I’m finally getting around to migrating my OMV-based NAS from its current “2014 Mac Mini + USB multi-drive enclosure” setup to a newer and more reliable that doesn’t rely on USB. But I’m torn on CPU choice.

The “new” system is based on Intel 7th gen hardware, since that’s what the majority of my whole homelab runs (with zero complaints). The motherboard is an Asus Prime Q270M-C, meant for more commercial applications, and supports Intel’s vPro/AMT/ME/whatever it’s called (“vPro” from here onward) OOB management setup. I would really like to utilize vPro since I’m familiar with it and most of my machines have this enabled (and not accessible from outside my LAN).

The only compatible 7th gen CPUs with vPro are the i5-7500/T, i5-7600/T, and i7-7700/T. All are cheap (≤$50), easy to find on eBay, and I have no issues using the 35W T SKU. That said - I have a spare, yet perfectly functional Pentium G4560T sitting on my desk, but the only reason I haven’t installed it yet is because it doesn’t support vPro. I also have a 6th gen i5 (which is compatible with the Asus mobo) in an unused 7060SFF somewhere, but I don’t think it’s a model that supports vPro. I should check…

Anyway, I have some options:

  1. Use the G4560T and deal with no vPro.
  2. Swap the G4560T for the i7-7700T currently installed in my HA instance (Lenovo M710q), but then deal with virtually zero CPU overhead in HA.
  3. Buy an i5-7500/7500T
  4. Buy an i5-7600/7600T
  5. Buy an i7-7700/7700T

I don’t have an issue with any of these options, even losing vPro is something I can deal with. But I like having overhead, and hate having extra hardware laying around.

What say the Lemmings?

P.S.: For those interested, this is the planned NAS build.