[neogodless]

I've self-hosted web apps (typically IIS and SQL Server) for over 20 years.

While using desktops for this has sometimes been nice, the big things I want out of a server are

- low power usage when running 24/7

- reliable operation

- quiet operation

- performance but they don't need much

So I've had dual Xeon servers and 8-core Ryzen servers but my favorites are a miniForums with a mobile Ryzen quad core, and my UGREEN NAS. They check all the boxes for server / NAS. Plus both were under $300 before upgrades / storage drives.

Often my previous gaming desktop sells for a lot more than that ... I just sold my 4 year old video card for $220. Not sure what the rest of the machine will be used for, but it's not a good server because the 12-core CPU simply isn't power efficient enough.

[Marsymars]

> So I've had dual Xeon servers and 8-core Ryzen servers but my favorites are a miniForums with a mobile Ryzen quad core, and my UGREEN NAS.

I just ordered my first minisforum box (MS-02 Ultra) to serve as my main storage NAS + homelab... first time ordering any of these Chinese boxes, but nothing else checked off all he requirements I had as well as it. Hopefully works out well for me.

[newsclues]

Find a cheap low power CPU to swap in. Or tune it in BIOS to use less power (some CPUs have an eco mode that make this easy).

Sell the gaming GPU and put in something that does video out, or use a CPU with an iGPU.

Big gaming cases with quiet fans are quiet.

Selling the GPU and tuning or swapping the CPU can put money in your pocket to pay for storage.

[neogodless]

It is water-cooled and whisper quiet aside from the GPU fans. So yes there are options.. but right now selling the RAM alone might pay for a whole mini-server. I'm going to try to sell it locally to a PC gamer though, get some proper use out of it!

[whatevaa]

Server boards (like with xeons) won't have eco modes and will not be made for such use case. Nor server cpus. Idle servers are wasted money, so they are not designed for such use cases.

Big case also means big space.

[Kirby64]

This is literally impossible with most server grade stuff. It’ll never be as efficient as the low power modern stuff.

[infecto]

Agree and and I wonder what the cost tradeoff is using your old hardware or buying new power efficient equipment. I even recently thought about buying a mac mini to use as a home server.

[NIckGeek]

I feel like ARM wins over even a mobile x86 chip here, right? Like a base Mac Mini sounds ideal.

[neogodless]

I would imagine so depending on software / use case.

I run Windows Server 2022 to support IIS / SQL Server so it's not a perfect fit for me personally, but I suspect for many home servers or NAS setup it would work well.

[hexbin010]

The UGREEN NAS OS doesn't do encryption right?

[neogodless]

Well that isn't on my checklist!

https://www.reddit.com/r/UgreenNASync/comments/1nr2j39/encry...

It's possible because you can install a different OS, TrueNAS, etc. but it's not something I personally worry about.

[kotaKat]

As a DXP2800 owner with TrueNAS: TrueNAS is so nice on the 2800 for my needs.

It's even relatively straightforward: start it up with a keyboard and video attached, enter the BIOS, and turn off the watchdog settings. I'd also recommend turning off the onboard eMMC altogether for the following FYI.

Just FYI: If you blow away the UGREEN OS off the eMMC, restoring it requires opening a support ticket with them, and it's some weird dance to restore it because apparently they've locked down their 'custom' Debian just enough for 'their' hardware.

As per someone on a Facebook group, "you CANNOT share the file as their system logs once you restore your device and flags it as used. It will fail the hardware test if the firmware has been installed again".

[whitehexagon]

Thanks, I've been tempted, but wasnt sure if they work 'local only' and without app, and this sounds like it dials home? Anyway seems like a long wait list for suitable HDD will save my money for now. Plus I was a little more tempted by their Arm offering.

[kotaKat]

Ah, no -- the "watchdog" here is basically a system hardware watchdog. The OS 'feeds' the watchdog in the BIOS every X amount of time, if the dog isn't 'fed' in Y time, the computer will fully reboot itself (assuming it crashed).

Because I've installed something that can't feed the watchdog, I just turn the watchdog off.

Their OS install crap, I assume they're just trying to make sure that you can't try to put it on your own hardware (sort of like how people pirate Synology DiskStation).

[moondev]

> They check all the boxes for server / NAS

I was pretty disappointed to find out that none of the ms-01 ms-a1 or ms-a2 have a ATX power button header. This means you need to solder wires to the tiny tactile switch and connect those to something like a pi-kvm to get true power control/status and ipmi/redfish

Just seems like something simple they could have easily included if they wanted to really target the homelab space

[oso2k]

Wake-on-LAN not available to you?