Posted 5 January 2024

Home (Windows Server) upgrade?

I've got an ancient Dell T20 Server 32Gb running Server 2012 which is obviously quite long in the tooth now, similar ancient GTX 960 graphics card.

I believe you can do an "In place upgrade" to Server 2019 (n prob 2022) but this won't support the 960. However just noticed the GTX 1060 has been certified for Windows Server up to 2022.

Does this sound like an easy feasible upgrade option? Anyone done this? Not really wanting to start afresh with Win 11 as it's far too bloated for what I need it for (torrents, media server, browsing, printing, maybe the odd game).

Cheers!
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  1. Uridium's avatar
    You'd probably find an old used i3/i5 desktop/minitower would be faster and cheaper to run than old server tin. Got rid of all my old xeon servers a couple of years ago. I assume you are using the GPU for Plex transcoding? A 7th/8th gen i5 with Quicksync will do the job just as well and save you a lot of ££ in energy costs.
    My last plex server was a Dell T710 dual octacore xeon,64Gb ram with a GTX 640 and was replaced with a HP 290 minitower with a weedy i3 7100, 8gb ram that easily handles multiple concurrent transcodes.

    Same for the OS. Dropped my win server/esxi installs as unless you are running a domain at home and need a DC they really offer nothing for home server users that win10/11 won't do now. (edited)
    aLV426's avatar
    The secret is to not need Plex transcoding! That way you can have a lower spec device serving all your content - and it can be down for well under 100W/h, even under 50W/h!
  2. adam.mt's avatar
    You can't in-place upgrade direct to 2019 or 2022, you'd have to go via 2016. Obviously, you'd need a OS license for 2019/2022.

    Presume it's a simple home setup, else you should get professional assistance.

    [2012r2 can in-place to 2019, but 2012 is 2016] (edited)
    Roger_Irrelevant's avatar
    Author
    Cheers, yep just home. Not the works Domain Controller.

    Thought I could go straight to 2019 so ta for pointing that out.
  3. Rugrats's avatar
    Any reasons why win server for home use?
    mad.dog's avatar
    I've been running homeserver for many many years to backup my machines and serve up plex content

    Been tempted to start again with something less complex now and drop my home domain completly now I have onedrive backing up my machines.

    It might make it onto the 2024 to-do list
  4. uni's avatar
    i have the same machine, but 16mb ram and an AMD card running w10x64 pro. i use kodi and network shares so no transcoding. no plex. just use my sheild or firestick and stream direct

    backups i use freefilesynch and have a seperate pc with w10x64pro that was my previous server and just copy files across when i want

    your main pain is if you have to do a clean install and having to set everything up with new settings. perhaps add a new ssd, do a clean install and keep the old install as a dual boot for a bit

    i don't do any gaming at all. have playstation and xbox if i wanted. i just added a GPU to give hdmi out with audio, but hardly used it since i got the firestick in the same room. the built in card didn't pass audio via dvi or whatever, so whilst i could use an adapter it gave no sound. i only spent about £50 on the card though so no great shakes
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