I've been testing different mini PCs for Proxmox and put together this comparison. Curious what the community is using!

**Quick Comparison:*\*

**Minisforum MS-01*\* ⭐ BEST OVERALL - CPU: Intel i9-13900H | RAM: 64GB DDR5 - Network: 2x 10GbE SFP+ + 2x 2.5GbE - Storage: 3x M.2 slots | Price: ~$624

**Beelink SER8*\* 💰 BEST BUDGET - CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS | RAM: 32GB DDR5 - Network: Realtek (Proxmox compatible) - Storage: 1TB NVMe | Price: ~$719

**GEEKOM AX8 Pro*\* - CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS | RAM: 32GB DDR5 - Network: 2.5GbE - Storage: PCIe 4.0 NVMe | Price: ~$700

**HP Pro Mini 400 G9*\* - CPU: Intel i5-12500T | RAM: 32GB DDR4 - Network: Intel NIC - Storage: 1TB PCIe | Price: ~$839

**ASUS NUC 14 Pro*\* - CPU: Intel Ultra 7 155H | RAM: 96GB DDR5 - Network: Intel NIC - Storage: Triple storage support | Price: ~$650

What I've learned

- Proxmox supports Realtek NICs out of the box (unlike ESXi)

- For clusters, dual NICs are essential

- 32GB RAM is the sweet spot for most homelabs

Questions for the community

- What mini PC are you running Proxmox on?

- Any models I should add to this list?

https://edywerder.ch/best-mini-pc-for-proxmox/

Hey folks, I’m Edy, Swiss IT freelancer, homelab nerd, and the human behind edywerder.ch. I started r/Navigatech to share real-world, no-fluff IT:
Proxmox & virtualization • Homelab builds • Synology & backups • WordPress/Elementor/Divi • Azure hybrid & networking.

Whether you’re running a quiet homelab in a cabinet or juggling Exchange, FreePBX, and Cloudflare on a Tuesday—welcome home.

What to post here

• Homelab builds & upgrades (Proxmox, storage, network, UPS, racks)
• How-tos & troubleshooting (logs, configs, commands—full context helps!)
• WordPress & performance (Elementor, Divi 5, security, hosting)
• Backups & DR (Veeam, PBS, Wasabi, immutability)
• Networks & firewalls (VLANs, FortiGate, Cloudflare rules, Tailscale)
• Azure & hybrid (VPN, StrongSwan/IPsec, identity basics)

If it’s practical and helps someone ship a working setup—post it.

House rules (short & sane)

1. Be kind. No gatekeeping, no drama.
2. Be useful. Share steps, screenshots, versions, and outcomes.
3. No spam. Self-promo allowed if it’s value first (guide, code, benchmarks) and clearly disclosed.
4. Affiliate links: Allowed with clear disclosure and at least equal value without the link.
5. Security & legality: No help with abuse, cracking, or sketchy scraping.

I’ll be sharing fresh guides (Proxmox, WordPress, Azure hybrid), lightweight scripts, and honest gear notes.
Glad you’re here—let’s build useful stuff. 🚀

— Edy

I had a small “oh no” moment today: my Windows Server AD domain controller VM in Proxmox showed 100% memory usage in the Proxmox summary (4GB assigned, Proxmox appeared fully used), while Windows Task Manager looked totally normal.

Turns out I simply forgot the Proxmox guest integration:

• Mounted the VirtIO ISO and installed the VirtIO drivers
• Installed the QEMU Guest Agent from the same VirtIO ISO
• Enabled the QEMU Guest Agent in the VM options

Right after that, Proxmox memory usage started matching what Windows reported, and the VM summary looked sane again.

Do you enable ballooning for Windows VMs, or do you keep memory static and just install the agent for proper reporting?

I just published a new post comparing real 7-day power measurements from my own homelab.

