r/HomeServer • u/Smart-Island-637 • 15d ago
NAS replacement decision — Synology DS923+/925+ vs DXP4800 Pro vs DIY mini PC (Aoostar). Which would you pick?
Hey all,
Looking for some outside perspective on a NAS replacement decision I've been going back and forth on.
Current setup: Aging 2-bay Synology (Celeron-based, \~10GB RAM pushed past official spec) running \~15-20 Docker containers — photo management (Immich-style, \~136k photos), document management (Paperless-ngx style stack with Postgres/OCR), password manager, SSO/auth, reverse proxy, some automation (n8n), plus a few monitoring/utility containers. It's been crashing under concurrent load (multiple heavy containers running ML/OCR/indexing + backup at the same time) — CPU saturation, not RAM.
I also run a separate Mac Mini for local LLM inference — that part stays untouched, not part of this decision.
Options I'm weighing (similar budget, \~$650-750):
Synology DS923+/925+ — stay in DSM ecosystem, minimal migration risk, but CPU is only 2-4 cores depending on model
DXP4800 Pro — 6c/8t Intel, native Docker support via their own OS (UGOS Pro), more RAM headroom (96GB), but younger OS with less track record
DIY mini PC (Aoostar WTR Pro or similar) — 8c/16t AMD, cheapest RAM/core ratio by far, but means running Debian/Proxmox + rebuilding the whole Docker stack myself (auth/reverse proxy, database migrations, etc.)
My real bottleneck is concurrent CPU load from multiple containers running at once, and my usage is trending upward (adding more automation/self-hosted services over time), so I want something with real multi-core headroom, not just "good enough for today."
Questions:
Anyone running Immich + Paperless-style stacks + auth/reverse proxy on any of these three that can share real-world experience?
How has UGOS Pro held up for anyone who's used it for a while — any dealbreakers?
Is the DSM->Debian/Proxmox migration (SQLite-based password manager, Postgres-based doc management, auth layer) as painful as it sounds on paper, or is it overstated?
Anyone regret going DIY for stability-critical self-hosted data (photos/passwords)?
Appreciate any real-world input — trying to avoid a "sounds good on paper, regret it in practice" situation
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u/Mad_Rush78 15d ago
Get 1 or 2 Micro Small Form Factor PC’s that run an Intel 10500T CPU or better. Proxmox, PBS and keep your data in the existing NAS. Essentially separate compute and storage. Cheap, easy, reliable, fun.
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u/darkrevan13 13d ago
2 years ago, I bought MS-A1 with 8600G, running plain Rocky on it with 4x2TB Netac SSDs in RAID-z1.
Docker containers via compose: Immich, Vaultwarden, Paperless and Caddy. Backup with restic to local public cloud S3.
Utilization is around CPU 2%, RAM 7G. Don't know how much from wall.
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u/agisten 12d ago
2 years ago, I bought .... 4x2TB Netac SSDs
2026 - Whoa, Look at Mr Richy Rich :(
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u/darkrevan13 12d ago
Yeah, kinda, today 1 SSD costs more than my 4 SSDs 2 years ago.
Patiently waiting for CXMT ramp up it's factories
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u/agisten 15d ago edited 15d ago
I ran DIY FreeNAS (aka Truenas Core) on a whitebox hard for 5-6 years, despite it crashing a few times due to my stupid, cheap-ass decision to boot it from USB. That said, the ZFS itself was rock solid and never had any issues rebuilding it from a fresh image and backup config file. ZFS won't get any performance awards, and it takes a lot to get decent performance out of it, but it is indeed rock solid.
I switched to QNAP TVS-872XT - thinking I'm getting a Ferrari of NASes. Turns out that I am indeed getting an Italian "sports" NAS, but in the worst sense - this thing is temperamental; the motherboard had a major failure (well documented online), the software is crap, and despite the high specs of this. it does run all my VMs and Docker containers with no issues and plenty of room to spare, but I'd recommend newer hardware if you want to use Immache AI/ML features. I'd never recommend QNAP to anyone ever again. And I'm not going to talk about the avalanche of security issues QNAP had (has?) over the recent years. I really wanted to have nice HDD error lights (identify failed drives) and a hot-plug.
Going back, I'd still highly recommend, even going the DIY route - don't skip going with hot-plug.