Here’s what I currently have:
- Ryzen 1700 w/ 16GB RAM
- GTX 750 ti
- 1x SATA SSD - 120GB, currently use <50GB
- 2x 8TB SATA HDD
- runs openSUSE Leap, considering switch to microOS
And main services I run (total disk usage for OS+services - data is :
- NextCloud - possibly switch to ownCloud infinite scale
- Jellyfin - transcoding is nice to have, but not required
- samba
- various small services (Unifi Controller, vaultwarden, etc)
And services I plan to run:
- CI/CD for Rust projects - infrequent builds
- HomeAssistant
- maybe speech to text? I’m looking to build an Alexa replacement
- Minecraft server - small scale, only like 2-3 players, very few mods
HW wishlist:
- 16GB RAM - 8GB may be a little low longer term
- 4x SATA - may add 2 more HDDs
- m.2 - replace my SATA SSD; ideally 2x for RAID, but I can do backups; performance isn’t the concern here (1x sata + PCIe would work)
- dual NIC - not required, but would simplify router config for private network; could use USB to Eth dongle, this is just for security cameras and whatnot
- very small - mini-ITX at the largest; I want to shove this under my bed
- very quiet
- very low power - my Ryzen 1700 is overkill, this is mostly for the “quiet” req, but also paying less is nice
I’ve heard good things about N100 devices, but I haven’t seen anything w/ 4x SATA or an accessible PCIe for a SATA adapter.
The closest I’ve seen is a ZimaBlade, but I’m worried about:
- performance, especially as a CI server
- power supply - why couldn’t they just do regular USB-C?
- access to extra USB ports - its hidden in the case
I don’t need x86 for anything, ARM would be fine, but I’m having trouble finding anything with >8GB RAM and SATA/PCIe options are a bit… limited.
Anyway, thoughts?
I would suggest looking into TiniMiniMicro project.
And considering ProxMox as a platform. It will save you your nerves so much. Spin up a VM/LXC in a few seconds, play with it, delete it. Make a snapshot before update, if something fails - revert back. I’ve tried so many new projects because of how easy it is to do it.
It sounds overly complicated to me, but I honestly don’t know much about it. Do you have a good resource for what value it brings vs other options?
Personally, I just use containers on a single host. Right now that’s openSUSE Leap, but I’m thinking of switching to microOS for an immutable base system, which I think has value. This makes it really easy to move services between machines (just copy the compose file and whatever config/data volumes it has), e.g. if I decide to move a service to a dedicated machine (e.g. an ARM SBC).
https://www.servethehome.com/introducing-project-tinyminimicro-home-lab-revolution/
https://www.learnlinux.tv/proxmox-full-course/
https://tteck.github.io/Proxmox/
https://www.learnlinux.tv/easy-portainer-setup-run-your-first-docker-container/
This should keep you busy for some time. ;- ) =
Everything is complicated, till it isn’t any more.
I’ve been looking at this for a bit: https://a.co/d/2FMhmIY
I haven’t checked any reviews, but it might be something to look into.
Wow, that’s like… exactly what I was looking for. It’s also from a brand I don’t recognize and reviews say there’s no manual (I ignore those anyway), but if it works it works. And 4 2.5G ethernet? What an odd board!!
Thanks! I’ll definitely be looking to see if I can find out anything more about this board!
The are similar (the same?) boards all over Amazon and AliExpress. I would be interested in knowing what you find out. Good luck!
Well, here’s what I found:
- OpenMediaVault post about it
- Probably original manufacturer website
- Reddit post, with link to the OMV post and a YouTube video (YT video in Chinese)
The mfg website had other networking and NAS-type stuff, so I guess they’re an OEM in China.
The OMV page says it idles at ~23W, which seems odd since that CPU has a 6W TDP and other boards with the same CPU seem to idle around 6W. It seems something to do with how they’re using PCIe to provide the I/O is taking up a lot of power?
Define “very quiet”? Because that’s going to be tricky with spinning rust, depending on your noise tolerance.
I’m thinking 25DB is a hard cap, ideally under 20DB.
I think HDDs are typically around 5-10DB, and they should spin down at night. Quieter is better, but I don’t need to go completely fanless. So basically, those tiny pizza box server fans are completely off the table, but larger, slower fans should be fine.
I’m thinking 25DB is a hard cap, ideally under 20DB.
I think HDDs are typically around 5-10DB,
Um no. More like 20-25db at idle, up to 30 during heavy seek activity, depending on model.
I run 3x 5400rpm drives in my NAS, and the drives are definitely the loudest parts in the whole build, and are definitely noticeable in the office room.
Really? I currently sit like 3’ from my current PC NAS, and while I can hear it, the fan noise seems louder (stock AMD heatsink and fan). This YouTube looks at very similar drives to what I have (my drives are WD 8TB NAS Plus 5400RPM, video is 8TB NAS Pro 7200), and the measurement is something like 10-15DB per drive. Mine should be quieter than the video, so I think it’ll be fine.
I’ll probably need to replace my drives soon since I got them 5 years ago (though they were off 80% of the time), so I may consider SSDs if the pricing looks reasonable (I’m only using 2-4TB right now, but I expect that to double or triple in the next couple years).
Anyway, this is a somewhat temporary situation. Quiet gives me options. If it’s too loud, I can keep it on my desktop. I’m more looking for lower power (currently use 50W-ish idle for whole system) and smaller form factor (current one is a massive ATX tower).
Is your typical noise floor even under 20 dB? HDDs are also a lot louder than 5-10 dB, and manufacturers usually list dBA in their spec sheets, not dB.
I’m honestly not sure, I’m just pulling stuff from various online sources to get an estimate. This YouTube video measures noise from a single 7200 RPM WD Red drive, and I have 2x 5400 WD Red drives, so I’m guessing mine will be similar, if not a little quieter. I’d measure it myself, but it’s next to 2 other PCs and fan noise drowns it out.
Basically, I want it to work under my bed. It’s a large, thick bed (king size purple mattress; so basically foam), so I can stick it pretty far in to get some flexibility on what “quiet” means. We also aren’t particularly light sleepers, so our threshold is probably a little higher than others.
That said, I’m using the stock fan for my Ryzen 1700 (Wraith Spire I think?), and that’s way too loud for a bedroom (40dba-ish?), and I can’t really hear my drives over the fan unless I get really close. The spec on the drives say something like 20-30dba for my drives (I’m guessing that’s right next to the drive), and I think that’s quiet enough for my room, especially if I can dampen vibration a bit. But since the drives will probably spin down, I’m looking for fan noise around that level or lower, if I need a fan at all.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
| Fewer Letters | More Letters |
|---|---|
| LXC | Linux Containers |
| NAS | Network-Attached Storage |
| NUC | Next Unit of Computing brand of Intel small computers |
| NVMe | Non-Volatile Memory Express interface for mass storage |
| PCIe | Peripheral Component Interconnect Express |
| SATA | Serial AT Attachment interface for mass storage |
| SBC | Single-Board Computer |
| SSD | Solid State Drive mass storage |
8 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 15 acronyms.
[Thread #895 for this sub, first seen 29th Jul 2024, 18:45] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
Dell/HP SFF? 7th-9th gen CPUs, super cheap, quiet, should idle at 10-15W.
Only issue is 4x 3.5" drives for sure won’t fit, you need a pretty unique case to do that in mini-ITX size I think
Not sure which ones have NVMe slots, would have to research that.
As long as it has the ports, I can look into options for cases. I only need 2x 3.5" drives for now, the other two are just for upgrade options (e.g. buy two bigger drives, copy from existing array to new array, remove old drives, etc).
I’ll have to check those out.
