running website from home pc (what pc)

freemason · 27 Aug 2014 at 16:41

Dear all.

I would like to run a website from my home pc. the website does not get much traffic. I'm totally clueless on how good a pc I need i don't want to use my gaming pc as i don't want to have that drawing lots of electric and buzzing away in the background

So i was looking around and i was thinking of getting something like this
Model - Dell Optiplex 330
Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo E4600
Processor Speed - 2.40GHz
Memory - 2GB DDR2

Its off ebay and costs a whole 35 pounds. I currently use 1@1 hosting but i may as well save the monthly cost. I don't mind spending time setting everything up. the website was created by me using Dreamweaver

my question plan and simple whats needed hardware wise to run a website?

also for 53 pound i found
Model - Dell Optiplex 380
CPU: Intel Celeron 450 Dual Core @ 2.2GHz
RAM: 2 X DDR3 RAM Slots - 1 X 2Gb + 1 X 1Gb = 3Gb installed.
Hard Drives: 160Gb SATA drive installed

Socrates470BC · 27 Aug 2014 at 16:57

Deleted

meandu229 · 27 Aug 2014 at 16:58

Id suggest getting a HP Microserver? Can host your site + do lots of other things and is very low power.

biuro74 · 27 Aug 2014 at 17:29

For simple web page server this Optiplex for 35 quids is much, much more than enough.

I was playing with this (home web page) some time ago, but it's simply not efficient due to... broadband uplink which in case of all home ADSLs is too low for 2+ connections @ the same time. One su*ks as well, by the way

So don't cancel your hosting, keep it and just upload your website there... unless they don't support some of your own features ?

freemason · 27 Aug 2014 at 18:02

biuro74 said:
For simple web page server this Optiplex for 35 quids is much, much more than enough.

I was playing with this (home web page) some time ago, but it's simply not efficient due to... broadband uplink which in case of all home ADSLs is too low for 2+ connections @ the same time. One su*ks as well, by the way So don't cancel your hosting, keep it and just upload your website there... unless they don't support some of your own features ?

would having fibre make a difference? or are the upload speeds still too slow?

Rich43 · 27 Aug 2014 at 18:06

Get a Raspberry PI for £20-30, it will host your site just fine! Uses less than 5 watts of power like a smart phone so you wont notice it on your bill. Fibre will be a big help too.

freemason · 27 Aug 2014 at 18:52

Rich43 said:
Get a Raspberry PI for £20-30, it will host your site just fine! Uses less than 5 watts of power like a smart phone so you wont notice it on your bill. Fibre will be a big help too.

see i thought about this. but then in my own mind i thought surly a PI could not run a full website.................. :confused:

AshD93 · 27 Aug 2014 at 20:52

freemason said:
see i thought about this. but then in my own mind i thought surly a PI could not run a full website..................

It's just supplying the file in a sense.

Rich43 · 2 Sep 2014 at 22:03

Yep, hosts a small website just fine! I tried it myself for a bit to save some cash.

andy_mk3 · 2 Sep 2014 at 22:12

I use TSOhost, costs less than £15 a year, the electric to run your own costs more than that.

dneill2006 · 2 Sep 2014 at 22:16

LCN currently do hosting for £1 for a year.

http://www.lcn.com/birthday

-50GB webspace
-Unlimited monthly traffic / data transfer
-100 x 1GB Email accounts
-5 spam protected mailboxes
-PHP & Perl Scripting
-10 MySQL Databases

Currently have my own business website hosted using this and works perfect!

Smoogels · 2 Sep 2014 at 22:21

I'd just change hosting provider, I hate 1&1 myself and there are cheaper options around. You could get a PC to do it yourself but you have to take into consideration:

The initial cost of the PC
Running costs (electric and maintenance such as repairs)
Security of your website
Software licenses (unless everything you would use is free)

It would also take a fair bit of time to setup however, if your website is popular it may take a lot of time to manage to keep performance, security and reliability at acceptable levels.

In my opinion, I'd move off 1&1 and go to another provider such as
Vidahost
Crocweb
Namecheap

I like the service of all three but Vidahost, who is owned by the same company as Tsohost, is the one to look for if you are looking for hosting in the UK.

Skilty · 3 Sep 2014 at 08:36

I am with andy_mk3. Just go with TSOHost, their service is fantastic. I have six websites hosted with them on their Pro and Lite packages. Prices start at £14.99 for the year and as people have pointed out this is less than the electricity costs of running your own server...

Quartz · 3 Sep 2014 at 09:41

Something else to consider: the contract with your ISP may mean that you are not allowed to run a server.