Best way to use my SFF PCs reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Big-Finding2976 · 2023-12-07 19:32 I've currently got three Lenovo SFF PCs to use for self-hosting. Machine 1: M700, i5-6400T, 32GB RAM (2\*16GB). This will be my main server. Machine 2: M700, i5-6400T, 16GB RAM (2\*8GB). This will be my Dad's main server. Machine 3: M720Q, i5-9400T, 8GB RAM (2\*4GB). I'm going to use this to create an OPNsense box, once I receive the i350-T4 card and riser that I've ordered separately. I'm just wondering about swapping around the CPUs and RAM. I'll be experimenting with various containers on Machine 1, so I'll probably need more RAM on that than Machine 2, which I'll only update and add new stuff to once I've tested it, and if my Dad needs it. Both will be running Docker/Portainer, Adguard-Unbound, Backup/Sync services for PCs and Android phones, with further encrypted backups of some data created and sent to the cloud, SFTPGo, Filebrowser, Tailscale, Crowdsec, Authelia, HomeAssistant (probably HAOS in a VM), and a media server (not sure if Plex, Jellyfin or just NFS/SMB shares to Kodi at the moment). On Machine 2 I also want to run a NVR, like Shinobi, in docker or a VM, and I might run the Kodi client (baremetal) and connect it to my Dad's TV via HDMI so he can use it to watch movies stored on the USB HDD connected to that machine. Although the i5-6400T is 6th gen, it seems that it supports Quicksync, so whatever media server I use should be able to use that to transcode videos if necessary. [Intel Core i56400T Processor 6M Cache up to 2.80 GHz Product Specific ations](https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/88187/int el-core-i5-6400t-processor-6m-cache-up-to-2-80-ghz.html) I understood that OPNsense runs fine with 8GB RAM and a relatively weak CPU, but then I saw this, which provides extended search and visualisation features to help you use the data created by OPNsense, and it recommends 32GB. [pfelk/pfelk: pfSense/OPNsense + Elastic Stack (github.com)](https://github.com/pfelk/pfelk) I understand that ZFS needs a lot of RAM too. I wouldn't use that on my OPNsense machine, but it might be useful on Machines 1 and 2, so I'll probably need them to have 32GB and 16GB respectively, which means that I can't move the 32GB to Machine 3 for OPNsense and downgrade the other two to 16GB and 8GB. I could also buy another cheap M720Q with an I3-8100T (which is 8th gen, so newer than the i5-6400T but not much different) and no RAM or SDD, and I've got a spare 8GB (2\*4GB) left over from upgrading Machine 1, so I'd just need to buy a SSD or NVMe for that, and then I could dedicate it for my Dad's NVR, with the recordings sent over the network and stored on the USB HDD connected to Machine 2, but I'd prefer to just run the NVR on Machine 2 if possible. So what would you recommend? Keep the RAM and CPUs in the machines as they currently are, and just run OPNsense with 8GB RAM, without Elastic Stack? Will I be able to use ZFS on Machines 1 and 2 for the internal OS SSD and/or the external encrypted 16TB USB HDD and will it be worth it, or should I use a less-memory hungry filesystem and move the 32GB to Machine 3 so I can run OPNsense + Elastic Stack? If I'm only running OPNsense on Machine 3, the i5-9400T will probably be a bit wasted, so I think I could swap the i5-9400T with the i5-6400T in Machine 1, but I'm not sure if that's possible. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thekrautboy · 2023-12-07 19:37 /r/HomeServer /r/Homelab ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EndlessHiway · 2023-12-07 20:16 Sell them on ebay. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BCIT_Richard · 2023-12-07 22:34 This may be the way. I have a Lenovo Thinkcentre m93q and it's not really useful for much and gets hot sitting on the desktop in Ubuntu. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dazchad · 2023-12-07 23:40 > Although the i5-6400T is 6th gen, it seems that it supports Quicksync, so whatever media server I use should be able to use that to transcode videos if necessary. Quicksync gets good at 8th gen intel or newer. Before that you can do 1080p, but it struggles for 4k and newer codecs like HEVC/h265. > So what would you recommend Either sell the machines, or setup a backup server/VPN node on a family house. Any of those machines will work for most of what you want to do. The exception being transcoding. Personally I'd go with a Chromecast with Google TV or other HDMI stick that supports 4k HEVC and Dolby Vision (CCwGTV does), so you don't really need transcoding. Unless of course you really want to play around setting those things up. On that case, have fun! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sk8r776 · 2023-12-08 02:06 I run most of my services inside a K3S cluster that is built on elite desk 800 g4s. I am actually downsizing from bigger more power hungry servers into the cluster. I’m also moving to m720qs due to the pcie slot and adding in 10g cards. There is a lot these mini pcs can do at 20W per system. I can run 10 of these before I get to the same power consumption as my Epyc server, and I would gain availability and could even gain some cores/memory depending on how it’s laid out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EndlessHiway · 2023-12-08 13:20 I5-6400 processor doesn't support virtualization either. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Big-Finding2976 · 2023-12-08 18:01 The i5-6400T does https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/88187/intel- core-i5-6400t-processor-6m-cache-up-to-2-80-ghz.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Big-Finding2976 · 2023-12-08 18:05 OK, we should be good for now then as we don't have 4K TVs. I use a FireTV stick running Kodi which is able to decode my h265 1080p files, and it sounds like the i5 6th gen should be able to do that for my Dad, but if not I'll just get him a FireTV stick to run the client. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Big-Finding2976 · 2023-12-08 18:11 Yeah, I think they're awesome. They're about as powerful as the i5 tower PC that my Mum and I are using, but about 40x smaller! Of course, there's no room for multiple HDDs or PCI-e cards, but my Mum only uses one SSD and no PCI-e cards, and I have another tower PC for gaming now with lots of space for drives and cards, so I could replace my i5 tower with a Tiny PC, with most of my files stored on the server's USB HDD. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sk8r776 · 2023-12-08 18:14 The m720q has a pcie slot adding a nic to these it’s fairly common. What seems to not be as common is taking advantage of the wifi slot, which works to boot off of. I’m standardizing to boot ssd in the wifi slot, 10g nic, and data m.2. This fits my use case since I use software and clustering to handle my “replication”, but this may not be ideal for some. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dazchad · 2023-12-08 18:15 Sounds good! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EndlessHiway · 2023-12-08 20:54 I missed the T for some reason you are correct it does. Sorry.