In short, I’d recommend option B/C, where you buy used enterprise grade equipment, learn to run Linux, and build out that way. I can’t overstate just how good a deal can be had on eBay, even from reputable sellers. This goes for everything, from the computer itself, to disk shelves, to HDDs and SSDs. Plus you’re reducing on e-waste! Used HDDs are a great deal if you buy enough to run redundancy (RAID 6 or equivalent), because the seller will often include a warranty (up to 5 years!). I’ve only had a handful of drive failures and 0 issues with warranty refund/exchanges.
You’re running roughly the same services as I do (though a bit more storage), so if it means anything, I’ve ended up using the following (all purchased used)
spoiler
- HP Z440 Workstation (upgraded over time)
- CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2698 V4 (20 core)
- RAM: 128GB DDR4 2133MT/s
- GPU: Intel Arc A380
- Storage: Boot SSD + HBA card for bulk storage
- 2 x Dell EMC KTN-STL3 JBOD
- 15 x 3.5" bays
- Mix of HDDs spread across the two JBODs
- 7 x 12TB
- 6 x 14TB
- 6 x 10TB
- 2 x 16TB
- 1 x 8TB
- 1 x HP QR490A JBOD
- 24 x 2.5" bays
- Mix of SSDs
- 6 x 3.84TB
- 5 x 1TB
Broadly, I find the following with my setup:
- Pros
- Easily expandable storage using a HBA
- High reliability (ECC memory, server grade equipment)
- Used equipment is cheap
- Cons
- Running mostly older-gen hardware, not cutting edge performance
- Bulky, noisy cooling, less power efficient
Ah then I’d recommend keep the existing machine as the server (it sounds like it’s serving you well hardware wise), and get a SFF machine for regular desktop use, be that a new build or a used office machine. The trick will be in migrating the server to Linux, and without endangering your data in the process.