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I run a smaller homelab setup on consumer-grade hardware, and the cost of replacing failed components is usually lesser than switching to Enterprise components

I run a smaller homelab setup on consumer-grade hardware, and the cost of replacing failed components is usually lesser than switching to Enterprise components (where I live).

lostlogin 6y ago
One or many Intel NUCs will get you surprisingly far. Higher spec models will take a surprising 64gb of ram, and run ESXi nicely. Extra nics can be achieved with a USB dongle if wanted (a little gross) and the units fly. The higher end model has 6 cores and runs ESXi free. Licences for home usage a free for ESXi 7, although braving their website takes nerves of steel. It’s awful. For any VM that needs a GPU the NUC8 is considerably better than the 10, but has less cores. With m2 drives they fly. Bulk storage can be achieved with network storage or USB attached storage. This is all a rather dirty solution but I love my setup.
- captn3m0 6y ago
  I use a NUC8 as my daily driver :) Haven't tried ESXi on it yet.
  - draugadrotten 6y ago
    Proxmox also works great, and is opensource.
    - lostlogin 6y ago
      Yup. I have that on another (lower spec) nuc. I need to dive deeper on it.
- minimaul 6y ago
  How do you find the NUC for noise? I've found that the CPU fans on them are annoyingly loud, and that they are a particularly irritating shrill frequency - and that they start ramping up at relatively low CPU usage. I found going slightly bigger (around mini-ITX sized) resulted in vastly less noise, and more machine for the price.
  - lostlogin 6y ago
    I don’t have any issue and am noise sensitive. The real bugbear is the Synology that’s next to it. 16TB drives are very very noisey. They chatter constantly and it drives me mad. This may also cover the fan noise. The NUCs are in a hallway cupboard, so aren’t next to me when working and this would also lessen the noise.
    - minimaul 6y ago
      Hm, fair enough! I have a NUC8i5BEH here that is used as a linux desktop for testing and the fan spins up annoyingly often (and it's quite loud when it does). Maybe the cupboard is just enough to muffle it :)

I run a smaller homelab setup on consumer-grade hardware, and the cost of replacing failed components is usually lesser than switching to Enterprise components (where I live).

lostlogin 6y ago

One or many Intel NUCs will get you surprisingly far. Higher spec models will take a surprising 64gb of ram, and run ESXi nicely. Extra nics can be achieved with a USB dongle if wanted (a little gross) and the units fly. The higher end model has 6 cores and runs ESXi free. Licences for home usage a free for ESXi 7, although braving their website takes nerves of steel. It’s awful. For any VM that needs a GPU the NUC8 is considerably better than the 10, but has less cores. With m2 drives they fly. Bulk storage can be achieved with network storage or USB attached storage. This is all a rather dirty solution but I love my setup.

captn3m0 6y ago
I use a NUC8 as my daily driver :) Haven't tried ESXi on it yet.
- draugadrotten 6y ago
  Proxmox also works great, and is opensource.
  - lostlogin 6y ago
    Yup. I have that on another (lower spec) nuc. I need to dive deeper on it.
minimaul 6y ago
How do you find the NUC for noise? I've found that the CPU fans on them are annoyingly loud, and that they are a particularly irritating shrill frequency - and that they start ramping up at relatively low CPU usage. I found going slightly bigger (around mini-ITX sized) resulted in vastly less noise, and more machine for the price.
- lostlogin 6y ago
  I don’t have any issue and am noise sensitive. The real bugbear is the Synology that’s next to it. 16TB drives are very very noisey. They chatter constantly and it drives me mad. This may also cover the fan noise. The NUCs are in a hallway cupboard, so aren’t next to me when working and this would also lessen the noise.
  - minimaul 6y ago
    Hm, fair enough! I have a NUC8i5BEH here that is used as a linux desktop for testing and the fan spins up annoyingly often (and it's quite loud when it does). Maybe the cupboard is just enough to muffle it :)