Build a server from consumer parts – Stepping up the scale of the budget quite a bit, I looked REALLY hard at this option, going as far as speccing out an entire build on NewEgg/PCPartPicker. Parts would be pretty expensive, and I’d still hit a pretty big limitation on RAM. Most desktop motherboards only have 4 memory slots and max out at 64GB of RAM. The problem here is that 16GB sticks of RAM cost $100+ EACH, which would decimate most budgets, including mine. Unless I was really careful, I’d have to buy parts new, which would also diminish overall value. I’d be in better shape in regard to processors as AMD has some pretty sweet 8+ core processors, but they would still be fairly expensive. I’d also hit some more of the same issues from using my current rig, chief of which being efficiency and extensibility (since I’d just about max out the RAM at purchase). I also wouldn’t learn too much hardware wise since I’ve already got a fair amount of experience in desktop parts. In terms of performance-per-dollar, this seems like it’s a no go.