So, I currently have a Netgear ReadyNAS 314 with 1 SSD, 3 HDDs, Intel Atom D2701 and 4GB RAM, running Debian 12, and since getting it I’ve been getting more into self hosting. What I have now is primarily too weak in the CPU and RAM department, but it could also use more HDDs. I’m aiming for 5-6 3.5 HDDs, 1 Nvme, 1 2.5" SSD.
What I’m currently running:
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Samba and NFS server
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OpenVPN
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Jellyseerr/Jellyfin/*arr stack
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Pangolin
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Dawarich
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Immich
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rsnapshot
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Homepage
And it’s rather sluggish right now, and is almost filling up its 4GB of swap.
What I’d also like to be able to run/have:
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Nextcloud
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Transcoding (including ability to decode AV1, but preferably also encode)
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Anything else I may want to run (working on degoogling myself)
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ECC RAM (to prevent bitrot, I’m already running btrfs raid1 to prevent bitrot from faulty disks)
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1x 2.5G ethernet
If possible I’d like to have some room for upgradeability. I’m aiming for a low power build, that should be rather compact, especially not very wide unless I can find a better place in my office for it.
I’m looking at a Jonsbo N1 chassis (17cm wide) , but I’m also following a Readynas 626 (19cm wide) in an online auction. Options:
Intel N100 board
Pros: cheap, low power, quicksync with av1 decode
Cons: boards with 2.5G ethernet have to be ordered from Aliexpress and have no support and uses the JMB585 chip that prevents low power C states, limited pcie lanes, no AV1 encode, not very upgradeable (1 DIMM, soldered CPU) , no ECC, I worry it may be too slow
Intel 13100
Pros: AV1 decode, quite fast, upgradeable
Cons: No ECC, relatively expensive, no AV1 encode
AMD 8500G
Pros: AV1 enc/dec, ECC, relatively fast, upgradeable
Cons: relatively expensive, not as low power as the 13100
Readynas 626
Pros: enterprise grade HW, less DIY, ECC, may be relatively cheap
Cons: high power for its performance (roughly that of the N100), wider (19cm) than a Jonsbo N1 (17cm), not upgradeable (no CPU or mobo swap), expensive DDR4 2133 ECC UDIMM, doesn’t have M.2 but has a PCIE slot
I’d love to hear what you think about these options and whether you have other concerns that I haven’t thought about.
Edit: I just now realized that the 13100 doesn’t have AV1 encode in HW, that didn’t come until Core Ultra. And wowee, suitable mITX mobos start at 400$ here! I think AMD is the realistic choice if I want to go for AV1 HW encode…
I’ve been running an n100 box as my main everything box for about 1.5 years. I capture metrics on it and can say the thing is nowhere near capacity. This box is running jellyfin, a dozen or so nfs mounts that are heavily utilized, a dozen or so lightly used samba mounts, grafana, prometheus, jenkins, and a handful of mysql instances. I maxed out the ram (32gb) from the start and it averages 8gb usage, and has never exceeded 10gb. Historically, the CPU usage averages 28% utilization. I think as long as the board has nvme storage you’ll not feel constrained by these little hosts for many years.
First, I think you’re attacking this from the wrong angle. You’re focused on ECC memory for some reason, but that’s not going to prevent bitrot, just potentially reduce errors in transfer, or catch issues. Your filesystem of choice has more to do with degradation in storage.
Second, you haven’t mentioned any of the boards and their storage capabilities. Do they support the correct number of drives you want to use? Do they support hot-swap, and is that even something you care about?
Last, you want more services, and but are worried about power consumption…that’s not how that works. More services means more CPU and MEM util, which means more power usage. You can either constrain your TDP at that point by using an UNDERpowered CPU and have that tradeoff, or provide a more capable CPU and take an increased TDP. There is no third option, that’s just how it works. Pick the more capable CPU and take the power hit (really, it’s going to be minor compared to a large server), and just run the things you need to run instead of coming back in a year and wanting to flip it again.
You’re right, I probably don’t need ECC. I’m mostly worried about bit flips in my important data, and as you say, a checksumming FS and RAID will protect against this while the data is in storage. However, it doesn’t protect against bit flips while copying data, for example copying data to backups - but there are other solutions for this, which I should consider.
Hot swap is nice to have. I haven’t even considered that it wouldn’t be supported by a mobo, I should look into that, thanks. These are the mobos I’m considering for each option:
N100: Topton N100 motherboard, 4x2.5G, 6xSATA, PCIE x1 https://a.aliexpress.com/_EvVv0k6
8500G: ASRock B650I Lightning WiFi (Gigabyte A620I AX might be an option, but it has only one M.2 slot so the upgradeability is less)
13100: ASRock Z790M-ITX Wifi
The N100 option is cheaper and should be lower power, but as you say I worry about needing another upgrade in a year or so, and this option doesn’t offer much upgradeability so that would mean at least a new mobo and cpu. The other options could accommodate a beefier CPU if needed.
I have a Jonsbo N3 and I’ve been happy with it so far. The N1 and N2 only fit four drives, so if you want more, you’ll have to get the N3 as well. And you’ll have to get an HBA or something, because your motherboard will probably only have four SATA ports.
The biggest power draw will be the drives, also. And you don’t really need ECC on the desktop; random bit flips are uncommon and rarely significant when they happen. Your filesystem and/or RAID should protect against disk corruption.
Thanks, the Jonsbo N1 actually has five hotswap bays, and I believe you can squeeze in another 3.5" besides the PSU if you have a small PSU. I’ll consider the N3 but I don’t think it will fit where I have my current NAS so I’ll have to replan a bit.
Yes, I’m thinking about either getting a PCIE SAS HBA to open up the option for SAS drives, or to get an ASM1166 M.2 to 6xSATA.
You’re right that I’ve focused too much on ECC, I think I’ll see it as nice to have more than something I’d prefer to have.
Check the backplane before you buy drives or an HBA. The N3’s backplane just has SATA ports and molex power, you’d have to swap out the whole backplane and hack something together. The N1 and N2 are probably similar.
What’s your budget? I’m a big fan of old Xeon servers.
I’m aiming for a low power build, that should be rather compact,
Considering that OP was targeting an N100 I don’t think an old Xeon, especially one without integrated graphics, would be close to that.
Yeah, old Xeons tend to not be very low power, also I don’t think I’ll be able to find one with a mini ITX board to fit it in a compact case. Also, I’d probably need to add a discrete GPU, which adds to the cost and power consumption.
I want a low power build to limit heat and noise produced in my office room, to limit the electricity bill and as I understood it the case I’m considering also doesn’t have the best thermals, so I don’t want to put a CPU with too high a TDP into it.
The ReadyNAS 626 actually has a Xeon D-1521, but with a quite low TDP - 45W.
Regarding budget, I’m aiming for 400-800$. The N100 option, including case and PSU (but not disks) is at the lower end of this, while the 8500G and 13100 options are at the upper end.
I got a sff P330 Xeon with integrated graphics for ~$500 two years ago that includes case power supply etc. Far faster than an n100 and even lower power than if you added a GPU to an n100.
I just plugged in a kilowatt to check:
My Lenovo sff workstation running Plex idles at 15 watts- which is 90% of the time. Streaming 4k 52Mbs hevc (This Flash Gordon is my torture test that caused me to upgrade 2 years ago) it’s 18 watts! I was so surprised that I went back and unplugged the Ethernet thinking I put the killawatt on the wrong server.
Interesting, I’ll investigate this!
Btw the CPU in the Lenovo P330 is an e-2174g. I also got an e-2274g.