C-Fu,
Thanks for taking the time to write this beautiful post.
Very inspiring for this "another" old uncle.

Inspired by you, I enthusiastically (which doesnt happen for a long while) pull out my i5-2400 from storage and did some refurbishing. Now it has 16GB ram (was 4GB), a new RM80 128GB SSD + 3TB HDD (was 500GB), a RX580 (was GT something-something) and a new bronze 500W PSU (was the gray box stuff) I picked up online for cheap, one at a time, mostly used items. None of the following fun would happen if I did any sort of budgeting... LOL

Still trying out most of the NAS softwares you listed by creating new VM,s to see what are the things I need. As I have no idea what I want ... All in the name of science LOL

After fiddling for about 2 months, what I have currently running is Ubuntu 20.04 LTS because I am kedekut and because I reckon the lighter Linux Os will benefit my old girl AND it just came out in April 2020. As for the Virtualization, I use the in-built virtual machine in the kernel KVM with VirtManager GUI don't know what to call it, a hypervisor? anyway, it works . I can not notice any difference in performance running SolidWorks and Autocad in VM from running in local machine. Ya, both are as slow as you can imagine with this Sandy-bridge i5. The important point is still can-use-la.... btw, the RX580 with 8Gb does give the rendering a huge boost.

Ubuntu 20.04LTS of course you can choose other distro such as PoP! Arch etc etc everyone is releasing their new LTS 5 year support version.
https://releases.ubuntu.com/20.04/

Manage virtual machines with virt-manager
https://virt-manager.org/

In case you are interested in how I GPU passthrough I just followed the following blog to the teeth...
https://heiko-sieger.info/running-windows-1...hics_processors

Pinyin input is important to me,
https://pinyinjoe.com/linux/ubuntu-18-gnome...inese-setup.htm

SAMBA is my pick to serve files to my other devices, (which dont really happen very often...) and I really don't have much data to store for now... This may change since I now have the superpower to create a NAS when I want with a few click on the keyboard and buying a few HDD
https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-configure-sa...cal-fossa-linux

I also fiddling with Jellyfin now and I am thinking of retiring my Pi music streamer...
https://jellyfin.org/

As I continue to fiddle with stuff, I realized I am stuffing more work for the poor i5-2400 with just 4 core w/0 hyper-threading.... My current temptation is an XEON E3-1230V2 which is 4C/8T.... about RM200... a huge price cut from the i7-3770 with nearly same performance. which is about the biggest LGA1155 socket can take... no, wont change the mobo unless I get one for free... at least for now..

My old girl may accidentally rejuvenate into a Virtualization Server .... who would ever guess that 3 months ago.. LOL

OR my kiddo come hijack this old girl when he see papa playing Steam games at 1080p ultra setting ,,,
mmmm... better not put any RGB light near the box don't need the attention...
https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-install-st...n-ubuntu-20-04/

This post has been edited by KenC: Jul 19 2020, 03:42 PM

Yes, 2nd gen Sandy bridge still solid when it comes to real work. Autocad, Solidworks very stable and snappy with the aid of a "dated" mid-range gpu (RX580), more ram and SSD. Still can keep up with most real workload, though a bit slower in rendering but a minute or 2 is never a life and death situation. If I still has the need for a CAD workstation, I will not hesitate to bring this old girl back online. Will keep a VM packed with CAD on the side... never know what life will bring

Transcoding is be something I want to figure out sooner or later... at the moment, no dire need... LOL old uncle dont watch much porn LOL

ALL XEON don't come with iGPU. so a GPU is mandatory. I am not in a hurry or in real need of anything. Will wait for the price drop after AMD and Intel have their new release. Ive-bridge 3rd gen i7-3770K is best la, can play overclock some more but the cheapest LGA1155 4C/8T is the E3-1230V2 for now.... if can cheaper lagi best la... if any of the 3770k, 3770, 1270v2, 1240v2 drop below 200 buck I grab also wan I just want more threads... period

Lately, while digging for ideas to put this old girl to good use, I sesat jalan and ran into Machine Learning, Deep learning, Computer Vision stuff, looks interesting. Contemplating the idea of a GTX 1060 6GB to transform it to a machine learning rig too 1050ti will be very affordable but ram tak cukup... 1070 8GB would be nice but too expensive for a toy.
Will be cool to play scissor paper stone with the pc.

Apparently, NVIDIA is more useful in the real world.... no wonder more expensive la

Thanks for the heads up on the web-base hypervisors and Proxmax. That will keep me busy for a while.

I think some how this built is slowly transforming into a FunStation... You are right about VM is something I didint know I need LOL...BUT I don't want to draw any conclusion just yet, let it evolve into whatever it will be...

It would be great to squeeze another 5 years of use from this old girl, which is looking promising at the moment.

Macam participant in Junkyard War...

This post has been edited by KenC: Jul 21 2020, 12:18 AM