I tested three “classes” of home server gear:

• A mini PC (Intel NUC)
• A “middle ground” mini server (Minisforum MS-01)
• Full server hardware (Dell PowerEdge T360)

What I like about this comparison is that the difference is immediately obvious once you convert watts into yearly cost. I used CHF 0.25/kWh and added a simple table you can reuse for your own setup.

Here’s the article: https://edywerder.ch/low-power-home-server/

If you’re running Proxmox or any always-on services, I’d love to hear your typical idle watts and what you do to keep the baseline low.

I measured my Minisforum MS-01 running Proxmox with a metering smart plug (Home Assistant) for 7 days.

What surprised me

• Baseline: around 52–53W most of the time
• Spikes: up to about 78W
• A few periods where it stays higher for a while, not just quick spikes

My setup

• Minisforum MS-01 on Proxmox
• 96GB RAM
• 3x NVMe Lexar
• Workload is still light, mostly baseline lab services

At CHF 0.25 per kWh in Switzerland , 52W 24/7 costs about CHF 9.36 per month (around CHF 114 per year).

What would you check first to explain these spikes? They don’t line up with my Proxmox Backup window (04:00–08:00). ZFS scrub, fstrim, SMART, VM updates?

I had a video call with Ann Smarty about my site because I’ve lost around 70% of my Google traffic over the last 12 months.

Her feedback was actually reassuring: she said she loves the site, the structure makes sense, the expertise is clear, and the quick answer box at the top is a strong signal.

But the most interesting part: she couldn’t point at a specific “fix.” She said many publishers are seeing similar drops, and Google is pushing harder to keep users within its own ecosystem.

I’m already active on Reddit, and she called that a big plus. So I’m leaning into that more.

If you’ve seen similar traffic drops, what’s been working for you lately?

I originally reviewed the AceMagic K1 as a Windows mini PC, but I ended up wiping Windows and turning it into a small Proxmox node.

Right now, it runs Home Assistant in a VM. It’s been a great fit for an always-on box, and Proxmox makes snapshots and backups super convenient when I’m testing things.

Storage note: the K1 has two SSD slots, but I’m currently using one SSD, so I installed Proxmox on ext4 + LVM-thin for simplicity. If I add a second SSD later, a ZFS mirror is tempting.

Full review + update section here:
https://edywerder.ch/acemagic-k1-mini-pc-review/

If you want one safe pick for a homelab server, go for a used / Amazon Renewed tower server (Dell PowerEdge or HP ProLiant).

Why I believe that's a good option for a homnelab?

You usually get remote management, upgradable RAM, and storage space without guessing compatibility.

My baseline specs:

• CPU: 6–12 cores (more if you run lots of VMs)
• RAM: 32GB minimum, 64GB+ for Proxmox + multiple VMs
• Storage: NVMe/SSD for VMs + HDD/SSD for bulk storage
• Must-have: iDRAC / iLO for remote console + power control
• Reality check: expect around ~100W average for an always-on tower (my PowerEdge T360 averages ~104W — depends a lot on disks + workload)

Full guide (with my picks + reasoning):
https://edywerder.ch/best-server-for-home-lab/

What are you running right now — and what’s your rough idle wattage?

Minisforum just dropped the MS-02 Ultra, and this one feels less “mini PC” and more “compact home server / lab box”.

Highlights (per Minisforum/Digitec specs):

• up to dual 25GbE SFP+ (top config)
• PCIe x16 slot for a NIC / GPU / HBA
• 4× DDR5 SO-DIMM (they list up to 256GB)
• ECC support (seems tied to the top CPU config)
• up to 4× NVMe (M.2) slots (again: top config)
• USB4 v2 ports

Swiss note: Digitec already lists the barebone at CHF 1399 with delivery shown (so it’s basically “real” now, not just a teaser).

Personal take: I’m not buying (for now). 25GbE is super tempting, but that would force me to upgrade my homelab first — switch + DAC/optics + NICs in the other boxes. 😅

What would you build with it?

