Looking to get 1 mini-pc or NUC-like to run proxmox. I’m aware that there are cheaper or better alternatives in different form factors, however I really need something as small as a NUC since I am working with a very small amount of space.
Ideally I could get something barebones so I could squeeze in 64gb of RAM and at least 2 tb of ssd storage. I’ve seen a few options on the market:
- minisforum UM790 Pro (seeing some questionable reviews about reliability/longevity)
- minisforum npb7 (doesn’t seem to support 64gb ram)
- Intel NUC 13 Pro kit (no glaring issues, but I’m aware these are now discontinued)
- GEEKOM IT13 (seems like a no-name brand)
Are there potentially better options that I may have missed?
Grab a Lenovo P360 Ultra off eBay. Amazing little computer with a lot of expandability in a sexy little chassis. Mini powerhouse.
Very early days but I’ve had the UM790 Pro for a week and am loving it. I’ve got 2*2tb drives and it’s been great.
(Already considering purchasing another. Possibly the NAB6/NPB7. I’m pretty sure the NPB7 does support 64gb as minisforum do sell that)
Self dealing since I have two brand new ones for sale on /r/homelabsales but: I’ve used the Gigabyte Brix Extreme for exactly this use case.
- 64gb of RAM? Check.
- I had mine loaded with a 2tb NVME and 2tb SSD, but if I wanted to yank the wifi/Bluetooth card, I could have added an additional NVME.
- 2.5gb ethernet
Take a look at my post history if you want to save some only on one (or two!).
Asus PN-52, 5800HS, 64GB, 2xNVME 2280, 2.5gbit NIC.
I currently run Proxmox 8.0.4 on an i5 NUC11 with 32GB of RAM and 1.5TB of SSD storage. There’s a single MySQL VM, and everything else runs as LXC containers — a couple of K3s nodes, Minecraft, Project Zomboid, dnsmasq, Tailscale, Prometheus, Grafana…
The thing runs cool and quiet, and it’s sitting atop my Synology DS420j, next to an APC BVX700LUI-MS.
I’m looking to experiment with Ceph and HA Proxmox, so I might add another NUC and/or a HPE Microserver G10 to my fleet. Keeps the whole setup compact and neat, and I can still run them all off of my existing UPS.
