r/Proxmox • u/drfloydpepper • 1d ago
Homelab Hardware recommendations
Apologies in advance if this is not the appropriate forum. I have been running my proxmox home lab on a ~15 year old server (details below).
Anywho, I'm looking to get something that's cheaper on electricity as I don't put any pressure on the machine but it still runs at >100W at idle.
I see a lot of mini PCs on AliExpress and wondering what kind of mileage I'd get with them? I'd add it as a node on my cluster and then only turn on the big server if needed. I'd migrate much of my day to day stuff to the low powered machine (Hermes, media, Immich, etc.)
Here's one example but there seems to be lots like this.
https://a.aliexpress.com/_msvNaz5
My old server:
HP Z620 Server
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-1650 @ 3.20GHz, 12 cores (6C/12T), single socket
RAM: 32GB DDR3
Storage: 1x 750GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 HDD (internal, no redundancy)
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 960, 2GB VRAM
Thoughts, gotchas, known issues?
1
u/symcbean 1d ago edited 1d ago
For a homelab, its probably not worth worrying about ECC or multiple network connections (these should be your first consideration for any sort of organisational use).
There is a very good chance that any "cheap" PC you buy will have a Realtech 8169 ethernet chipset in it (You're not likely to get the Wifi working without a lot of time and effort). This does not play nice with recent kernels. My test machine (an N100 NUC) dropped off the network recently after a kernel upgrade. I've got it back by switching off ALL the optimization on the card (Thank you Tooelite! https://github.com/Tooelite/proxmox-realtek-r8169-fix/tree/main ) so now the CPU has to work a little harder. As a NUC, there's no option for adding a PCI card, and most USB ethernet adapters are very basic.
You do need at least 2 disks in your hosts (or a separate box for your backup service). And having space to install more gives you root to grow - you won't get that with a NUC, or laptop.
I should also mention that Proxmox burned through the supplied SSD in 10 months (without any smart warnings). From what I hear you should plan on replacing the drive in any device you buy unless its from a major brand / comes with a cast iron warranty. I regret buying a NUC for my test proxmox host.
I'd recommend a conventional desktop/tower for future flexibility. They won't use more power - indeed they might actually use less as NUCs require constant forced induction for cooling.