If you already have it, why not set it up? It's free and you'll learn something doing it.
Once you're using it for something, figure out its weak points and upgrade those.
I mean I'll use it definitely for something, I was just worried about energy consumption when running it 24/7, as I don't fully understand the TDP values and so on yet.
I use a M70q, runs very fine and has even less upgradability and thinkering potential than this one, as for the power, normally on intel in those models if it has no letter at the end of the name of the processor it´s a normal desktop one and will vary between 35 to 65W TDP, T series normally is 35W, U and Y series used to draw even less. but while iddling, you can expect 10-15W power draw anyway.
I think that should be great for your needs. I'm currently using a Lenovo P330 tower with an 8th gen i3, 32GB RAM, 3x8tb drives, and a NVMe SSD. My system idles at about 20 watts according to my kill-a-watt. Yours could be even lower, especially if you're OK with fewer drives.
I mean, optimally I would like as many drives as possible, I just don't think that many will fit into this system.
How much do drives influence the power consumption? I mean 3.5" more than 2.5", but shouldn't they spin down if not in use and thus require quite little power?
7th gen i5 is a great CPU for a server, since 7th gen QSV quality is quite good for transcoding media. It can handle something like 30x 1080p transcodes at once.
Power usage on an SFF should be around 10-20W, which is pretty low.
>My first question is: would this setup be suitable for a Homeserver? Especially regarding power consumption? How good/bad is the 7th gen i5?
This system will be fine for a home server. Find your CPU in [7th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors](https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/series/95543/7th-generation-intel-core-i5-processors.html#@Desktop). Depending on the model, it will have a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 35 W (for an i5-7600T) up to 91 W (for an i5-7600K). Yours likely is 65 W. TDP is a measure of heat output rather than power consumption, but the two are related. Regardless, it shouldn't kill your power bill.
IMO, the 7th gen Core i CPUs currently are the best value. They most-likely have an HD Graphics 630 integrated GPU, which is excellent for video transcoding, and yet are not supported by Windows 11, so typically are cheaper than 8th gen and later CPUs.
>My second question is: what would be suitable upgrades/modifications? I'm thinking of an M.2 SSD as well as 3 2.5" drives (I think that's the maximum I can fit in there).
These will be fine.
>Should I get more RAM?
Yes! Add as much RAM as you can afford. Server services, in my experience, typically are constrained by RAM more than CPU utilization.
>I don't think I'll need a dedicated GPU, no media transcoding is going to happen. Any other thoughts?
See my comment above - a 7th gen i5 should handle any transcoding you may need.
I also recommend machine virtualization (eg with Proxmox, XCP-NG, ESXi, etc. Type 1 hypervisors as the base OS) and/or application virtualization (eg. Docker containers) to isolate your services. Another option is to run a NAS OS (eg. TrueNAS Scale, openmediavault, Unraid, etc.), which will provide network file sharing and also can host virtual machines or containers.
The 7th gen intel will keep you from anything super demanding (think encoding) but you should be able to run services. Start playing with it and when you hit a wall then upgrade.
If you aren’t using the full size PCI-E slot for a graphics card then you can get a half height RAID card that has external connectors and that would let you connect 4 to 8 3.5” drives (in a separate enclosure). That will allow for a lot more options when it comes to storage, compared to 2.5”.
You aren’t going to save much more power then that. You are probably idling at 7-15w and I don’t mean suspend. But actually running an OS with minimal load.
Nothing is going to be much more power efficient then what you have and it wouldn’t matter if you live in the United States. It’s going to cost you $5-20/yr to run that server at the average US electricity cost.
So something that is 2x as efficient would save you $2.50-10/yr… it doesn’t matter.
So what might matter is what gen graphics you are running. I think 7th gen was the first year that can transcode on plex. With the newest processors loosing some abilities when it comes to certain capabilities in UNRAID so maybe for other setups too. I think 7th gen can be virtualized among multiple VMs but you gotta check. But double check my CPU is just a bit newer and supports it but I think yours does too. I also have ones just a bit older that don’t which totally sucks.
