Proxmox homelab advice requested - low power usage, mid performance - Which TinyMiniMicro?

[denis_tmm]

I will give it a shot and hunt for any i5-8500t I can find on ebay Germany. Seems to be a good deal for me if I can get one. In the end I don't want to throw 500€ or more on old hardware. Since it will "only" be idling most of the time persisting my homeassistant data.

 

[Marsh]

At this point in time, I would not buy any system that is not gen8 or higher CPU.

I5-8500 is quite powerfully, I run my 24x7 server using I5-8500, at least 9 dockers ( emby, 2xsabnzd , 2x sonarr, 2x radrr , 1x prowlarr ) running fulltime.

Depends on your workload, K8s or K3s cluster homelab in one physical i5--8500 hosts.

2022 Q4, There were lots of cheap I5-10xx CPU and system on US Ebay, i.e. I5-10400, I5-10500 range $75 to $100 each.
I also picked over 12 I5-10xxx CPU as well as few gen 10 systems.

Since I5-8xxx systems are working so well, I am holding off refreshing my homelab.

 

[denis_tmm]

Yeah well my workload will definitely be lower than yours. So at the moment no clustering etc. just some simple Ubuntu VMs running InfluxDB + Grafana. No fancy firewalling, router whatever custom stuff. So I will be fine with the 8500(t). I'm hunting now also on US ebay since even with customs and shipping these machines are cheaper than in Germany.

And here just some video I found about the Dell Optiplex 5060 SFFs internals:

Looks pretty nice and and fits nicely in my rack without taking too much space.

@Marsh One question which 2,5G or 10G nics would you get for this limited height in the Dell machine?

 

[Marsh]

FYI,
US Ebay new listing today. In case anyone interest.

Dell OptiPlex 5060 | Intel i5-8500 3.0GHz | 8GB RAM | 2TB HDD, No OS ( 3 available )
$129 with Best Offer , free shipping
Dell OptiPlex 5060 | Intel i5-8500 3.0GHz | 8GB RAM | 2TB HDD, No OS | eBay

 

[denis_tmm]

FYI,
US Ebay new listing today. In case anyone interest.

Dell OptiPlex 5060 | Intel i5-8500 3.0GHz | 8GB RAM | 2TB HDD, No OS ( 3 available )
$129 with Best Offer , free shipping
Dell OptiPlex 5060 | Intel i5-8500 3.0GHz | 8GB RAM | 2TB HDD, No OS | eBay

Ahhhhh NO NO NO

 

[Parallax]

I put photos of one of my P350s on the Tiny reference thread - i5-11500, 64GB RAM, 3 drives, 3 NICs (inc 2x 10GbE), all in a 1L box.

I'm making a slow migration from xcp-ng to LXD on Ubuntu server, and also for various technical reasons moving as many of my Docker containers to Linux Containers as I can. It's a really interesting project and there's a lot of things I'm learning, which is great.

 

[T_Minus]

4 x Dell 7070 I5-9500T , 32gb ram mini cluster + 1 Lenovo M720q ( I5-8500 ) + 8 port switch
Proxmox 7.2 idle
All Dell 7070 mini + M720q + switch = 14-18w

That's what I'm working on got a variety of those lil guys here i'm tinkering with to see which I like best.

So far @Marsh do you have a favorite? Dell? Lenovo? HP?

 

[Marsh]

I try not paying higher premium for I5-9xxxx , only 5% higher performance for 10-20% higher price

Lenovo supply is limited, with PCIe slots features , easy acess , demand is higher, therefore price is higher.

HP is nice, price is reasonable. Elite class is higher price, sometimes seller would priced same as Prodesk class.
Elite class offers full vpro and amt support. Prodesk offers partial amt support.

Dell is easier to find a a good deal, I purchased few Dell mini still with 2 years warranty left.
Dell 70xx is the same class as HP Elite series. Full vpro and AMT
Dell 50xx is simiar to HP Pro series, limited Intel AMT , no vpro

Last week, purchased a Dell 5090 I5-10500T with 16gb ram, 500gb Samsung SSD, for $180 + $20 shipping.

Dell 50xx series only have 1 m.2 slot, not 2 x m2.slot like Dell 70xx series.

I brought a 2TB m.2 nvme for $110 at amazon, 2TB SATA SSD at Newegg for $90.
Plan is use nvme for OS and VM , 2TB SATA SSD for mass storage

 

[denis_tmm]

Perhaps I didn't read it but does the Dell Optiplex 5060 SFF with its i5-8500 draw more power than the Lenovo M720q with its i5-8500t? I know TDP 35W vs 65W but does it really matter in reality?

 

[Marsh]

Idle power always the same 1-2watt difference.

I5-8500 get the job done faster , higher performance , then CPU back to idle state faster.

You could always installed a T version in 65w motherboard.

Dell Optiex 5050 SFF with I5-8500 , with 1 Samsung nvme SSD , 2 fans, Proxmox 7.x idle at 10-11w

 

[denis_tmm]

Thank you very much. Which NICs would you get for the Dell SFF system if you need a second faster NIC in addition to the 1 standard 1Gbit NIC?

 

[bigfellasdad]

Are you taking the 2TB SATA SSD electronics out of their case to make it fit?

Yes, and I have stuck rubber stips on the drive to ensure nothing touches it and allows some air flow. As i said, its not pretty

 

[bigfellasdad]

some great micro low power labs here guys, well done! Im going down this route, ive got ml150/dl380 gen9's in my loft gathering dust....simply no need in a home lab.

 

[Marsh]

Someone brought all 3 Dell 5060 full price.
Anyone here ?

 

[rub1k]

@denis_tmm Here's an Optiplex 7050 Micro (i5-6500/8GB/256GB) for $149.99... although shipping to Germany looks to be about $59 (ouch). Same seller also has a 7050 with i5-6500T (35W model) for $139.99. Hmm. Kind of tempted to grab one myself since US shipping is free. Haha.

 

[denis_tmm]

@rub1k Yeah well the i5-6500 models are available in Germany as well for quite the same price. But I'm now looking for the i5-8500(t) ones here. At the moment I got one offer for a 180€ quite barebone Dell Optiplex 5060 SFF. I know that it is still above the us prices but I think I will get this one.

 

[rub1k]

Understood. Sounds good. The i5-8500 vs. i5-6500 should be a nice upgrade, definitely. Sounds like worth the extra cost upfront.

 

[denis_tmm]

Thank you very much. Which NICs would you get for the Dell SFF system if you need a second faster NIC in addition to the 1 standard 1Gbit NIC?

This is the only thing that is open for me now. My only requirement would be that it works with Proxmox.

 

[bigfellasdad]

@rub1k Yeah well the i5-6500 models are available in Germany as well for quite the same price. But I'm now looking for the i5-8500(t) ones here. At the moment I got one offer for 180€ quite barebone Dell Optiplex 5060 SFF. I know that it is still above the us prices but I think I will get this one.

The SFF is desktop so you can get a few drives in as well if you need. They do take a few more watts, but if you are careful with additional cards etc, the CPU should go deep c-state so keeping things nice at idle. Ensure deep sleep state is enabled in S4 and S5, turn OFF WOL if you dont need it either. the i5-8500's has integrated gpu so no need for a GPU, so all good.

 

[bigfellasdad]

This is the only thing that is open for me now. My only requirement would be that it works with Proxmox.

A single additional NIC? I have found the USB realtek nics work fine, if going for a PCIe card, enure it allows low power states as the pc has ASPM.