Choosing your Hardware for your Homelab

metricv Posted on 4 days ago 10 Views

After you decide what you want to run on your home lab server, now it's time to choose your server hardware. There are multiple tracks you can go about this.

Prebuilt NAS Systems

Manufacturers such as QNAP or Synology produce NAS (Network-Attached Storage) systems.

Pros:

  • Comes with everything: CPU, memory, backplane, enclosure
  • Little configuration is needed
  • Usually, it comes with the manufacturer's own applications for download, albums, etc

Cons:

  • Hardware not easy to upgrade. Usually involves replacing the entire system.
  • Expensive at some times.
  • Stuck with manufacturer's operating system.

Prebuilt NAS Systems provide ways to install your own applications via tools like docker but may not give you access to low-level configuration.

If you want to pick a prebuilt NAS, make sure to check its CPU.

  • Those with Intel or AMD CPUs are usually x86 architecture, which provides higher performance and wider compatibility with add-in cards like PCIe cards but consumes more power.
  • ARMv8 (such as Qualcomm processors) provides decent performance for file-transferring tasks but limits the flexibility of what applications you can install or add-in cards you can use. They are also usually power-efficient.
  • armhf (such as Annapurna Labs) are low-performance with an outdated architecture and few application support. You are unlikely to get anything serious done apart from what the manufacturer offers.

Generally, my personal advice is don't buy prebuilt NAS systems. They have much less room to play with. Once its processor becomes outdated, there is no way you can use it as a regular disk enclosure and attach a system to it.

JBOD + Server (My recommendation)

It is also possible to start your server with a server+JBOD combination. The JBOD will be an enclosure that holds your disks, connected to a computer that acts as the server.

Pros:

  • You can add more JBODs if you need more disks or upgrade/replace only the server for more performance.
  • Usually cheaper.
  • Gives you much more choice on what type of server you want to build

Cons:

  • You need to install your own software stack (TrueNAS/Proxmox/etc.)

Generally, JBOD + Server is a more advanced approach, but it scales better and allows you more flexibility.

Choosing the JBOD

Premium JBODs include QNAP TL-D800S, QNAP TL-D800C, etc. When choosing a JBOD, make sure the JBOD passes through disk information such as serial number, S.M.A.R.T status, etc. This is essential for some file systems, such as ZFS.

There are also many cheaper JBOD options on the market, some of which are backplanes that do not provide a SATA controller. In that case, your disks are connected directly to your server via SATA ports. Make sure you have enough SATA ports on your motherboard otherwise you may need a PCIe SATA adapter.

Choosing the server

Your choice of server depends largely on what you want to do.

  • File Server: If you want to use advanced filesystems such as ZFS, ECC Memory is an important feature you want to look for. Without ECC memory, there might be silent data corruption.
    • Server CPUs, such as Intel Xeon, support registered ECC (RDIMM).
    • Consumer CPUs
      • Intel started to enable ECC on their 12th-gen CPU and afterward. However, you must use a workstation motherboard (W680) to use it.
      • AMD CPUs all support ECC.
      • Both use unbuffered ECC (UDIMM)
    • RDIMM modules are usually cheaper than UDIMM on the used market.
  • Game Server: Game servers usually require a high-frequency CPU.
    • Most consumer CPUs are high-frequency.
    • Server CPUs have special high-frequency SKUs that are usually more expensive.
  • Media Server: Media servers may take advantage of hardware-accelerated encoding
    • Both Plex and Jellyfin support various hardware encoders.
    • Intel QuickSync is available with Intel GPUs, including integrated GPUs. This means if you use a consumer-grade Intel CPU, you have QuickSync. Xeon CPUs, however, do not have iGPU therefore no QuickSync. Dedicated Intel Graphics, such as Intel Arc, also work.
    • AMD AMF is available with AMD GPUs, including integrated GPUs. Most Ryzen and EPYC CPUs do not have an iGPU.
    • Nvidia NVENC is available with Nvidia GPUs. The NVENC support matrix gives details about NVENC's capabilities and generations.
  • Web Hosting: If you want to host web servers, they usually work well with multiple CPU cores. Server-grade CPUs are usually good at this, but commercial CPUs are also catching up.
  • Power Consumption: If you want to avoid a hefty electricity bill, you may want to choose a lighter system. Intel NUCs built with laptop-variants of CPUs or mini PCs such as MINISFORUM usually provide lower power consumption but also less expandability.

In general, you will want to choose a computer that ticks all the boxes, but you may have to make compromises.