Do you want to a $1500, $2000, $3000 computer for under $500? Are you terminally envious of the kids next door as they whip through graphics and games on the fancy machine they bought last week? Are you tired of minimal build quality, and longing for at least one of two first-rate components in your next computer?

The truth is, you can gain a fantastic, sub-$500 machine, thumb your nose at those neighbor fledglings, and get a whole box -- a whole, big, heavy box -- full of the best components money can buy, simply by snagging a workstation or server that has been put out to pasture by an engineering or graphics company or a corporate IT group. Did I say, for cheap?

Why are they so cheap?

There are a couple of reasons.

Despite the fact that server grade hardware is highly reliable, prosperous corporations swap out servers in cycles the last anywhere from three to six years. There is just too much at stake in the kinds of applications being run by the servers to take a chance on "aging" hardware. You gain by their cycle of renewal.

Fortunately, engineering/corporate IT types do not stint when they buy their hardware. In reality, most of these once high-end machines will continue to chug along many more years. If you don't mind researching a few new things -- new, that is, to consumer users -- and you don't mind adding an operating system, you can get an extremely high-powered, high quality piece of equipment for not much money.

What can you use it for?

A server or workstation is just a name for computer, and you can use most of them for any home or small business task you want, including all sorts of general computing. (Note that true servers are optimized for computation, data access and distribution. These may NOT be useful for graphics or multimedia, especially if they are under 4U in size [U is a slot size in a rack; 1U is only 1.75 inches high and a 1U server usually doesn't have room for any graphics or multimedia cards]).

On the other hand, engineering workstations are made for general-purpose, high-end computation, so they are ideal for graphics and multimedia production and playback. And they are great for any computationally intense work, from engineering calculations and computer aided design (CAD) to heavy-duty database mining.

Some facets

About the new things you might find in servers/workstations: the main advice is, don't let the fear of the unknown keep you away.

Some things that might be new to you include SCSI hard drives, Ethernet capabilities with every option imaginable, a power supply (possibly even two or more) that can weigh as much as your entire current consumer machine, and RAID configurations.

SCSI drive in hot-swap carrier. SCSI drives themselves look their IDE counterparts, but are quieter, usually faster, and last longer. (Illustration copyright 2006 by the author.)

SCSI hard drives are not only legendarily long-lasting, but they are as fast as or faster than anything on the hard drive consumer market. They are quiet. And did I say, fast? Applications that used to load in minutes now take seconds, and hits to the drive go by in a blink.

Servers have conservative, reliable motherboards. A large percentage have two or more CPUs, often of a professional class, such as Intel's Xeon family. Two CPUs on the same motherboard operate like the very latest dual core processors, if a tiny bit slower, since coordination and interplay has to be handled externally.

You can generally assume your dual CPU server's speed is the product of the CPU speed times the number of CPUs. If it's a dual 1.8 GHz machine, you're bidding on a 3.6 GHz computer in terms of performance -- dual 2 GHz CPUs work like a 4 GHz single CPU machine, and so on. (It's not quite as good, but close enough.)

Two physical CPUs can share tasks, and under Windows 2000 and Windows XP Pro, they can be dedicated by you to specific applications and tasks. That latter is accomplished by setting what is called "processor affinity" in Task Manager.

Some software is optimized for multiple CPU equipment, but this is generally professional graphics, video or audio programs.

Many drives, great memory

A large percentage of workstations/servers permit the mounting of 5, 6, up to dozens of hard drives. Most have registered, ECC RAM, often very expensive Rambus DRAM (RDRAM), a type that has built-in checks and balances to flag failures.

Information about server grade hardware and software settings is available to anyone who knows how to use Google. If you want more detail than you're seeing here, find the article on "Server (computing)" in Wikipedia.

In addition if you do choose to bid on server grade hardware here on eBay, send the seller a question: will you help me set up my machine? The better sellers will offer at least a minimum of help.

Tower servers/workstations -- this is a workstation -- can look like consumer computers, but taller, much longer, and wider... and weigh 60 lbs or more. (Illustration copyright 2006 by the author.)

Down side

First is their size and weight, a consideration when it comes to shipping the thing to you. Be sure you know the shipping costs the seller is asking. If you live near or in a large urban area, however, you may find units that you can go and pick up yourself, if the seller permits. Be aware that servers can weigh 60 pounds or more.

