Dell PowerEdge 4400 rack server conversion or rebuild?

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Devilpup

[H]ard|Gawd
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Sep 4, 2002
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I recently acquired my first rack-mount piece of equipment that I got for free from craigslist. It's a Dell PowerEdge 4400 rack mount server that supposedly still works, but I haven't tried it yet. The guy said it had dual PIII Xeon 833 processors and 8gb of memory with a RAID 5 array. I haven't dug into it yet to see what the hardware looks like inside, but given that this is the first time I've ever looked into a server part I think I'm going to need some help figuring out what to do with it. Since this is more of a rebuild than a scratch build, I'm not sure how much of the mandatory questions will be relevant but I'll try my best:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

I'd like to use this as a home data server to back up my wife's photography work (Mac based) and my media files (Windows based)

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

Budget is undetermined at this time, but I would prefer to spend as little as possible to start. If I need to do a more complete rebuild, it probably won't be for a while but I would appreciate any suggestions that can be done for ~$600 (less storage drives) anyway.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

USA, near Tucson AZ

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

As mentioned, I was told the system works so I don't think I would need anything at this point other than maybe some additional storage drives and software. If I rebuild, I would need whatever it would take to turn a working desktop (I have a spare) into a server.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

The stock parts in the server. My spare desktop has an Antec 650w PSU I can pirate if needed.

6) Will you be overclocking?

No.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

1920 x 1080, 23"

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

I have the server box already.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)?
etc.

I would like to keep whatever would be a good RAID configuration for data backup. Probably a RAID 1 or 5 which will eventually incorporate four 2tb drives.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

I have Windows XP Pro (32-Bit), Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit), and the Windows 7 upgrade for my Vista copy.


My internal debate is whether to try configuring this thing to work as a server, or if I should just gut it and mod it to fit normal desktop parts. Like I mentioned though I've never messed with a server part before so I came here to ask the experts. I made a post in the case mod forum with some pictures of the thing but thought maybe I should try asking for help in a section more geared toward hardware and function over aesthetics. For reference, the post is here.
 
I wouldn't F' with this at all. It would turn out to be a pain in the ass trying to retro current parts into an old OEM enclosure. Reusing any of the old components wouldn't be worth it either. Just my 2 cents. I've been down this path before with a ton of old hardware I have at work. I have tons of old Xeon boxes laying around and cracked a few open with the same idea you had in mine. At the end of the day it was just better to go with a whole new build.
 
Hmm well thank you for your input, I was a bit concerned that trying to reuse it may not be worth it. My thoughts were that as a worst case scenario, I could hollow out the shell/chassis and use it to house new hardware. I am a modder at heart so in the end I figured it would be no loss to at least pick it up since it was free.
 
It's definitely not worth configuring that system as a server considering it only supported SCSI drive of up to 36GB in size.

While the dual P3 CPUs should be fine for a simple file server, it'll more than likely require you to use Linux or some other non-Windows based OS as Vista HP and Windows 7 HP does not support two physical CPUs. Windows XP Pro does but probably not worth using a server OS IMO. Though since you want to do RAID, that basically does mean a non-Windows based OS unless you're willing to pay the extra $300 to $400 for a proper true hardware RAID card.

You're really better off just modding that case. If the modding work is taking too much effort/time, you can always empty it out, slap some wheels on it, and give it to your kids :). So a win-win IMO.

Though you may have to redo the entire rear of the case as the expansion slots and the I/O slot on that server case doesn't match normal ATX configurations. It looks you might to do a reverse ATX layout.
 
I cracked into it and checked it out yesterday. From the perspective of using it as a shell, it's got a ton of room and looks pretty durable, so that might be the way to go with it. I was thinking if I did that, I'd probably mod a new back panel out of aluminum and pick up a Mountain Mods tray assembly to go into it. Basically, the same plan as my current box until I ran out of money haha.

Ah well, even though it was short-lived, the dream was still pretty cool. Eventually I'll get around to setting up a file server in the house.
 
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