[Official] serverbuilds.net CARE PACKAGE GIVEAWAY (pfSense + more) - ends 1/1/21

General Announcements
#1

Hey everyone! I have a few spare HP 290s so I figured I would put one together along with a care package from some of our hobby sub-communities for a special thank you to the community.

Prizes

Package 1

  • HP 290 w/ G4900T (low power variant)
    • 4 port Intel GbE NIC
    • 16GB Intel Optane SSD
  • (2) 10k or 15k SAS2/SAS3 HDD
  • Limited edition serverbuilds.net holographic stickers (PSA 10)

2d4471ad1ececcd16608f4c8c01bf0721f905193
2d4471ad1ececcd16608f4c8c01bf0721f9051934032Ɨ3024 2.19 MB

Package 2

image
image2016Ɨ1512 920 KB

970Ɨ600

image
image692Ɨ519 25.5 KB

How to enter

  • You must have a forum account to enter. Please make one if you donā€™t have one!
  • Post a reply in this thread with the header # ENTRY and include a link
    • Your favorite post or comment on the forum (doesnā€™t have to be yours)
      • example: your favorite #marketplace:tech-deals
      • example: a project thread you learned something from
      • example: a guide that you put to use
  • Write a few words about the post or comment you selected.
    Iā€™m not expecting an essay or anything, but I want to discourage low effort posts.
  • If you have a prize preference, feel free to add it to the bottom of your entry.

Rules and boring stuff

  • Shipping to USA only.
    If you live in Canada and want to arrange for cross border shipping (meaning I send to a USA address) thatā€™s totally fine with me.
  • Please, only one entry per person.
    Feel free to comment or chat in this thread, just donā€™t put # ENTRY in the post.
10 Likes
#2
#3

ENTRY

(sample)

I had a ton of fun writing this. I donā€™t normally do a lot of work with software in guides, so this was a little more tedious for me. However, feedback was great, and Unraid even tweeted it out.

#4

ENTRY

I admittedly have not gotten around to making a QS box for Plex yet, but it is definitely on my hopes and dreams list once I get some more time to work on my home setup. This post has been pretty helpful to share with friends that were looking into self hosting a media server. Itā€™s detailed in a great way that makes it accessible for those just starting down the rabbit hole.

#5

ENTRY

It was a hard decision between this and the original HP 290 thread. Iā€™d been lurking around for a while for a low cost plex build. Finally ran across the HP 290 thread and finally made the dive, then added on the Das part. Itā€™s been a lot of fun upgrading it and setting up unraid on it, planning on ā€œgivingā€ it away to the family for Xmas.

1 Like
#6

ENTRY

I really enjoyed the ADS-B SBC thread myself. I worked in defense for a few years on a project that was centered around specialized hardware for receiving ADS-B messages, itā€™s super cool stuff. Getting to essentially go back to the fun parts of that project was super enjoyable and now Iā€™ve got another data source for my home monitoring dashboard. Been fun to poke at a buddy when he flies into town as well.

Little bit mad though - a pair of F-15s flew right over me a few days back, but I had just gotten into my car and wasnā€™t able to capture them on my display! Wouldā€™ve been cool to show here.

#7

ENTRY (preference is package #2)

JDM Helped me put together my quicksync box that definitely saved me some Transcoding woes. quicksync really established that itā€™s not always about raw processing power. i honestly havenā€™t tinkered around with my plex set up for a while now since it just works so well.

1 Like
#8

ENTRY


I both love and hate this post, because every time it updates I get an urge to spend money on space I donā€™t might need but also a sense of needing to wait because itā€™ll be cheaper next time. Aargh.

2 Likes
#9

ENTRY

Iā€™m really grateful for this build guide. It was easy to navigate and put together all the pieces I needed for my server. Thanks to this guide, I didnā€™t have any compatibility issues with my parts and now I have a machine that handles everything I throw at it.

#10

ENTRY

This build guide introduced me to this community. It has led me to having a great server that provides my family entertainment and gives me comfort knowing important information is backed up in a safe way. Now I enjoy lurking on discord and chiming in when I feel like I can be helpful.

Would prefer package 1, but would appreciate either :slight_smile:

1 Like
#11

ENTRY


This was one of the first deals I saw when I started getting into the forums, and didnā€™t realize how good a deal it was. Since then it has been haunting me, and Iā€™ve been searching ebay and local sites for a deal as good on a pfsense box and nothing has come close. I got spoiled by the deal bar being set pretty high from the start, and didnā€™t realize it.

2 Likes
#12

FWIW @dwell has one or two for sale :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#13

ENTRY


These two links were super helpful and inspiring to get my pfsense box set up. I have to say the discord community is really knowledgable.

1 Like
#14

ENTRY

This was one of the most helpful guides in getting me started in trying to flash my onboard HBA. Unfortunately I could not get it to work for my slightly different version motherboard, or perhaps I messed up at some point. Regardless, it was a very niche guide that had a lot of good information formatted well, had all the files conveniently there, and linked other helpful resources.

Much love and appreciation to JDM_WAAAT and the overall community on the forums and on Discord. Happy holidays and best of luck to everyone.

Prize Preference : Package 1

1 Like
#15

ENTRY

Iā€™ve been lurking this thread since I saw it on the discord channel. There have been so many times this year that Iā€™ve been close to pulling the trigger on one of these handy little boxes. Maybe 2021 will be the chance to put one of the great recommendations into production. So Iā€™m putting in my preference for the HP-290, the little box that could.

1 Like
#16

ENTRY

Some helpful info in there

This was very helpful for my build

#17

ENTRY

Found a liquid cooling solution for my LGA2011 systems for under $50. But as someone who has to compare every known option this saves me a ton of time when selecting a cooler for a new builds or replacements. I love the LGA2011 platform and that I have found a likeminded community to help support my efforts.

2 Likes
#18

ENTRY

Originally got in on a NK 4.1 build. Didnā€™t even take a whole year before I upgraded to a dual Xeon 2650 v2 that was mentioned in the tech deals section and this helped me get up and running.

1 Like
#19

ENTRY

I have came back to this guide several times to fix one part or another with my plex build. The way it is laid out makes it super easy to skip to the parts that I need help with.

1 Like
#20

ENTRY

I found this guide helpful to getting my pfblockerng set up working its best and it allowed me to retire my pi-hole.

I have a preference for the first package.

1 Like