I am going to be purchase a server to run a file server some games such as tf2 and possibly minecraft and also to learn more about windows and linux servers. I have been searching for a decently priced server and found two on ebay i am considering buying but the problem is i don't know how much this kind of hardware is worth.So my question is how much would you pay for this server and is it ever worth buying ?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271343701223
The second server he is selling.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271343704493
Although they are good-ish. I don't think for what you want them for they will be particularly good.
They only have 4 HDD caddies. They are using ageing processors (nearly 5 years old) and quite slow in terms of clock speed. Although they have plenty of RAM, it is also older DDR2.
Plus you have to bear in mind, those fans are 40mm Delta fans. Which are extremely loud for a home environment.
Personally, if they go above £120 I'd say leave them.
Thanks for the input i think i will put a bid for £100 and leave it at that.
You should consider buying a VPS. I use mine for file hosting and for game hosting (cs:s, tf2). I use buyvm.net for the US and pay only about 7 USD a month. If you find a smaller VPS host in the UK you can probably find one with inexpensive pricing that can fit your needs.