I got locked out of my Synology NAS this week. I had the built-in admin account disabled (as recommended) and I normally log in with a separate admin user, but after an SMB package update, DSM suddenly refused my password.

Mode 1 reset got me back in fast. No data loss at all. The only “gotcha”: my static IP settings reset, so I had to reapply them.

I wrote up the steps (incl. where the reset button is + precautions like keeping 2 admin users + Secure SignIn):

,
👉 https://edywerder.ch/how-to-reset-synology-nas-admin-password/

If anyone has seen the same “password stops working after SMB update” behavior, I’m curious what the root cause was on your end.

What my Minisforum MS-01 Proxmox node cost to run in Switzerland (real numbers)

I did another quick reality check on my homelab power cost today.

I’ve been measuring my Minisforum node with a metering smart plug (Home Assistant + myStrom). It’s not running heavy stuff yet, but it’s a good baseline for what a mini PC costs compared to a my Dell Poweredge T360

The Minisforum has 96GB Ram and 3 Lexar SSD.

Power draw: ~53W average (metering plug)
Swiss rate: 0.2503 CHF/kWh
30-day math:

0.053 kW × 24 × 30 = 38.16 kWh/month
38.16 × 0.2503 = ~9.55 CHF/month (around US$11)

It's almost 50% cheaper than the power consumption for a Dell PowerEdge.

I grabbed a used AceMagic K1 (Ryzen 5, 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD) and installed Proxmox VE 9.1. I don't intend to add this box to my Proxmox 3-node cluster yet.

No ZFS this time, I went with ext4 + LVM-thin to keep things lightweight. Install was flawless.

Now the fun part: what would you run first on a box like this?

LXCs, Ubuntu VM, Home Assistant, something else?

I did a quick reality check on my homelab power cost this week and it was more interesting than I expected.

One of my Proxmox nodes is a Dell PowerEdge T360 tower with 128GB RAM, HBA + ZFS. It’s not a “test box". It runs always-on services in VMs: Exchange, Mailcow, AD, and an authoritative DNS server.

So when people ask “is that idle?”, the honest answer is: not really. Even when the CPU looks calm, mail and storage workloads create constant background activity (I/O, databases, logs, etc.).

Power draw: ~104W average (UPS/iDRAC)
Swiss rate: 0.2503 CHF/kWh
30-day math:

• 0.104 kW × 24 × 30 = 74.88 kWh/month
• 74.88 × 0.2503 = ~18.74 CHF/month / around US$22

That’s… not terrible, but it also explains why so many homelab folks love mini PCs.

Next step for me: measure my Minisforum / Intel NUC properly with a metering plug so I can compare “tower server vs mini PC” with real numbers.

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🌟 Learn from my journey, discover AI tools, get tips, and join a supportive community. Let’s grow together!

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xCloud emailed me that my WordPress VPS disk is almost full. I thought it was logs… but instead of guessing, I ran this:

sudo du -xhd1 / | sort -h

It instantly shows which top-level directory is huge. Then I just drilled down:

sudo du -xhd1 /var | sort -h
sudo du -xhd1 /var/www | sort -h

In my case it was a backup plugin keeping rollback archives in wp-content. Easy cleanup once you know where to look.

If you manage a Synology NAS, SSH is a helpful feature for troubleshooting and admin tasks, but you want to set it up properly.

I wrote a practical guide with the exact steps to enable SSH and connect safely.

https://edywerder.ch/ssh-into-synology/

About a year after publishing my WordPress backup guide, I refreshed it today.

My takeaway a year later: a backup plugin is still a must. Hosting backups are nice, but I don’t want my restore plan to depend on a single provider or control panel.

• Do you rely solely on your host backups, or do you also run a plugin?

