Advise on potential proxmox server

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pbdoss

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May 15, 2025
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I am wanting to build a home server with the idea of running a Proxmox server running multiple VMs include:

- True NAS Scale for a home NAS running RAID 5

- Plex/Jelly Fin server

- running multiple VMs for various home lab learning environment i.e. building a mock AD environment / test various OS / docker environments / pfSense. Just anything that i want to dip my toes into

Here is my currently build so far:

Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case

Motherboard: MAXSUN Challenger B760ITX D5 WIFI DDR5 LGA1700

CPU: Intel Core i5-12400 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor

OS Drive: Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB M.2

RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB

CPU cooler: Noctua NH-L9i-17xx 33.84 CFM CPU Cooler

HDD: Western Digital Red Plus 4 TB 3.5" X5

PSU: Corsair SF600 (2018) 600 W 80+ Platinum

Additional features:

1. Silverstone ECM28 1x NVMe (M Key) 1x SATA (B Key) M.2 SSD to PCI-E

--- potentially running another m2 drive for a cache and to connect the 5th HDD

2. TP-Link TX401 10Gbe PCIe Network Card

Can anyone give some advise on if they would change anything?
 
Lots of issues with that kit.
1. The NIC on that motherboard is a realtek 8125. Getting it to work with Linux might be a challenge
2. No ECC support. Its not a deal killer, but I prefer ECC memory and since you are going for a 12th gen Intel CPU, why not go to the AMD AM4 platform instead, and get ECC support.
3. Raid 5? How are you going to do that? That motherboard doesn't seem to support hardware raid. TrueNAS uses ZFS which means you could do a raidz1 but honestly that is slower than mirrored VDEVS. What is your use case for this storage pool? Does speed matter?
4. You may need to compile the driver for that TP Link TX401 card. I am not sure if support for it is included in the current kernel or not. If you do need to compile, its not the end of the world, but you aren't making life easy with the choice of that network card.
5. Running TrueNAS virtualized in Proxmox isn't going to work very well with this setup. TrueNAS really requires the pass through of a SATA controller or HBA to function properly. I use one of these, passed through to TrueNAS, and it works great. https://www.newegg.com/p/17Z-0061-000D5?Item=9SIARE9K9G2395

I did a similar build last fall on a Node 304 case, using a Gigabyte 550i Aorus pro board, Ryzen 5 Pro 5650ge CPU, Nemix ecc RAM, and that m.2 to SATA adapter. I run Proxmox from the motherboard SATA ports, I pass through the m.2 to SATA adapter completely to TrueNAS Scale, and it works great. I use one of these PCI splitters to add 2 NVMe drives and for my X8 10gbe NIC The Aorus board supports the PCI bifurcation this adapter needs. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BMWTRY9T

I use a X520 intel based 10GBE NIC with dual SFP+ ports as my main NIC
 
BTW, using an NVME drive for the boot disk for Proxmox is a bit of a waste of resources. Proxmox would benefit a lot more by putting VMs on an NVME drive than it would by putting the boot drive there. I prefer to put my boot on mirrored SATA SSDs (I use enterprise class drives), and save the NVME for something else. Plus with morrored boot drives, you get extra reliability
 
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That Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB M.2 drive has a 220TBW in their specs - Warranty seems unclear if it is 3 or 5 years (AFAICT that warranty will not be covered by the reseller - but I may be wrong) that means a 0.12/0.2 DWPD depending on the warranty length. As an OS drive it will get "hammered" by the writes.
If you still go that route - leave the drive mostly empty to get any longevity out of it.
 
louie1961 said:
Lots of issues with that kit.
1. The NIC on that motherboard is a realtek 8125. Getting it to work with Linux might be a challenge
2. No ECC support. Its not a deal killer, but I prefer ECC memory and since you are going for a 12th gen Intel CPU, why not go to the AMD AM4 platform instead, and get ECC support.
3. Raid 5? How are you going to do that? That motherboard doesn't seem to support hardware raid. TrueNAS uses ZFS which means you could do a raidz1 but honestly that is slower than mirrored VDEVS. What is your use case for this storage pool? Does speed matter?
4. You may need to compile the driver for that TP Link TX401 card. I am not sure if support for it is included in the current kernel or not. If you do need to compile, its not the end of the world, but you aren't making life easy with the choice of that network card.
5. Running TrueNAS virtualized in Proxmox isn't going to work very well with this setup. TrueNAS really requires the pass through of a SATA controller or HBA to function properly. I use one of these, passed through to TrueNAS, and it works great. https://www.newegg.com/p/17Z-0061-000D5?Item=9SIARE9K9G2395

I did a similar build last fall on a Node 304 case, using a Gigabyte 550i Aorus pro board, Ryzen 5 Pro 5650ge CPU, Nemix ecc RAM, and that m.2 to SATA adapter. I run Proxmox from the motherboard SATA ports, I pass through the m.2 to SATA adapter completely to TrueNAS Scale, and it works great. I use one of these PCI splitters to add 2 NVMe drives and for my X8 10gbe NIC The Aorus board supports the PCI bifurcation this adapter needs. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BMWTRY9T

I use a X520 intel based 10GBE NIC with dual SFP+ ports as my main NIC
Click to expand...
appreciate the lengthy reply. I am just in the early stages of planning a server and relatively new in the IT field. Hence why im wanting to build as I am a practical learner

The NIC isnt a necessity really, so i am happy to forego that and research another one later
I wasnt too fused with ECC support, i know thats more ideal but i was wanting to save on cost. I was going with the 12th gen intel mainly for quick sync as i was wanting to prevent the purchase of a video card for transcoding where possible.

Again, in the early stages. I hadnt noticed the motherboard wouldnt support RAID, so back to the drawing board with that one. I did think about a similar MOBO as you but on the intel side due to price
 
Fair enough, but you need to consider data integrity vs watching videos. Intel chips in consumer boards generally do not support ECC memory. AMD chips will support ECC memory in some consumer boards, but not all. For me, I care much more about data integrity than transcoding videos. And BTW, AMD chips can transcode, its just that Intel chips do it faster. I just don't have media library, nor do I care to.
 
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