Comment on SFF + external HDD docking station vs ATX tower w/ internal mounts for NAS?
mpramann@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
If you want to use a thinclients only a few have that little power draw I would even consider to the heart of my always-on homeserver/NAS (so pretty much only Intel NXX processor builds). There a plenty of ITX and mITX mainboard + N100 combos out there, paired with a decent NAS case you are running a cheap and expandable config. And you can easily run a lot of docker containers on there with enough RAM provided, because normally you are using only a few services at a time and for that a N100 is plenty. I would only consider those thinclients if AI is something you are planning to run.
yo_scottie_oh@lemmy.ml 1 week ago
Do you mean b/c AI would require a beefy host for the thin client to connect to?
mpramann@discuss.tchncs.de 1 week ago
No, I wrote this a bit confusingly. There a lot of these mini PCs with the same form factor as thin clients but much beefier specs. And some of these are actually build to handle AI workloads and could be a good choice if your homeserver should run such tasks. But other than that they just draw to much power. Actual thin clients usually have similar or less cpu performance than a N100 selfbuild but if you ever feel like you need more power there is no way to upgrade it but get a completely new thin client. Plus the self build will be more reliable because of the SATA connections and often has better networking.
yo_scottie_oh@lemmy.ml 1 week ago
Thanks for clarifying. If I understand correctly, you’re saying that in terms of energy usage, a thin client + external docking station for HDDs will have smaller footprint than an ITX build, but at the expense of future upgradeability. On the other hand, an ITX build draws more power, but unlocks the ability to upgrade individual components down the road. Did I get that right?