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Server vs miniPC dilemma for homelab (piefed.zip)

submitted 4 days ago by TisButAScratch@piefed.zip to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

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I'm currently facing a dilemma. Right now, I have a synology NAS that I use to host my homelab containers (*arr, pi-hole, vaultwarden, Plex, etc).

I am planning to offload as much of that as possible to a dedicated machine, which hopefully will allow me to continue self-hosting even more demanding services (Immich, etc).

I was lucky enough to get a proper server - Supermicro, for free, with 64GB Ram DDR4 and 1TB. However, I plugged it in and that thing is NOISY.

My rack will be in the home office, where I will spend at least 8 hours a day, so I can't afford that level of noise.

What should I do? Should I try to sell the supermicro and buy something else with that money? Should I keep the RAM and SSD (and CPUs?) and build something else with them? Are there any quiet servers I could look into (I am guessing better performance but more expensive), or Should I go the MiniPC route instead (cheaper and smaller, but more limited specs)?

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[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

As others have said, unless you're going to be using those CPUs a lot, you probably don't need the capability.

I run an old (2019) Dell OptiPlex SFF desktop as my server (I also have an ancient NAS). It runs ESXi just fine, with 2 Linux VM's and 4 Windows VM's, with 48GB of RAM.

At idle it consumes just under 20 watts. Peak is 80 watts (limited by the power supply).

Those VM's all run fine - one is for file services and Jellyfin, one is for dedicated DVD ripping and video conversion.

Even when that VM is converting videos, everything else is responsive. Never get a lag on Jellyfin.

Now imagine how much more performance your server is capable of. Many simultaneous VM's.

Oh, and it's a really quiet machine.

I'd sooner have this or multiple mini pc's than any kind of commercial server hardware. Completely different design approaches - servers are designed for running 24/7 with maximum cooling capability along with max performance. Power and noise aren't really a consideration.