[discussion] Starting on the home lab path

I've been doing research on xeons, watching ebay prices and day dreaming about the possible ways I can take advantage of a home lab setup.

Today I bought a never used HP Proliant DL380 G5. It's old, it draws more power than anyone could justify paying for, and the fans are louder than most desktop speakers at idle. However it was $20 and at my apartment utilities are included in the rent. Combined with a free old VGA compatible monitor from work, microsoft's free key for server 2012 through the imagine program, and having more hard drives than I know what to do with I'm ready to set off.

My first goal is to install server 2012 and get that operational, after that I'm interested in learning about how to set up a home media server, as well learning about writing code for computational physics. Basically using a homelab as a platform to integrate the various computers I use at home, and also as a platform to develop and test skills that could benefit my professional life.

So this is my starting point for my home lab, and I'm wondering how you started, what challenges I should expect moving ahead, and how pissed I my landlord will be about my running this old hardware and a gaming pc with the power draw they will have?