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Best approach for a home server in 2025?

Thread Summary

In a recent forum discussion, users shared their insights on building a home server in 2025, focusing on budget-friendly options for media streaming and file backups. The consensus leaned towards using small form factor PCs with Intel N100 processors for their efficiency and quiet operation, while also considering storage solutions like NAS systems for redundancy. Overall, the N100 setup was recommended as a cost-effective and powerful alternative to traditional enterprise gear.

Key Takeaways:


• Small form factor PCs with Intel N100 are efficient and quiet.
• Consider using NAS for additional storage and redundancy.
• Enterprise servers may incur high power costs and noise levels.

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In a recent forum discussion, users shared their insights on building a home server in 2025, focusing on budget-friendly options for media streaming and file backups. The consensus leaned towards using small form factor PCs with Intel N100 processors for their efficiency and quiet operation, while also considering storage solutions like NAS systems for redundancy. Overall, the N100 setup was recommended as a cost-effective and powerful alternative to traditional enterprise gear. Key...
I

Itworx4me

Administrator
Staff member
Hey everyone, I'm looking to build a home server this year and wanted to get some opinions. I mainly want to use it for Plex media streaming, file backups, and maybe running a few Docker containers. Budget is around $500-600. Should I go with used enterprise gear or build something new? Any recommendations?
 
I went the used enterprise route last year and picked up a Dell PowerEdge R720 for about $200 on eBay. It's been rock solid for Plex and handles transcoding like a champ. Only downside is the noise - it sounds like a jet engine. Definitely not something you want in your living room. I ended up putting mine in the garage.
 
For your budget I'd actually recommend building a small form factor PC with an Intel N100. These little chips are incredibly power efficient (6W TDP) and can handle multiple 4K streams without breaking a sweat. You could build a complete system for under $300 and use the rest for storage. Way quieter than enterprise gear too.
 
+1 for the N100 recommendation. I'm running Proxmox on mine with Plex, Home Assistant, Pi-hole, and a few other containers. Total power draw is around 15W at idle. My electricity bill actually went down when I replaced my old server with this setup.
 
The N100 sounds interesting. What about storage though? I have about 8TB of media files and I'd like some redundancy. Would I need a separate NAS or can I attach multiple drives to these small systems?
 
Good question. Most N100 boards only have 1-2 SATA ports, so you'd either need a USB enclosure (not ideal) or look at boards with more connectivity. The Topton boards have 4-6 SATA ports. Alternatively, you could get a small N100 box for compute and a separate Synology or DIY NAS for storage. That's actually my setup - best of both worlds.
 
Don't overlook the Beelink or Minisforum mini PCs either. I got a Beelink EQ12 with an N100 for $180 on sale. Added a 4-bay USB enclosure running RAID5 and it handles everything perfectly. Total cost was around $400 including drives. The USB enclosure sounds sketchy but I've had zero issues in 8 months.
 
As someone who runs enterprise gear professionally, I'd say skip it for home use unless you have dedicated space and don't care about power bills. The R720 is a great server but it'll easily pull 150-200W at idle. At $0.15/kWh that's over $200/year just in electricity. The N100 route pays for itself within a year.
 
One more thing to consider - if you go the N100 route, make sure you get a board with at least 2 ethernet ports if you want to do any network segmentation or run a firewall. I use one port for LAN and one for my IoT VLAN. Saves having to buy a separate managed switch right away.
 
Thanks everyone, this has been super helpful! I think I'm going to go with an N100 build using one of those Topton boards with multiple SATA ports. I'll run Proxmox like Marcus suggested and probably start with 2x4TB drives in a mirror. Really appreciate all the advice - I'll post an update once I get everything running!
 
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