Don't Mind the Duct Tape: Workstation Form Factor Server

In the past I ran most of my game servers and other automation (video rendering and InDesign builds) on very old desktops and laptops. I built this workstation to combine all of my hosting needs into one machine that I could easily manage remotely. The machine runs Proxmox, and can be managed remotely over the web interface, through SSH, or through the CPU's AMT. It's also been nice when I need another clean OS install, or to test out new software, without messing up any of my physical systems that I use daily. This was a fun build to do, especially while stuck at home.

The Tesla M40 is a server-class Nvidia GPU from the Maxwell generation of cards. Performance-wise it's about equivalent to a 980Ti or 1070 desktop card. Although it has no display out, it can be used for graphical acceleration tasks (like AI training, or rendering Premiere Pro projects). The best part is that these go for much cheaper than desktop cards. Since I edit/animate on my personal laptop and only render on the server, this works fine for me. However, you can pair the M40 with an integrated GPU, and have the graphics rendered on the Tesla card but display actually handled by the iGPU. Check out https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/m6evvp/gaming_on_a_tesla_m40_gtx_titan_x_performance_for/ for more details on how to use the M40 as a rendering GPU paired with a display GPU.

Note that this was put together with used parts, and the part prices reflect the prices I paid when I obtained those components. Some of these have gotten cheaper while others have become much more expensive. Notably cheap DDR3 Registered RAM has increased in price significantly