for a challenge try to set up a local DNS server. To this day that's been the most challenging, frustrating thing I've ever done, but it is very rewarding.