[bayindirh]

In the post I have seen, where the guys got a single full rack and played with it on the weekends, running it for a day added a significant amount to their bills, so yes, newer systems are more efficient (generally due to compute efficiencies), but disks are disks. Spindles are not way more efficient than before.

On the ROI part, this is a case by case issue. I for one can do the "play" part at work, too. Also, I don't want to spare space for a 1U or 2U full-depth server at home. I'm not even adding disk boxes to this. I neither have the space, nor the desire.

[overfeed]

Traditionally, hobbies cost money. I'm yet to hear anyone harangue folk on the ROI of their sourdough, blacksmithing or Storm Trooper cosplay hobbies. Perhaps this hobby is a little to close to sysadmin work for some, but I'm yet to see single-user SaaS weekend projects catch any flak on HN yet, instead, they are celebrated in "Ask HN: What are you working on" threads.

The point is the satisfaction you get in return of effort you put in, and perhaps kudos from like-minded folk when you execute particularly well.

[bayindirh]

Actually, I can reliably say that hobbies have some ROI, regardless of the hobby even, because you're getting experienced in what you do and subjects around your hobby. On the other hand if you do a hobby for its ROI, it's not a hobby anymore. It's just training. I prefer to have fun, not to train like a robot for some stats.

Recently I have watched a couple of Venus Theory's [0] videos. In one of them he asked the question why you're doing the thing you're doing, questioning the intention of creation. Is it self-satisfaction, or validation, he asks. I'm personally on the former camp. I used to share what I do for just putting it out, and adding a couple of pointers to it. If anyone commented on it, it's great (hint: nobody ever did). Otherwise I don't care. Having no feedback doesn't stop me, because I do what I do, enjoy the process and just put it out there (now less so because of the AI crawlers, alas).

While I like working/playing with computers, I have other hobbies, too, and I find them equally rewarding, and I don't care about their costs.

I also do not belittle the people who buy racks of hardware for their home. If I was not at the point I am currently, I'd probably do it, too. I'm just lucky to have access to it already, not needing these screeching hot banshees at home. Trying to scale down into a pragmatic minimalism also is both a result and reason of swimming in cables and big equipment in a small space when I was a teenager.

So, I got enough of these things at home, and I prefer to use them at their natural habitat. That's all.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/@VenusTheory/videos

[hsbauauvhabzb]

Good for you.