Low power build

didgemaster · 4 Jan 2024 at 19:44

I was wondering what it would be possible to build as a low power machine to use as a home server? Am I better off trying to put a custom build together or buying an off the shelf solution?

Tetras · 4 Jan 2024 at 20:14

SFF/Mini PCs are often better for this purpose than a custom desktop, but if you were to do it, a Ryzen APU or 8th/9th gen Intel are usually decent for idle power.

didgemaster · 4 Jan 2024 at 20:22

Thought that might be the case. Thank you for the reply

decto · 4 Jan 2024 at 20:36

didgemaster said:
I was wondering what it would be possible to build as a low power machine to use as a home server? Am I better off trying to put a custom build together or buying an off the shelf solution?

Comes down to what you want to serve.
Do you want to host 50TB of local storage, serve and transcode media or just run home assitant etc.

CuriousTomCat · 4 Jan 2024 at 22:27

Standard PC power supplies are too inefficient for use on a low-power PC so it's not easy. However, the ASRock N100DC-ITX motherboard has a 19v DC socket so can be powered with a laptop power supply.
Some people use a PICO PSU with a normal ATX board but they don't look very good quality to me. I wouldn't want to leave it on 24/7 in case it catches fire.
Another option is to use a NAS drive but I'd be worried about how long it's kept supported with updates.
Those are options I've been looking at for my own home server. Some people use a NUC with 2.5" HDDs for storage but I would rather use a solution that can accommodate 3.5" HDDs. A solution to that would be a NUC + Direct-attached storage (DAS).