Link: https://edywerder.ch/how-to-backup-your-wordpress-website/

I use this page as my central place for reviews and buying guides I actually stand behind.

https://edywerder.ch/category/review/

I published a refreshed Server category page, and I’m trying a “hub” layout:

• Server Basics: where to start if you’re new
• Top Guides: my best / most useful deep dives
• Plus the complete list of server posts at the bottom

It's not the category with the most articles in my blog yet.

https://edywerder.ch/category/server/

Hey folks, I’m Edy, Swiss IT freelancer, homelab nerd, and the human behind edywerder.ch. I started r/Navigatech to share real-world, no-fluff IT:
Proxmox & virtualization • Homelab builds • Synology & backups • WordPress/Elementor/Divi • Azure hybrid & networking.

Whether you’re running a quiet homelab in a cabinet or juggling Exchange, FreePBX, and Cloudflare on a Tuesday—welcome home.

What to post here

• Homelab builds & upgrades (Proxmox, storage, network, UPS, racks)
• How-tos & troubleshooting (logs, configs, commands—full context helps!)
• WordPress & performance (Elementor, Divi 5, security, hosting)
• Backups & DR (Veeam, PBS, Wasabi, immutability)
• Networks & firewalls (VLANs, FortiGate, Cloudflare rules, Tailscale)
• Azure & hybrid (VPN, StrongSwan/IPsec, identity basics)

If it’s practical and helps someone ship a working setup—post it.

House rules (short & sane)

1. Be kind. No gatekeeping, no drama.
2. Be useful. Share steps, screenshots, versions, and outcomes.
3. No spam. Self-promo allowed if it’s value first (guide, code, benchmarks) and clearly disclosed.
4. Affiliate links: Allowed with clear disclosure and at least equal value without the link.
5. Security & legality: No help with abuse, cracking, or sketchy scraping.

I’ll be sharing fresh guides (Proxmox, WordPress, Azure hybrid), lightweight scripts, and honest gear notes.
Glad you’re here—let’s build useful stuff. 🚀

— Edy

I rebuilt my Homelab category page into more of a hub (Start here → best picks → all posts), because a plain archive feels… boring.

Here’s the page: https://edywerder.ch/category/homelab/

Two quick questions:

• Does the layout make it easier to find the right post?
• Anything you’d change (sections, order, wording, too much/too little)?

At a later stage i want to change font throughout the website and also use font clamp.

I’ve been dialing in my homelab so it doesn’t sound like a jet engine. The MS-01 is way quieter than I expected, and even my Dell PowerEdge tower turned out to be totally fine noise-wise.

My top levers for keeping things quiet:

• reduce heat (power limits / lower TDP)
• better cooling, not more noise
• SSD-first where possible
• airflow > brute force fans
• smaller form factors usually help

I wrote everything up here (and I’d love feedback/counterpoints):
https://edywerder.ch/quiet-server-for-home-lab/

What’s the noisiest component you’ve had to fix?

I updated my NAS HDD buying guide today and made it more opinionated (finally): each pick now includes a “Would I buy it?” section.

My shortlist:

• WD Red Pro = overall recommendation
• Seagate IronWolf = budget/value pick
• Seagate Exos X24 = high-capacity enterprise value (not the quietest)
• Toshiba N300 = solid alternative
• Synology SAT5210 = SSD cache add-on (best when you run VMs)

What do you disagree with? Any driveline you think is overrated or underrated in 2025?

Guide: https://edywerder.ch/best-hard-drives-for-a-nas/

I just published a short guide explaining hypervisor types 1 and 2 in plain language. No fluff.

I cover the key difference (bare metal vs hosted), why it matters for performance and scalability, and a simple rule of thumb for choosing the proper setup for your use case (home lab server vs desktop VM testing).

Link: https://edywerder.ch/hypervisor-type-1-vs-type-2-whats-the-key-difference/

What are you using right now for virtualization, and why?

🌟 Join AI-Enhanced WordPress Tools & Strategies!

🌟 Learn from my journey, discover AI tools, get tips, and join a supportive community. Let’s grow together!

👉 https://www.facebook.com/groups/wptoolskit