Convert Dell PowerEdge 2950 from SCSI to SATA & Decent Graphics Card

[DuaneG]

I'm considering purchasing a Dell PowerEdge 2950, as opposed to spending the excessive money of buying a tower type.
It seems decent for what I want to do with it except for the SCSI and the graphics card. I want to be able to use this for anything I want to, really, but predominately a media and server.

Ideally I'd like a server that can be used as a gaming machine, too, but reasonably priced.

The PowerEdge is going for around $40-$75 right now without drives.

My first question is if it's possible to convert the machine from using SCSI to SATA?

Secondly, is it possible to find a decent card graphics card for this server?

Thanks.

 

[Markverhyden]

Seem to remember most of those have native SATA ports on the motherboard. If you can get the service tag you can look up the specs on the machine. They also usually have a riser card which allows you install extra cards.

 

[Altster]

I'm considering purchasing a Dell PowerEdge 2950, as opposed to spending the excessive money of buying a tower type.
It seems decent for what I want to do with it except for the SCSI and the graphics card. I want to be able to use this for anything I want to, really, but predominately a media and server.

Ideally I'd like a server that can be used as a gaming machine, too, but reasonably priced.

The PowerEdge is going for around $40-$75 right now without drives.

My first question is if it's possible to convert the machine from using SCSI to SATA?

Secondly, is it possible to find a decent card graphics card for this server?

Thanks.

Before you spend too much time pondering all of this, go read this posting in the dell community forums:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/servers/f/956/t/19534609

 

[Moltuae]

They're SAS drive bays on a 2950, are they not?

If they're SAS, they should be compatible with SATA drives.


One thing to bear in mind about using a rack server as a desktop or media centre is the noise. I'm not sure about the 2950, but rack server fans can be pretty loud. 2U servers can be a little quieter than 1U servers though, since the the 2U fans are usually larger are therefore able to create greater airflow with lower speeds.

 

[altrenda]

Before you spend too much time pondering all of this, go read this posting in the dell community forums:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/servers/f/956/t/19534609

+1 Hopefully you saved him a lot of time, money and grief.

 

[DuaneG]

Thanks for the replies.

I had read that before.

I've read up a little, not familiar with servers all too much. She said it was SCSI only (I read elsewhere there's no power for the SATA port on board) but SAS drives should work. Can anyone confirm?

SAS seems to be much cheaper for the size.

 

[Moltuae]

I've read up a little, not familiar with servers all too much. She said it was SCSI only (I read elsewhere there's no power for the SATA port on board) but SAS drives should work. Can anyone confirm?

SAS = Serial attached SCSI

Like I said earlier, SAS bays are usually compatible with SATA drives. You can plug a SATA drive into an SAS drive bay (but an SAS drive won't work on a SATA port). On an old 2950, you will probably only get SATA II connection speeds though, possibly even just SATA I, depending on drive compatiblity.

Often such server motherboards do have some regular SATA ports connections too. It's true there won't be power on the board for the SATA ports, but then that's not really any different to desktop motherboards. The power usually comes straight from the power supply (or the power supply controller board, if the server has dual/redundant supplies). You just take the power from there, as you would with a desktop PC. It's unlikely there will be any SATA power connectors there already, so you would probably need to use adaptors.

SAS seems to be much cheaper for the size.

Did you mean to say "SATA seems to be much cheaper for the size"?

SAS drives are almost always quite a bit more expensive than SATA drives of a similar size.