It’s $400 before tax with no SSD or RAM, so I’d need to get SSD, RAM and HDDs. What’s your thoughts on the specs at that cost? As the other comments point out, its an AM4, so it might make more sense to build something instead!

That’s actually a good call. Does it make more sense for me to look for a AM5 system and future proof with DDR5?

Thanks for the heads up…

• I would go with no RAM and no SSD, install something I buy myself
• Noticed that and it was brought up in a video, is it critical for a home server to have hot swappable drives?
• I’m sure the Mac Mini is probably using over 15W right now, but I don’t know for certain. Any good ways to test outside of buying some hardware?

Most of the videos I’ve seen online are using Proxmox which is my goal. Just trying to decide if $400 before tax without any memory or storage is a good deal or if I should just build a box.

Thanks for the heads up, my Mini’s NIC is totally F’d so I’m using a USB adapter, I’d like to avoid having to do that again, but the WTR Pro does have 2 RJ45 Ethernet ports which is better than the Mini has.

Good call and good to hear you’ve not heard anything bad about the brand. Going to use it as a NAS, few VMs (Debian with Docker and NixOS dev env) and a Plex LXC (might move to Docker), but I aim to move my PiHole to it and want to try more distros in test environments. Biggest reason for an upgrade is the potential to transcode more content, the Mini struggles (fine on Direct Play) and also the NIC is flakey so it’s using a USB adapter right now. I probably borked it replacing the HDD with a SSD, it was a nightmare to open. Not sure if I’m ready to pull the trigger, but if my hardware died, I’d maybe go this route!

Wholeheartedly agree with everyone else on the email. I’ve worked IT in a range of different sized businesses. The hardest one to date was the super paranoid place that insisted on hosting email. It’s an absolute pain to maintain and can be an unnecessary security risk for a few bucks!

Gonna be following this posts comments for some tips! I’m running Proxmox on an old 2012 Mac Mini which I’ve Frankenstein’d with an SSD and RAM as much as I can, the NIC is dead and I’ve resorted to USB Ethernet. I’ve not messed with exposing my server externally, I’m intrigued but also have a router with OVPN VPN network capability. I use a LXC for Plex (Debian) and a VM (Debian again) with Docker installed. Docker runs Haugene (look it up for VPN torrents), Screeps server and WikiJS. I have a Raspberry Pi 3B running PiHole, might set it up as a backup and use the Proxmox server as the primary. But I’m definitely ready for new hardware soon and I’d like to look into NAS storage, right now I’m using a rather sketch 4TB external USB drive for media (shit I don’t care about).

Relevant log outputs for anyone intrigued

NETDEV WATCHDOG: enp1s0f0 (tg3): transmit queue 0 timed out

tg3 0000:01:00.0 enp1s0f0: transmit timed out, resetting

Link is down... Link is up at 1000 Mbps, full duplex

Thank you @CurbsTickle@lemmy.world

I’ll probably spring for the Anker USB-A adapter, it’ll be useful to have any way.

After days of testing, a mix of Direct Playing 4K DoVi/HDR10 (HEVC Main 10) on my 4K Apple TV and different media on other devices during the day and constant ping, mtr and iperf3across devices, I’ve determined this problem is totally random lol! Went 48 hours of TBs transferred between devices with iperf and a day of content playing, no problem, then randomly I’ll see Link is down on the NIC and I can’t ping it until it comes back up like it did this morning.

Might find a Linux community to share my syslog and see if any other suggestions for troubleshooting exist and make sure it isn’t something else with my network/unmanaged switches. But I might be burning time/energy on broken hardware and time to give up on it.

@phanto@lemmy.ca I’ll see if era ships to the US and make sure to be extra cautious of the listing description. Might also see if I can find a US equivalent.

Fell down a hole looking at the Optiplex machines last night. My desk is tiny and I’m already rocking this Mac Mini, a Mac Studio, work laptop and a pi3B running PiHole. So I’m leaning towards a micro, although I might be able to get away with a small form factor instead. I also have a MBP (“Core i7” 2.8 15" Early 2013) that I could wipe and use as a temporary measure while I save for something new. Also bought a pi4B with 4GB of RAM laying around and not used, so I could always split up services, whack Plex on the Studio and use what I’ve got for a while longer.

Right now I might go with @phanto@lemmy.ca suggestion to find a USB NIC adapter to keep this beast running or at least determine if it’s just the NIC and not the board. Any suggestions for a Debian friendly USB to ethernet adapter appreciated. I also have the Apple thunderbolt to ethernet adapter, might keep trying to get that working. Not seen a single dropped ping overnight with the builtin NIC, so it appears to be super intermittent or when I start to watch something on Plex.

I’m putting some money aside for an 10th or 11th gen i7 at minimum, I feel like I’d like the option for 4K transcoding if needed. Looks like I can put a 2.5" SATA in a micro (7090?), which would be awesome seeing as I have a SATA 1TB SSD in the mini right now I’d like to cannibalize.

My wife and I have had some bad experiences with Ebay in the past, but I’m willing to go back if I can find a good deal on an off lease Optiplex. Any other suggestions on places to look for off lease options that I can hopefully trust (US)?

Also please be brutally honest if you think I should just get a 6-8th gen Optiplex and not bother with the newer CPU. Outside of Plex and torrents, I’d like to eventually run Node.js, VSC Code Server, Pi-hole, home assistant, some storage or cloud access and a Screeps Server. Also playing with Blender, but I doubt I’ll be able to do much with rendering with any of these machines.

Not a lame suggest at all, this is probably saner option than me throwing $$$ on an 11th gen i7. Doing some research and I’m curious if you have a recommendation on adapter? I know the ASIX AX88179 is suggested and the Plugable adapter uses that chipset. I’d prefer to get something I know will work plug and play, then I can continue testing to ensure it’s just the NIC and nothing else. I also have an Apple Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter, I’ve not invested too much effort into troubleshooting, it doesn’t seem to work natively out the box with Proxmox/Debian.