So, going to be converting a Server into a Desktop

[Ð]

So, D's finally going to be getting a more powerful computer than this shit piece of 6 year old hardware. The place my dad works has an unused Server that's been laying around. So they're handing it off to my dad. The thing's a bit old, apparently, but I don't really know what the thing's packing. I'll be looking into that as soon as I can get my hands on it.

Now, considering it's a server, and not a desktop, I'm going to be needing to make some changes to the hardware/software to make it more suitable for it's new position. What I'm wishing to know, is what changes would most likely be needing to happen? Other than the obvious ( switching the OS, RAM, etc. etc. ) of course.

Once I can get ahold of it, I'll look into the hardware and software it carries.

[Petie]

To be honest, you may be looking a bit too far into this. Hardware wise, you shouldn't really need to change anything except for adding things it doesn't currently have. Software wise, reinstalling the OS would be a good idea if not only because it's a "new" computer for you though this may not be necessary either if the machine is in good working order when you get it.

Now, for reference, I'm actually running six Dell PowerEdge servers myself so I have quite a bit of experience with the hardware and software end of server maintenance. Depending on the quality of the server, you may be able to do things like hardware RAID but keep in mind that this will require a server OS (assuming it's a Windows box - I'm not sure about Mac servers). Other than that though, there really isn't a substantial difference between a server and a desktop computer besides what the server is actually capable of out of the box (like having a dual processor setup).

One last thing to remember though is that a server will draw more power and, again depending on the model, will also be quite a bit louder than a standard desktop. I realize that there isn't too much specific information here but I'd be happy to go into more details once we know a little more about the computer itself.