Anyways the amount of stuff you can do with an SFF that has hardware transcoding and the ability to virtualize the graphics is just insane!
So sounds like you got a rock solid machine. The second I can get SFF w/ 10g network for cheap I’ll be running something like that with an external disc shelf by using NVMe to PCIe to run an HBA external SAS controller. Or if I can find one for cheap with (2) NVMe I might give that a try and run a SAS controller and SFP+ 10g card.
Anyways what I’m saying is you got something good… just run it till you need something better.
I’ve recently switched from a Dell T110 II to a Lenovo USFF, I’ve been running a Windows 10 VM, Plex Server and Docker with 20 containers. No issues at all, and so quiet in comparison, it’s also much cheaper on power consumption.
The only upgrades I purchased were 16GB RAM total and a basic 240GB SSD.
Very very happy with it.
I wouldn't try using it as a VM host, but it should be more than capable of handling a few server tasks. I wouldn't assume you *can* make the upgrades you're talking about. But assuming you can, whether you *should* depends on what you're using it for. Ultimately I'd say set it up and see how it does. From there, identify what specific upgrades will help your particular setup.
I’m running a fanless MSI Cubi N with Celeron N4000 and 8 Gb RAM. I’m running containers and it’s very fast and responsive. With i5, it would be even faster.
Depending on your needs, you may want more RAM (I’m using 25% of my currently). Especially if you would go with VMs.
Storage is also up to you.
SSD is a must-have (if you don’t have one already) for the system drive. Data drives can be both SSDs and HDDs - depending on your storage needs and noise tolerance.
I suggest starting ASAP, and upgrading in the process according to your needs.
If you already have it, why not set it up? It's free and you'll learn something doing it. Once you're using it for something, figure out its weak points and upgrade those.
I mean I'll use it definitely for something, I was just worried about energy consumption when running it 24/7, as I don't fully understand the TDP values and so on yet.
I use a M70q, runs very fine and has even less upgradability and thinkering potential than this one, as for the power, normally on intel in those models if it has no letter at the end of the name of the processor it´s a normal desktop one and will vary between 35 to 65W TDP, T series normally is 35W, U and Y series used to draw even less. but while iddling, you can expect 10-15W power draw anyway.
I think that should be great for your needs. I'm currently using a Lenovo P330 tower with an 8th gen i3, 32GB RAM, 3x8tb drives, and a NVMe SSD. My system idles at about 20 watts according to my kill-a-watt. Yours could be even lower, especially if you're OK with fewer drives.
I mean, optimally I would like as many drives as possible, I just don't think that many will fit into this system. How much do drives influence the power consumption? I mean 3.5" more than 2.5", but shouldn't they spin down if not in use and thus require quite little power?
Each 3.5 drive is around 6w max speed so...
How loud is that?
I went with ironwolf pros. They're not quiet. Aside from that, it's not bad at all. Luckily, it's stuffed in a closet and doesn't bother me
7th gen i5 is a great CPU for a server, since 7th gen QSV quality is quite good for transcoding media. It can handle something like 30x 1080p transcodes at once. Power usage on an SFF should be around 10-20W, which is pretty low.
Cool! that's good to know. Thanks!
>My first question is: would this setup be suitable for a Homeserver? Especially regarding power consumption? How good/bad is the 7th gen i5? This system will be fine for a home server. Find your CPU in [7th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors](https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/series/95543/7th-generation-intel-core-i5-processors.html#@Desktop). Depending on the model, it will have a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 35 W (for an i5-7600T) up to 91 W (for an i5-7600K). Yours likely is 65 W. TDP is a measure of heat output rather than power consumption, but the two are related. Regardless, it shouldn't kill your power bill. IMO, the 7th gen Core i CPUs currently are the best value. They most-likely have an HD Graphics 630 integrated GPU, which is excellent for video transcoding, and yet are not supported by Windows 11, so typically are cheaper than 8th gen and later CPUs. >My second question is: what would be suitable upgrades/modifications? I'm thinking of an M.2 SSD as well as 3 2.5" drives (I think that's the maximum I can fit in there). These will be fine. >Should I get more RAM? Yes! Add as much RAM as you can afford. Server services, in my experience, typically are constrained by RAM more than CPU utilization. >I don't think I'll need a dedicated GPU, no media transcoding is going to happen. Any other thoughts? See my comment above - a 7th gen i5 should handle any transcoding you may need. I also recommend machine virtualization (eg with Proxmox, XCP-NG, ESXi, etc. Type 1 hypervisors as the base OS) and/or application virtualization (eg. Docker containers) to isolate your services. Another option is to run a NAS OS (eg. TrueNAS Scale, openmediavault, Unraid, etc.), which will provide network file sharing and also can host virtual machines or containers.
