I had a r610 running last year. two 1kw PSUs running 24/7. when I migrated to new hardware my monthly electrical bill dropped around $75 a month.

it sits in my rack as a shitty reminder that commercial hardware is cheap for a reason.

I’ve got a DELL server that I used as home server, but it was too loud. But it worked well, even at an advanced age. I moved the disks to a normal desktop machine (not DELL) that is much, much quieter.

Windows 95, directly on the Internet just for the hell of it

I agree with the advice of finding out how much electricity it will consume. When you step to this level, power consumption becomes a reality. Just looking at specs and doing some swag, it’s probably going to cost anywhere from $15 to $25 +/- USD monthly. A $500 entry fee seems a little rich for my blood. Second, you’re going to have to put that thing in a closet. Those fans are loud. Other than that, rock on bro! Git sum!

I’d use a Kill-a-Watt or similar to check how much power it uses, before deciding whether it’s worth installing anything on it. Also check how much noise it makes, unless you have a separate room for servers. Enterprise servers aren’t always a good fit for home use.

what would you do with an old dell server?

I thought this post was going to be a sea shanty.

Drop it on a cop from a high window.

Sell to pay my electricity bill

So, uh, exactly how “old” is that server? Because, if I understood it correctly, it should be based on 8th gen Intel, which makes this a solid piece of equipment in any homelab (provided you can deal with the noise and power draw).

Depends on the specs. If it’s really old the power consumption will cost more than you’d spend on newer hardware. I have such a box sitting at home doing nothing. It’s cheaper to rent a hetzner dedi.