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a used HP Z640 of the right configuration, core count and memory size can be nought for a real steal nowadays
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Did you mean "Bought" or "Nought"?
I went down this path several years back with an old IBM desktop server with twin Xeon processors, nowhere near as much RAM and I can't remember which graphics card. My son at the time had his Lenovo home server with a much later Xeon processor and more RAM and it was by far quicker, less noise and a lot less electricity.
In saying that my son has a HP C7000 blade cabinet fully populated including one double sized unit with 4 x Xeon processors and a few disk shelves, along with a 48 tape library but We haven't played with any of it for processing. It's all large equipment and not so cheap to run.
One thing, Registax from memory was the one program which always threw up an exception error if I tried to run more than one core for processing and it didn't matter which version I tried (or it could have been DSS, I can't remember).
We used to buy a lot of cheap server gear from Grays auctions going back a few years. I've always wanted to try one of the smaller HP units or the similar other near identical machine brand which currently alludes my pathetic brain.
The same with my sons Lenovo home/small business server (S30), it was great for everything including gaming when we first got it.
I have a D30 which takes slower dual processors but it has a dead BIOS my son was re-writing for it, he may still finish it one day. It's a HUGE machine though.
We suffer from small house syndrome, too much junk, not enough house.