this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2026
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Advice for upcycle build (lemmy.ml)
submitted 3 weeks ago by eldavi@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml
19 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

my home server that does everything died many weeks ago so i've been making due with VASTLY inferior backups that literally haven't received updates in over a decade because the manufacturers stop supported them.

i've rebuilt this server many times from old e-waste i had laying around and my last attempt to solicit feedback on the last rebuild yeilded some VERY useful advice so i'm hoping to lightening strikes twice.

my constraints are that i can only use hardware that i have on hand; with the exception of a motherboard since i don't have a functional one this time around, so i plan on buying one used off of craigslist or one of the many local repair shops.

also: deepseek tells me that this hardware are the only things i have on hand that are compatible with each other (and i'm crossing my fingers in the hopes that some of them still work):

CPU: socket LGA1200 era Intel Celeron RAM: 64 gigs DDR4 3200 on 2 128 pin sticks CASE: mini itx steel case POWER: ATX standard DRIVES: 4 SATA, 1 PATA, 2 NVME

i also have a wifi3 router/ap and a wifi4 router/ap combo boxes; these are the backups i'm currently using and they are crazy slow.

i need this build to do the same thing its predecessor did which were (ranked in order of importance):

  • router (i used a pfsense virtual machine last time)
  • wifi access point (i last used a wifi nic in AP mode)
  • DNS adblocking (i used pfBlockerNG last time)
  • live kernel patching (used ubuntu last time)
  • vlan segmentation (via pfsense)
  • vpn routing (via pfsense)
  • jbod drives (aka no raid nor HA and permanently mounted on the host)
  • backup capabilities (last used rsync initiated server side to laptops & - gmail)
  • per device firewall rules (for the robot vacuum and security cameras)
  • IDS & IPS (via pfsense)
  • home cloud storage (last used pfsense + nfs + sshfs + ddns)
  • multimedia system (last used kodi + old plasma tv)
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[–] brickfrog@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

CPU: socket LGA1200 era Intel Celeron

DRIVES: 4 SATA, 1 PATA, 2 NVME

Just wanted to mention that PATA hard drive may need to sit this one out, depends on whether you want to buy more stuff beyond a motherboard. LGA1200 means you're using motherboards built from roughly 2020+, it would be highly unusual to find a motherboard with a PATA port in this decade or even last decade. So to use that drive inside the server you're looking at buying some type of adapter (I've seen PATA-to-SATA adapters but can't vouch for any in particular) or a PCIe card with PATA ports if those exist. Or to use it externally you'd have to hunt around for an old IDE-to-USB enclosure or some other type of USB adapter to have the drive sit outside the server.

I have a few old PATA drives myself but actively using them seems like more trouble than it's worth

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 weeks ago

use it externally you’d have to hunt around for an old IDE-to-USB enclosure or some other type of USB adapter to have the drive sit outside the server.

that's my current backup mechanism for my work & personal laptop backups.

it also doesn't matter much if i can use the PATA drive since all of the SATA drives dwarf it in size.

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

hope you have your motherboard sourced already. lga1200 mini-itx gonna be a tough one to find reasonably priced, otherwise.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

so i've discovered. lol

i'm going to have to change tactics and i'm wondering if i can get away with doing this on a laptop since there are so many available second hand; unlike towers for some reason.

[–] doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

If your case can mount the sata drives and your power supply has a 24 pin, four pin and enough sata connectors for your drives then all you need is a ddr4 motherboard, cpu and cooler.

If you’re stuck on off the shelf stuff then maybe a b550 and some am4 cpu, if you can mess around with weird shit there’s a bunch of odd sample intel cpu/motherboard combos floating around the aliexpress sphere.

Some of the am4 boards have multiple nics so that’s probably worthwhile for your use case.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

i hadn't considered going w other motherboards nor aliexpress.

thank you for idea, i imagine i'm going to need it considering the severe lack of mini-itx lga 1200 socket motherboards there seems to be out there.

[–] doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Oh I didn’t even look up motherboard availability, I only know of dual core no multithreading celeron lga 1200 CPUs. You’re gonna have problems accomplishing your goals with that.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yes I am.

I think I'm run pfsense of a laptop since there are so many of them available second hand on Craigslist.

It's also surprising that there are so few towers to sale second hand as well.

[–] doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

How much you looking to spend?

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

less than $100

[–] doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If you have a computer repair place near you just go there and say “I have $100 and I want to trade it for a motherboard, cpu and cooler that fits in this case and takes this ram.”

They’re gonna have an old 8th gen + intel or am4 setup that will work for you.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

all signs were pointing to computer repair places so i gave 10 of them a call yesterday and just came back from the only brick-and-morter location that there is in my area (the rest are run out of people's spare bedrooms with little to no inventory and couldn't accept visitors as a result).

funny enough, the only motherboard and case they had to sell was an lga1200 socket motherboard and a matching mini-itx case and at a better price compared to amazon and newegg; but they refused to prove that it was still working and insisted on their no returns policy nonetheless.

it seems that old laptops are the only path forward for me since they're so plentiful on craigslist in my area.

[–] doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

May I interest you in a Lenovo thinkcentere m700, hp z230, or dell 3040 sff or 7040 mt?

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

that one brick and morter repair shop was selling an hp like this, but they refused to let me see it to confirm that it's working.

also, the biggest take away for me here is that the case is the biggest restriction, so i'm now more amenable to larger cases.

[–] doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

No I mean like I will sell you one of those. What dimensions do you need to know?

E: Also I have an old gaming pc in a gaming pc sized case.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

at this stage, a bigger case seems to be the right move for the future; what are the details of yours and how much?

[–] doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Sorry it took a little while to get back to you, I wasn’t in the workshop till today.

Just powered it up and did a quick memtest and pi, the case has three 5.25 bays, eight 3.5, the motherboard has eight sata ports and has a i7 3770 cooled using an aio with 16gb of total ram in four slots.

The front bezel of the case is missing. For a server the front bezel shouldn’t matter too much, nothing is exposed in an unsafe way, just a metal grate instead of plastic transformer face.

I use the little brother of this configuration, with half the cores and a slower clock, as my primary nas/jellyfin/rtorrent server/arr stack/many other tasks and it handles 150+ tb of disks (using an hba and expander) and transcoding 1080 content no problem. I wanted to do 4k I’d add a surplus workstation gpu to transcoding.

I’d like to not get completely destroyed on shipping, so lmk your zip (or some other way of talking if you don’t wanna give that out here) and I’ll see how bad it is.

E: I just wanna say, you’re probably best served by thrifting a recent wireless router that’s supported by freshtomato, openwrt or pfsense and doing your network stuff on that.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

you’re probably best served by thrifting a recent wireless router that’s supported by freshtomato, openwrt or pfsense and doing your network stuff on that.

that's a FANTASTIC idea! i'm gonna go do that.

thank you.

[–] doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

Good luck. If that gets enough heat off you that you can wait on putting a computer together it’s probably a good idea to target good deals on old Xeon workstations or tower servers instead of using consumer hardware.