The bench notes
Server guides & buying advice
Model comparisons, platform explainers and configuration advice — written from the hardware we refurbish, test and ship every day.
Buying guide
Workstation or Server: Which One Do You Actually Need?
Core counts and memory capacity rarely decide this question. Redundancy, out-of-band management, acoustics, GPU support, and where the machine physically lives do. A practical framework, plus...
server selection
Storage or Server: Where Should Capacity Live?
Capacity can live inside the compute (storage-heavy servers), beside it (shelves), or apart from it (SAN/NAS). Each placement changes failure domains, growth and cost. A decision...
HPE ProLiant
When Blades Make Sense (and When They Do Not)
Blade systems compress astonishing compute into shared chassis - and bind every decision to that chassis afterward. The genuine cases for refurbished blade infrastructure, the assumptions...
Server hardware
GPU in a Workstation or GPU in a Server?
The same accelerator lives two very different lives in a Z8 under a desk versus a 2U in a rack. Cooling, noise, power connectors and multi-user...
Business Server
Windows Server Core Licensing on Refurbished Iron
Windows Server prices by core with a 16-core minimum per machine - which quietly rewrites the refurbished spec sheet. How the counting works, where Standard vs...
HPE ProLiant
ML350 Gen9 vs Gen10: Tower Platform Steps
HPE's big tower moved from E5 v3/v4 to Xeon Scalable without changing its office-friendly nature. What Gen10 adds over Gen9 in practice - memory channels, NVMe...
dell poweredge
Dell T630 vs T640: Big Towers Compared
Dell's largest towers carry full 2U-class platforms in office-friendly cases - 18 LFF bays, dual sockets, GPU room. T630 brings the 13G value, T640 the 14G...
dell poweredge
Dell R720 vs R730: The 12G-to-13G 2U Step
Both are two-socket 2U workhorses with 24 DIMM slots and room for real storage. The R730's DDR4 and v3/v4 Xeons change the economics; the R720's rock-bottom...
dell poweredge
Dell R620 vs R630: Moving from 12G to 13G
The R620 costs pocket change and still works; the R630 costs a little more and moves to DDR4. Where the 12G-to-13G step actually shows - memory...
server selection
SFF vs LFF: The Drive Size Decision
2.5-inch or 3.5-inch bays is a decision you make once, at purchase, and live with for the server's whole life. Capacity-per-bay versus flash flexibility, what each...
Scalable server
Three Small Nodes or One Big Server? Cluster Math for Labs
A three-node cluster teaches quorum, migration and failure handling - things one big box never can. But one big box is cheaper per gigabyte and simpler...
Business Server
Speccing a Small-Business File and Directory Server
For a 10-to-50-person office the server's job is boring reliability: identity, files, backups, maybe one line-of-business app. A modest refurbished tower with redundant power, ECC memory...
Server hardware
Running VMware ESXi on Refurbished Servers: What to Check First
ESXi is fussier than Linux about what it boots on. Compatibility lists, NIC drivers, boot devices and CPU generation cutoffs decide whether a refurbished host installs...