This might be a bit above "not so expensive" (~1,200), but I've been running this at home for just under a year and have been very pleased: http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/midtower/5028/sys-5028d-tn4t.cfmI am considering buying a not so expensive home server. [snip]
Caveat: I'm running SmartOS on the metal and OpenBSD (and other OSs) in zones/KVM.
---Alex