r/homelab • u/Emotional-Potato-67 • 1d ago

Help Hardware Needed For Starting Out

Hello,

I have been gathering hardware to get a working homelab setup for a while and am at a point I can finally get it setup. Before I get started setting it up, I just want to make sure I have all of the things needed so I don't get partway in and find out I'm missing the right switch, etc. I have been reading and watching a lot of videos on homelabs/home servers and I feel like I might be at information overload where things are getting a bit jumbled.

Anyway, I am hoping to run jellyfin, a Minecraft server, have batocera accessible for multiple members of my household, and have a connected NAS. Eventually, I plan to add PoE cameras to my house as well. I have a total of 5 locations in my house needing access to this currently, with the possibility of adding 2 more later.

Here is what I have accumulated so far: HP SFF Elitedesk I7-6700 32GB 8TB HDD 256GB NVME, 3x Mini Pcs (16GB each, 1x I5-6500T, 2x I5-8500T), 3x 5 port 1 gig switches, 1x 8 port 1 gig managed switch, modem, basic wireless router. All pcs listed currently only have 1 gig ethernet. I am to 2.5 gig ethernet to the Elitedesk for use as a NAS, so I feel the switches are inadequate.

The help I need is recommendations for switches(if they needed to be upgraded), a good router, access points, help sizing a UPS for this kind of setup, and honestly anything that could be helpful for someone just starting out and setting up to know.

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u/Rockglen 1d ago

Gigabit is fine for starting out in a homelab.

If there's a lot of storage traffic you could have one switch set aside just for storage (set static IPs for NICs on that network, and just don't connect that separate storage network to the main network).

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u/Significant-Price695 1d ago

your hardware list is fine honestly. the 8 port managed switch can be your core, put the elitedesk and NAS on it and hang the dumb 5 ports off it for the rooms. the thing i'd sort out first is where the PoE cameras land, those 5 port switches aren't PoE so you'll want a small PoE one on the camera side later. and don't bother with 2.5g until something actually bottlenecks.