[SOLVED] Homelab low-power hardware recommendation

Kryuz

Member
Nov 26, 2020
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Hi everybody !

I need advice please for a low power consumption homelab with 1TB of SSD disk, 16GB RAM, a processor powerful enough to run more than 10 virtual machines and some containers, 1 PCIe slot (4 NIC) and another PCIe ou mini PCIe slot (SIM card reader).

I know how to build a computer and select component to fulfill my technical need but i've never looked for power efficiency by the past and i don't know where to look to begin (which Watt is good or not).
I'm not closed to second-hand hardware and IF POSSIBLE i would like to find my stuff all around 300€ by server.
What advice can you give me for my research ? Can you even share your own build ?

The request in detail below (my actual setup and planed evolution).

The need / planed evolution:
I would like to replace my homelab PROXMOX server with one (or rather two because I would like to make high availability) equipment with low energy consumption but offering flexibility such as the addition of a network card and a PCIe or mini PCIe card for a SIM card reader.

My router (OPNSense) is on my PROXMOX and there is only one NIC, forcing me to keep my ISP router on the same network/switch as my PROXMOX server...

I plan to add other virtual machines and containers such as HomeAssistant, ELK, GitLab, Ansible and one or two other Windows servers.

The existing:
For the moment I use a NUC as PROXMOX server and it runs 2 containers (bitwarden and pihole) and 3 virtual machines (Windows Server (ADDS), Zabbix and OPNSense).
With Intel Core i3-8109U CPU on the host, one core for each VM/container, cpu never jumps beyond 10/20%, I don't really know how to distribute cores to avoid overload when new VMs are present .

My research :
At the moment I came across the used mini pc threads and it is possible to found on eBay the Fujitsu Futro s920 below 80€ which could be OK but i'm not sure about the CPU.
This s920 caught my attention because it has a PCIe expansion port that would allow me to add a network card and a mini pcie port that would allow me to put in a SIM card reader.
The catch, although the RAM and disk are modular, I'm not sure the processor can meet the needs of all virtual machines and containers, and by the way, i'm not sure it's "THE BEST CHOICE".
That's why... I'm asking for help from the almighty PROXMOX community !

Thanks in advance
 
Last edited:
Seems your research is thorough. All i want to add is this chart on TDP and that you should consider undervolting your cpu, especially if, as you say, your setup is never maxing out cpu load anyway.

Best of luck with your endeavors
 
Hello,

Thanks for your reply.
I've ordered 2 Fujitsu Futro S920, i'll see if it's alright or not.
 
Any updates?
Hi,
I've receveived my two Fujitsu and configured a cluster successfully.
Replication through ZFS pool on both Fujitsu and HA configured, it's all good !

Right now the CPU didn't seems to block me.
Running multiple VM (5) and CT (5 too), it hardly goes beyond 60% CPU Usage, but Load could appear if the virtual machines not correctly dispatched between PVE nodes, legit.
 

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