Home server hardware for Ubuntu 14.04?

[Henry Gessau]

I want to set up a server at home for a bunch of projects and experiments.

I need to use Ubuntu 14.04 server for the OS, and an Intel (not AMD) CPU.

Canonical's certified list[1] is not very helpful. I assume 14.04 will install
just fine on many systems, but I would prefer to have confirmation from
someone/somewhere before buying something.

Requirements:
- Reasonably quiet. It's going to reside near me in my home office.
- Intel VT-x support.
- Four cores. More would be nice.
- Must support at least 32GB RAM.
- Preferably under $800 for chassis + PS + CPU.

I assume it would need to be some Core i3/i5 variant. I don't need raw speed,
so i7 is probably overkill, and I would prefer to keep the power low. I admit
I don't understand the Xeon family at all.

I was thinking something along the lines of an HP ProLiant MicroServer, or a
Lenovo ThinkServer TS140? But I would be happy to assemble from parts.

Looking forward to any advice and thoughts on home server hardware.


[1] http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/server