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Server vs miniPC dilemma for homelab (piefed.zip)

submitted 4 months ago by TisButAScratch@piefed.zip to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

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I'm currently facing a dilemma. Right now, I have a synology NAS that I use to host my homelab containers (*arr, pi-hole, vaultwarden, Plex, etc).

I am planning to offload as much of that as possible to a dedicated machine, which hopefully will allow me to continue self-hosting even more demanding services (Immich, etc).

I was lucky enough to get a proper server - Supermicro, for free, with 64GB Ram DDR4 and 1TB. However, I plugged it in and that thing is NOISY.

My rack will be in the home office, where I will spend at least 8 hours a day, so I can't afford that level of noise.

What should I do? Should I try to sell the supermicro and buy something else with that money? Should I keep the RAM and SSD (and CPUs?) and build something else with them? Are there any quiet servers I could look into (I am guessing better performance but more expensive), or Should I go the MiniPC route instead (cheaper and smaller, but more limited specs)?

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[–] Alvaro@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

It is completely up to your local market and needs, ie for how much you can sell it, what you can buy etc...

The only tips I can give you:

Do you REALLY need all of the compute power? Most people don't and you would wast a ton on electricity. This point on it's own is enough to push most to a mini pc. (Immich can run on basically any mini pc)
is there absolutely no other place for the server where the noise wouldn't be an issue?
look into sound proofing, you could house it in a box lined with acoustic foam with a the airway taking multiple 90° turns to keep airflow while reducing noise.

P.S:

I personally went on an in-between, I have a large tower pc, basically a server but with hardware meant for mostly silent work, so it rarely get's noisier than background.

[–] i_stole_ur_taco@lemmy.ca 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I ended up at the same. Desktop PC with a lotta hard drives in it and big fans that don’t have to spin fast and make a lot of noise.

Bonus points that it’s consumer desktop hardware and not server grade shit so if something needs replacing there’s usually a cheap replacement available.

[–] tal@lemmy.today 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Desktop PC with a lotta hard drives in it and big fans that don’t have to spin fast and make a lot of noise.

I use a USB DAS JBOD enclosure with fans, which is also an option if you have a mini-PC and just want a bunch of drive space.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCDDGHMJ

This particular enclosure has physical buttons that lock in place so that the power state is restored on power loss, something that (to my surprise) a number of USB DAS enclosures apparently don't do.

[–] njordomir@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Same, once I got PWM set up right on my fans, my desktop former gaming PC server has been 90% silent. Even when under load, it only kicks up a notch or two. I'm under the roof, so my summer temps will be the real test.