I dusted off my RPI4 and started tinkering with self-hosting things and it’s sparked a fire. Suddenly I have 7 docker containers running and I need more RAM, more space and I want something reliable with room to grow. I like small form factors but it doesn’t need to be RPI small. Any recs for your favorite hardware under $500?

  • zikk_transport2@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    Intel NUC. Myself I prefer Proxmox as the first layer (so I can do stuff remotelly), and Alpine Linux VM as a second layer.

    This been rock stable for me for the past 1 year or so.

  • SteelCorrelation@lemmy.oneEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    Definitely a NUC or similar mini PC from the likes of Geekom, Beelink, or Minisforum. My whole homelab was mini PCs until I consolidated to a NUC 12 Pro as I build up my rack. Slap Proxmox on the machine, build some VMs and LXCs, and have at it.

    • TCB13@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Or HP/Dell units second hand. Tons of companies ditch those computers after two o three years and they’re still perfectly good for self hosting with Linux. We can also find really good deals on Intel 9th gen machines for around 35% of the price of all those you suggested brand new.

  • OrangeCorvus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    I have a couple of Intel NUCs and they are great, one is the first generation NUC with the Celeron and runs Home Assistant without problems.

    At the moment I am eyeing the new N100 CPUs they are pretty powerful compared to the previous generation. Asrock and Asus are bringing out motherboards with the CPU soldered and they are also fanless. The Asrock is nicer because you don’t need a real PSU for it and it has an extra SATA port. They are not yet available.

    https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/N100DC-ITX/index.asp

    https://www.asus.com/motherboards-components/motherboards/prime/prime-n100i-d-d4/

    Planning on making an unRaid miniPC

  • mazkarth@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I use a Dell Micro with Ubuntu for docker containers mounted to a wall with a Synology NAS 4 bay for storage. I used to have a small form factor with a 12bay SAS array attached but the power consumption was ridiculous.

  • eosph@lemmy.remotelab.ukEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    At the moment hardware is just expensive. I ended up with a NUC with 32gb of ram in order to future proof myself while I wait for hardware to become cheaper. Other than another stick of ram I can’t see me needing to update any time soon.

  • Justin@lemmy.loutsenhizer.comEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’d recommend taking a look at used small form factor PCs on eBay. I’ve been using one for a couple years now that came with an i7-8700 16GB of ram and an nvme SSD for about $300. Running 30+ docker containers without any issues (most are lightweight to be fair)

    The only drawback to small form factor is that you have limited expansion opportunity with the unit itself. In my case I use an external NAS for storage of larger files.

    ServeTheHome has a bunch of videos on YouTube about these small form factor computers.