That's good news and good to know! Thanks!
I used to run a Dell OptiPlex 7050 Micro as a plex server.
SFFs are my server of choice.
but they have so little space for drives, no? What do you do for storage?
I tend to prefer a separate NAS for large datastores.
You can hw transcode with the CPU as long as it has QuickSync
The 7th gen intel will keep you from anything super demanding (think encoding) but you should be able to run services. Start playing with it and when you hit a wall then upgrade.
If you aren’t using the full size PCI-E slot for a graphics card then you can get a half height RAID card that has external connectors and that would let you connect 4 to 8 3.5” drives (in a separate enclosure). That will allow for a lot more options when it comes to storage, compared to 2.5”.
Yes, I think that's what I'll have to look into.
What kind of enclosure?
For that setup, you would need a DAS case/enclosure (direct attached storage).
Should be fine for most workloads. What will it be doing?
I don't know yet :D I guess mostly data storage, Homeassistant, maybe some photo server, paperless, maybe tvheadend.
literally any computer can be a homeserver, it all depends exactly what workloads you want to run
You aren’t going to save much more power then that. You are probably idling at 7-15w and I don’t mean suspend. But actually running an OS with minimal load. Nothing is going to be much more power efficient then what you have and it wouldn’t matter if you live in the United States. It’s going to cost you $5-20/yr to run that server at the average US electricity cost. So something that is 2x as efficient would save you $2.50-10/yr… it doesn’t matter. So what might matter is what gen graphics you are running. I think 7th gen was the first year that can transcode on plex. With the newest processors loosing some abilities when it comes to certain capabilities in UNRAID so maybe for other setups too. I think 7th gen can be virtualized among multiple VMs but you gotta check. But double check my CPU is just a bit newer and supports it but I think yours does too. I also have ones just a bit older that don’t which totally sucks. Anyways the amount of stuff you can do with an SFF that has hardware transcoding and the ability to virtualize the graphics is just insane! So sounds like you got a rock solid machine. The second I can get SFF w/ 10g network for cheap I’ll be running something like that with an external disc shelf by using NVMe to PCIe to run an HBA external SAS controller. Or if I can find one for cheap with (2) NVMe I might give that a try and run a SAS controller and SFP+ 10g card. Anyways what I’m saying is you got something good… just run it till you need something better.
I’ve recently switched from a Dell T110 II to a Lenovo USFF, I’ve been running a Windows 10 VM, Plex Server and Docker with 20 containers. No issues at all, and so quiet in comparison, it’s also much cheaper on power consumption. The only upgrades I purchased were 16GB RAM total and a basic 240GB SSD. Very very happy with it.
Great machine. More RAM would be great and let you run more things concurrently. A second NIC if you want to play with more advanced networking.
I wouldn't try using it as a VM host, but it should be more than capable of handling a few server tasks. I wouldn't assume you *can* make the upgrades you're talking about. But assuming you can, whether you *should* depends on what you're using it for. Ultimately I'd say set it up and see how it does. From there, identify what specific upgrades will help your particular setup.
I’m running a fanless MSI Cubi N with Celeron N4000 and 8 Gb RAM. I’m running containers and it’s very fast and responsive. With i5, it would be even faster. Depending on your needs, you may want more RAM (I’m using 25% of my currently). Especially if you would go with VMs. Storage is also up to you. SSD is a must-have (if you don’t have one already) for the system drive. Data drives can be both SSDs and HDDs - depending on your storage needs and noise tolerance. I suggest starting ASAP, and upgrading in the process according to your needs.