Why a NUC or Mini PC is ideal for your homelab: 5 reasons!
Summary
- Mini PCs and NUCs offer great potential in a small form factor. 🌟
- These systems are affordable and perfect for most homelab tasks. 💰
- Mini PCs have enough power to handle real-world workloads, are often user-upgradable, and are ideal for learning and experimenting. 🔧
If you don't have the space (or budget!) for giant servers to run your homelab, then a mini PC or NUC might be your best option. These compact systems are small in size but pack enough power to handle most homelab tasks without any hassle. 💪
Small Format, Big Potential
Sometimes bigger isn't necessarily better; sometimes, the best option is simply going smaller. 🐭
My homelab is full of large machines. I have rack-mounted servers with many cores, lots of RAM, and a lot of heat. However, one of my servers is completely unnecessary and could easily be replaced with a smaller, more powerful, and energy-efficient machine. 🔋
You can get a NUC or mini PC relatively cheaply, whether new, used, or even refurbished. Most homelab tasks don't require 40 cores or 192GB of RAM. That's when choosing a mini PC or NUC (or even several of each) becomes very useful. 🖥️
In addition to being compact and affordable systems, they're extremely small. My servers are about 30 inches deep and 20 inches wide, make a lot of noise, and consume a lot of power. A NUC, or mini PC, is ultra-small, extremely quiet (if not completely silent), and super powerful. 🚀
Dell OptiPlex 7060
The Dell OptiPlex 7060 mini desktop PC is a great choice for your home or office. It features an 8th Gen i5 processor, allowing it to run Windows 11 Pro right out of the box. It comes with 16GB of DDR4 RAM and a 256GB SSD, and is easily upgradeable if you need to upgrade its capacity in the future. 📈
Another great thing about mini PCs and NUCs is that they're typically user-upgradable. While you might buy a system with 24GB of RAM and 128GB of NVMe storage, upgrading it is usually a fairly straightforward process. 🔧
Some models even feature a PCIe slot so you can add extra features like more storage, faster networking, or even a low-profile graphics card. 🎮
Personally, I'm looking to replace my Dell R720 with one (or more) mini PCs in the future. I love how powerful these compact systems are, and they're ideal for running the applications I need for my job. 🎉
Powerful Enough for Real-World Workloads in the Homelab
NUCs and mini Modern PCs have great performance. There are models with Core Ultra 9 processors and up to 96GB of DDR5 RAM, and even more modest models with Intel N processors and 16GB of RAM. 💻💨
Beelink GTi14 Mini PC
The Beelink GTi14 Mini PC is a compact, high-performance desktop computer. With the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor, which features 16 cores, 22 threads, and a clock speed of 5.1 GHz, it has more than enough power to handle your daily tasks. It comes with 32 GB of DDR5 RAM, but it's upgradeable to 96 GB if you need more. It also includes a 1 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, which can be replaced if you need more storage. 🔥
Whether you buy new or used systems, there's usually enough power to run most of the software you'll need in your homelab. 🛠️
Some services, such as certain game servers, may require a lot of resources. For example, Ark: Survival Evolved It requires 16GB of RAM just for itself. So you won't be able to run it on a low-resource system. 🚫
However, for servers of Minecraft, Calibre, Plex, web services, and more—you can opt for a mini PC from a few years ago and be happy. Newer systems are great, but they're not essential. ✔️
Make sure the system you buy will meet your needs. If you're looking for budget-friendly options, Facebook Marketplace is a great place to find used mini PCs. I regularly find older Dell, Lenovo, or HP models for around $14T50 each that feature 6th-generation i5 processors or newer. While this won't run Windows 11, it will run a Linux server just fine. 🐧
GMKtec G3 Plus
The GMKtec G3 Plus mini PC is perfect for those on a budget. With a 3.4 GHz quad-core Intel N150 processor and 8 GB of DDR4 RAM, this compact system offers excellent performance for its price. It also features a 256 GB M.2 NVMe SSD, which is upgradeable if you need more storage in the future. Plus, this system has enough power to run parts of your homelab and is extremely efficient, as the N150 is a very power-efficient processor. 🌱
Speaking of Plex, if the NUC or mini PC you get has integrated Intel graphics, it will even handle transcoding without the need for a secondary graphics card. By using something like Docker as your application host, that iGPU can also be shared between different apps, like Scrypted or Frigate for AI detection. If the integrated graphics card isn't enough, some mini PCs, like the Beelink GTi14, support external graphics docking stations, so you can supply your own GPU for use with the micro desktop. 🎨
Opting for a mini PC or NUC is a step up from a Pi, not a step down in terms of power. You can truly get desktop-level power from these compact systems, especially if you max them out. 💻⚡
Mini PCs and NUCs are Ideal for Learning, Experimenting and Scaling
One of the best parts of opting for a mini PC or NUC for your homelab is how easy they are to use. It's simply a small computer, without the hassle of a full server. My servers can be a real pain sometimes, as they're more demanding on the hardware that goes into them. I had one server that wouldn't boot because of a PCIe drive that worked in other computers. 🤯
GEEKOM AE7 Mini PC
The GEEKOM AE7 mini PC is a compact gaming computer that packs a lot of power into a surprisingly small size. 🎮
A mini PC or NUC is simple to use, easy to install, and easy to maintain. You can install the operating system without any problems and try out different systems. Want to connect something? Just do it. Need to perform maintenance? You won't have to carry out an 80-pound monster that's almost 3 feet tall. 🔄
This makes learning, experimenting, and simply working with NUCs and mini PCs much easier. Plus, they're affordable. Brand-new mid-range NUCs typically cost around £14T250 and offer excellent performance. 💵
Beelink S13 PRO
The Beelink Mini S13 Pro is an ultra-compact computer powered by the Intel N150 processor. With 16GB of DDR4 RAM and a 500GB SSD, this micro desktop is perfect for a variety of workloads. From running simple server programs to replacing your old PC, the Beelink S13 Pro complies your goal. 💼
One of the reasons I'm considering using mini PCs in my homelab in the future is simply scalability. My current server setup takes up a lot of space, produces a lot of heat, and consumes a lot of power. 🌡️
Adding more servers to play with high availability isn't feasible at this time. However, adding one or two mini PCs would have a minimal impact on heat output and power consumption, but would allow me to easily enter the high availability realm. ⚙️
If you're buying a mini PC to run Linux, which is what most homelabs use, be sure to keep these five factors in mind. Once you're up and running, here are my 10 favorite Docker containers that I think every homelab should have. 🚀
