how would you spend $1000 on a server?

[Matt Price]

Hi,

I have about $1000 budgeted for a box that will mostly host a bunch of
probably-low traffic websites, based on wordpress or maybe sometimes drupal,
and some mailing lists.  I'm just wondering what sort of features I should
aim for in such a box, if I want the hardware to last a couple of years:  is
onboard RAID important?  Is a Xeon processor a big plus, or DDR3 memory?
Should I be building the box myself & handpicking the hard drives etc., or
are there particular manufacturers/retail outlets I swhould just trust?

if i can come in somewhat under $1000, that gives me a little extra money
for a backup system and/or UPS, which I might or might not have to purchase
out of this budget.

Appreciate all the help, as always.
Matt
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