The second drawback is related to their corporate history -- former corporate owners will do lots of things to prevent anyone from the outside from accessing sensitive information. Along this line, in some cases servers will come without hard drives, since IT types find it easier to destroy hard drives rather than wipe them clean of corporate data.

In most cases, you'll need to add your own operating system, and you will need top-end versions. For example, windows XP Home Edition does not support multiple CPUs -- you'll have to supply windows XP Pro for any system with two or more CPUs on the motherboard.

Servers don't usually look pretty, but they sometimes have a kind of Hummer like ruggedness about them.

Rack-mount servers have a certain Hummer-like ruggedness to them. (Illustration copyright 2006 by the author.)

Because their CPUs and RAM generate more heat than consumer grades, some types are noisy, due to their multiple fans. (The IBM InteliStation M Pro series, however, is very quiet.)

Some servers, especially the 1U-size units designed for Web or database serving, have only rudimentary, onboard video. Some might not even have audio at all. On the other hand, workstations used in engineering development will usually have extremely high end (if old) video cards. Be sure to ask about these details, since most consumer uses involve extensive graphics and audio. All servers and workstations tend to be conservative, so you aren't likely to find things like the latest PCI-e slots, and may not even have a USB bus.

Finally, there is the hassle of configuring SCSI drives. Every SCSI drive comes with two more banks of configuration jumpers, and if you've never done SCSI configuration before, you'll want to line up outside help.

Look for a name

Corporate IT personnel rarely build their own computers. They rarely take a chance on offbrand machinery. As a result you'll be best served (no pun intended) by searching out servers made by such brand names as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, and Dell. Model names include InteliStation (IBM), ProLiant and Integrity (HP/Compaq) and PowerEdge and Precision (Dell).

After buying, where do you turn?

After you've taken delivery of a workstation or server, chances are good you'll find some hardware or software aspects that are new and different to you. The good news is that for the most part, there is information somewhere out there on the Web.

If you've landed an engineering workstation, such as the HP Kayak or IBM Intellistation M Pro series, you'll find many familiar items. In reality, these are just high-power, high-capacity, high-reliability versions of "regular computers" that have only a few additional built-in features.

On the other hand, true servers can be very different. To keep my 2002-era Intellistation M Pro workstation company, I just picked up my first Compaq ProLiant server (circa 1999), and it's full of latent capabilities I can't even spell, let alone understand. It's a 4U, by the way, 6.5 inches high, and has a number of full-size PCI (not PCI-e) card slots.

(Which brings up a final down side: these things are such bargains and contain such power that you can't stop yourself from following up on incredible deals... the Compaq set me back $30.)

Available documentation will help.

IBM seems to have kept every piece of documentation for its workstations and servers. You can download these docs from IBM.com. You might have to dig around a bit (watch for options to download goodies for retired hardware), but you will find detailed specification/data sheets, user guides, hardware maintenance manuals, installation supplements covering most add-ons, drivers and so on. Images of original CD-ROMs, however, don't seem to be here.

Dell likewise seems to have kept everything. You can search by the Dell service tag, a series of alphanumeric characters that you should find on a label somewhere on the machine, or you can search by product name and/or model number.

The depth of info for HP/Compaq machines is spotty. Materials for older Compaq stuff is pretty meager, but HP gives you access to all the CD-ROM images, drivers and a few maintenance manuals. Sadly, HP's Web site support search function for finding these downloads is not good.

Fortunately, HP (which includes the older Compaq ProLiants) and Dell both have user forums, and both are populated with experts who know about your system, regardless of how old it is. They seem to know exactly where CD-ROM images and drivers and diagnostics disks can be found -- items that don't turn up if you use the HP site search function.

Unfortunately, IBM seems not to sponsor user community forums. The more general newsgroups under comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware have many an expert, but the "ibm" really means "IBM and clone" -- the focus is not strictly on IBM-branded products. You reach these groups by searching for "comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware" on Google, not on the Web, but on Groups.

The cool thing is that there are plenty of experienced, knowledgeable people out there who can help you (and don't forget the person you bought your system from -- most are pretty well versed in the equipment they sell).

And there are real gems to be found:  the people who used to run your type of system when it was new, who loved it, and who happily support anyone willing to keep them running.

Get a lot for a little

Bottom line, at a low price, you can obtain an extremely powerful computer that is capable of handling your needs for years to come, by buying some corporation's cast-off server.