TR Forums

I guess this is the best place to ask.

I'm looking to set up a permanent "server." Realistically, I want to be able to just use it for hosting one or two games/applications, like Minecraft, Mumble, etc., etc., There would always be less than 5 people so it shouldn't be too intensive. If I could use the HDD as a backup for a few GB's of critical data, cool.

Would something like this be a good candidate for inexpensive, potent, with the added bonus of being unobtrusive and small? http://www.zotacusa.com/zbox-giga-id72-plus.html

Reading the various reviews of the Zotac zbox it seemed like heat and/or fan noise was a common issue. But I would be curious to hear other's experience with them.

You might take a look at the Dorm 2.0 PC in the system guide. It isn't as small but would be more flexible/upgradable. You could also skip some of the components you don't need like the graphics card.

http://techreport.com/review/23422/tr-back-to-school-2012-system-guide/10

If it's having heat issues I'm not sure that's what I want to try and leave running 24/7. Would it be potent enough to get the job done though?

The problem with that Scott's guide though is the price: I was looking to squeeze this thing out as cheaply as possible and stay well under $500. For this price, I could look at some cheapo-server from Dell, a Mac Mini or something (which may be built more for longevity).

Keep the ideas coming!

Perhaps something like the Shuttle XH61? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6856101125

Add a CPU, RAM and HDD and it's good to go. Should be really power efficient if you give it a dual core SandyBridge Pentium, maybe even a small SSD depending on price .

Oh heck, just noticed it's being offered with a free CPU at the moment! That's pretty sweet .

Oh that does look pretty sweet. I'll have to price it out and see if I can get a feel on the fan/heat levels.