The $36 Server

It was another regular day and I was browsing Ebay out of bordem yet again. I decided to look for a cheap PC to turn into a server until I found a Dell Optiplex 3020M.

Specifications

GPU: Intel HD Graphics

CPU: 4th Gen Core i5

RAM: 16GB of DDR3 ram

SSD: 256GB Samsung SSD

The OS

There are many server OS's like Windows Server and BSD's like FreeBSD which are great, but I decided on using a Linux server. It is the top option for homelabs and is the best choice in my opinion. Most of the internet runs on Linux servers. I choose to use Debian 12 Bookworm since its know for being stable and is the most popular.

You can try using Ubuntu server as well which is also based off of Debian but I choose against it since I don't really like Snaps and I feel like there would barely be any difference anyway.

Theres other distros like Arch or NixOS which are rolling release distros and are way more advanced.

The Stress Test

To push the limits of this server I decided to see how it would handle as a Minecraft server running the latest version. I have seen WindowsG Electronics run a Minecraft server on some very old hardware with pretty decent performance. The thing is though these was on older versions of Minecraft which were much easier to run.

Running a (Public) Minecraft Server on a 2006 iMac! ft. Arch Linux

Turning an eMachine into a Minecraft Server! (feat. Netburst)

This test will be using Minecraft 1.21.1 with the PaperMC plugin

The first test I decided to do was just creative flying around to see how the server would keep up

Other things I installed on it.

WireGuard/WireGuard-Easy

WireGuard is a self hosted VPN. WireGuard-Easy just makes it one command or docker compose file to deploy and gives you a nice web interface.

The main reason people host their own VPN is so that they can access their server or network outside of their home, but another nice perk is being able to help friends who are in countries with a censored internet.

I have a Russian friend who is unable to use Discord due to it being banned there. So they have to use GoodbyeDPI in order to access it. Unforunetly this means they cannot use Discord voice chat's and the ability to screenshare. But thanks to WireGuard I can help them access everything on the internet.

If you are going to do this for someone be sure its someone you trust since this will give them access to your network.

Upgradability/Repairability

Since that this is a mini pc designed for office work it's not going to be very repairable or upgradable.

You can replace the storage, ram

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I am very happy with how this is working and I plan to continue to daily drive this for awhile. One day I will definitely look into saving up for an actual PC just so I can have way more storage for archiving and backing up whenever I want.

If you want to find cheap or low end mini PC's lowcostminipcs.com is perfect for that.