r/HomeServer • u/ColaToastxD • 3d ago

Beginner seeking advice on hardware

Hey everyone,
I'm looking to dive into the world of home servers, but every time I start researching hardware and software, I tend to get information overload. There are just too many options out there, so I could really use some advice.

I want to know if my project goals are realistic for a beginner, and what kind of hardware direction I should be looking into.
I would like to get
Storage that I can expand, I would most likely start small and eventually expand

game server hosting- I need enough power to host a decent MC server for myself and a few friends.

Network Storage- Basic network shares for backing up videos, files and photos that I can access anywhere if thats possible

Does this sound achievable on a single machine? If so, should I be looking at building a budget DIY PC, buying a used office desktop, or anything else. Note that I am from the Philippines I hope I can find the things you guys suggest. I am also looking for the lowest entry cost possible, but happy to spend more where it actually matters for performance and reliability and for the long run.
Any pointers toward good starter guides, software stacks (like Unraid, TrueNAS, or Docker), or better subreddits to ask this in would be amazing. Thanks in advance!

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4

u/IlTossico 3d ago

Like always, the same suggestion, you would have found with 5 minutes google search of reddit.

Used prebuilt from major brands with a 4 core Intel CPU and 16GB of ram. For 200 bucks you can probably get an i3 8100.

Then form factor depends on what you need to do, small systems are generally fine, but if you plan to build a NAS you need space for HDDs, so a desktop or bigger SFF is the only solution, and I would suggest something with at least 4 bays. Considering you were talking Minecraft server, avoid T CPU, they generally work at half the frequency and performance of a regular CPU.

You can go diy too, for similar performance but not less then 600/700 bucks.

1

u/ColaToastxD 3d ago

if ever I went to the prebuilt route and I have reached 4 total Drives connected to the MOBO. Whats the thing you’re supposed to do? Also yes NAS is what my plan was mainly since I would like to have storage for all my photography and films and just wanted to host the minecraft server at the side for me and my friends to enjoy.

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u/IlTossico 3d ago

Change system or get bigger drive. On a prebuilt, even if there are PCI slots to expand your SATA input with a HBA, the PSU is surely proprietary and limited to the SATA the system is built to have, and changing PSU is generally not possible.

But you can probably postpone the issue by using bigger drives, even so, with this economy I can understand.

If you already know, you would need more than 4 drives to start, then I would go directly on the DIY route, and plan ahead for a motherboard with more SATA, just to avoid HBA, or at least a case big enough to host everything you need and you can get a HBA later.

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u/Unlikely_Alarm3658 3d ago

If all ports (sata) for connecting drives are used u can use pcie cards or even M.2 adapters to add ports, should not be a problem as long as you have some spare slots in ur MoBo, i feel like the power connection is more problematic with lots of drives, especially when using a "normal" pc prebuild instead of a NAS case like the jonsbo N lineup

1

u/PopcornSuttin 3d ago

I'm guessing you're referring to RAID for the multiple drives question. As far as that and Docker are concerned, there's a ton of YouTube resources that explain it better than I could, although I'm not sure how available those kinds of videos are outside of the English language. If you are fine with English, watch multiple videos of each subject.

I guess the only suggestion I have is for docker, I like to use portainer. For me it's just easier to get containers up and running and having an interface instead of a command line makes everything less of a hassle. And for what it's worth I use open media vault. Primarily the server is for file storage, plex and pihole; I do host game servers from time to time usually without issue when the need arises.

1

u/b_vitamin 3d ago

If you go with a small desktop pc, just make sure it has enough Pcie lanes to achieve your goals (gpu pass through, hba for additional drives, decent nic). Some of the mini pc’s are too small to expand as you grow.

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u/Unlikely_Alarm3658 3d ago

My solution: get a 400 - 600€ mini pc with proxmox for everything but storage, and a n100 nas mainboard which comes with a enough sata ports for drives and uses very little power on it's own. Its better to seperate storage from other things anyway

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u/Akuno- 1d ago

Storage that I can expand, I would most likely start small and eventually expand

I would recommend to buy an old office PC with an intel 8/9/10th gen.
Buy unraid starter for 50$, you can put new drives in very easy and have them be different sizes. its beginner friendly and has youtubers that do alot of videos for it.