Recommended mini PC server to host ProxMox

[ethanp]

For a while, I have been pricing powerful mini PCs to host ProxMox. I have been looking at the GMKtec K11 Gaming Mini PC, AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS(8C/16T, Up to 5.2GHz), 64GB DDR5 RAM 1TB Mini Desktop Computer. Recently due to tariffs, the GMKtec K11 has gone up in price to $1,000.
I am not sure if I need to spend $1000 for a ProxMox host. I am looking for a powerful mini PC that will do a great job of hosting ProxMox with staying cool, having enough storage and RAM, and a have good CPU. Again, it needs to stay cool constantly and I need to rely on it to stay cool. I need to have 2 NICs; 1 for ProxMox management and 1 dedicated network connection for 1 virtual machine. The 1 virtual machine that will use the dedicated NIC will be a JellyFin server for my media. I plan to create more Linux VMs that will be hosting other various tasks on my network in the future.
I prefer GMKtec, because of their cooling technology, but I am flexible. I hear GEEKOM, Beelink, and Minisforum are also good mini PC manufacturers. So...what does everyone recommend? I prefer to stay around $500 if possible, but there is flexibility with my budget. I am interested to hear everyone's recommendations. Thank you.

 

[Kingneutron]

BTW, there is no capital M in Proxmox.

My Beelink EQR6 Ryzen 9 is similar, but I bought it for under $500 well before RAM prices skyrocketed - and upgraded it from 24GB to 64GB RAM.

Under moderate load (~6.86 in htop, 1/2 the cores active) it stays ~173F using only the system fan and propped up on its side, not facing down. Fastest PC I've ever owned short of an M1 Mac, very capable for proxmox.

My 2018 Intel Mac mini running proxmox has a laptop cooler under it, and with load average ~8.12 it's anywhere from ~167F to 210F briefly. This is with powertop enabled tho.

On the other side of the spectrum is my Qotom "firewall appliance" which is passively cooled but has an inexpensive usb-powered 2-fan dealie on top of it. With load average ~2.02, it's well under 100F sustained. However, it is only an 8-core Atom cpu @ 2.2GHz. It does have 4x10Gbit SFP+ and 5x2.5Gbit ethernet, but very basic vga. 32GB RAM and plenty of storage between the included 4-breakout-cable port and (recently) usb-c to a 4-bay MAIWO enclosure. Also supports 2xM.2 nvme.

Underclocking in the BIOS and powertop may help keep things cool(er) at the expense of performance.

If you're on a budget, maybe look at 2018 Intel Mac minis - you can get crazy deals on them with 32GB RAM and 128G SSD, and they have a bunch of thunderbolt3 ports for external SSD, 2.5 and 10Gbit networking adapters. I boot/run mine from external SSD with SIP turned off. But it's not the coolest-running of the bunch.