I'm at a loss on what server to buy - eviltoast

I’m pretty new to self-hosting, and the NAS I’m using right now has been a pain since the moment I bought it. The Synology DS220+ just doesn’t have enough CPU power for my needs, and I’ve recently used up all the disk space I installed, so I’m looking for a new server.

Unfortunately, all the options I’ve found online prioritize storage space over CPU, and I haven’t had much luck finding anything that fits my needs.

Requirements: CPU: Intel Core i3 or higher, but preferably Core i5 GPU: Not needed RAM: max 64 GB, min 16 GB Storage: max 32 TB, min 10 TB Network: 10 GB SPF+ Price: max 6K CAD, preferred 3K CAD

I’m hoping to run TrueNAS Scale with Plex and Nextcloud installed, and my media library isn’t likely to get larger than 5 TB, so CPU is really the main limiter of my current NAS.

As an example of something almost perfect: The TrueNAS mini X+ and R varieties would work excellently, but don’t meet the CPU requirement. I wanted to look at the other systems on offer from TrueNAS, but they don’t list out CPU specs for anything more advanced than the Mini line.

Of the Lenovo stuff, since it was one of the few websites with a filterable picker, the ThinkSystem SR630 V2 was the closest of fitting my requirements. It comes short on the CPU, though, and is verging on the price limit too. I also don’t need 12 TB of RAM, or 1.2 PB of storage.

What do you use? Can you recommend any websites I can go to find something that fits my needs better?

  • Skunk@jlai.lu
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    3 months ago

    Yeah I love it. It’s one of the only itx case with 8 hdds and a SAS backplate.

    Honestly it was the hardest part to find, I waited for months before having an auction on one.

    • __init__@programming.dev
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      3 months ago

      I’m in the process of divorcing my one giant server into separate nas and compute-only machines, I was going to leave the big one as the nas and maybe swap out its guts for something more power efficient than the dual socket beast since it will only need to handle storage now, but it might be easier to sell as a whole and do an all new itx build 🤔

      My wallet is gonna hate me.

      • Skunk@jlai.lu
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        3 months ago

        I feel you. This ITX build is replacing a giant supermicro dual everything beast. I just kept its HDDs and moved everything to the Unraid ITX + some docker running on a M2 MacMini that is always on anyway.

        I said to myself that I’ll resell the supermicro on auctions but still haven’t started to disassemble it.

        Fun fact about divorce. A cute Jonsbo N3 with big Noctua fans is way more for peace and love at home than a 20Kg Supermicro chassis.

        • __init__@programming.dev
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          3 months ago

          The idea of shipping something like that just makes me not want to do anything at all lol. It’s like a chicken and egg problem. Maybe if I could find someone local to buy it, then I would do the new build. But then I’d have no nas for that in between time. Hmmmm.