I am currently in the inital stages of planning a home server mostly for media and potentially pfsense, but i am also thinking maybe i could build it so i can run a windows VM for to replace my desktop machine with GPU passthrough etc to avoid running 2 systems.

If i was going to do this, would i be better off going for something like a xeon or threadripper chip or would a consumer chip like an intel i7/9 or a ryzen be sufficient? I am also considering the form factor, as i would need several hard drive slots for the media storage, I was considering like a 4U rack mount, or a larger desktop case, as these would assist with the cooling of the gpu etc. If i can reuse parts from my current gaming build that would be ideal (AIO cpu cooler 360mm for example)

I havent ordered anything yet, so i am open to anything, i would also consider an external storage solution to make the server smaller, but i am concerned about noise, i will be sitting in the same room as the rack, and while i wear headphones most of the time i dont want to be deafened by it when im not.

Hopefully that makes sense?

Edit: Sorry i should have also mentioned i currently have a triple slot GPU that i would be planning to include as well, just for the form factor question. (336mm long)

  • marc45ca@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    consumer AMD/Intel chips will offer better performance than the Xeons and use less power doing so.

    4RU rack mount case will give you more options with GPU because they can take full height cards (well maybe not a 4090).

    Case height with 4RU will allow you about 155mm of height to fit your cooling solution/

    Will also you to have a number of drives and use 80 and 120mm fans which will be quieter.