I’ve been happily using a Synology DS220+ for about four years now, upgraded with an additional 8GB of RAM, and it’s been running flawlessly. However, I’ve started hitting some limitations:
Software constraints: Synology’s ecosystem feels restrictive—Docker is often outdated (v24 just arrived, despite being EOL for a year), and I’ve encountered bugs like snmpd consuming 50% CPU even when disabled.
Hardware Limitations: No room for a GPU (for transcoding), RAM quirks with the 2+8GB setup, and RAID options capped at mirroring.
Learning Goals: I’d love to dive deeper into Proxmox and virtualization.
Currently, my NAS handles two main tasks:
Hosting ~20 lightweight containers (mostly web services/sites).
Storing backups of critical files.
I’m a developer and comfortable with hardware (I’ve built my own gaming/work PCs), but I’m not confident enough to assemble a server without expert input. I’d love recommendations for a homelab setup with these requirements:
Proxmox-ready (to host 2-3 VMs, plus 1 VM for “a lot” of containers, including some CI/CD runners, etc.)
Upgrade friendly: GPU support for Jellyfin transcoding, expandable storage, scalable RAM
Eventually run Collabora/OpenCloud with 5-20 concurrent users
CPU: I think AMD offers better power efficiency and price-to-performance value, and their CPUs tend to have lower TDP. Is that accurate?
CPU cooler : i have no clue to be honest
MOBO: I selected it by filtering for ATX, AM5, 2.5GbE, and at least 4 SATA ports. Any recommendations?
RAM: I chose this kit to be able to double up if needed.
Storage: I went with WD Blue CMR drives because I’ve used them in my PC and Synology NAS without issues, and I like their storage-to-cost ratio. Is this a bad choice? Any recommendations?
Case: It has to be white (household rules!) and support multiple 3.5" drives.
PSU: I already have a be quiet! unit—it’s been reliable. Is the wattage overkill for this build?
Thank you for taking the time to read through this. I really appreciate any advice on how I could improve the build!
Motherboard - I’ve been using mostly Gigabyte boards the past few years and I’m pretty happy with them. This one gives you 2x CPU-connected m.2 slots which is a big plus for a home server.
PSU - Honestly, you’re probably stuck with overkill no matter what.
Transcoding - I don’t use Jellyfin, but it looks like there’s AMD integrated GPU transcoding support, so you may not need a separate GPU. Intel’s integrated CPU graphics are also well supported and work great. Honestly though, most media server clients don’t require transcoding these days. They can play lots of formats natively.
Motherboard - Someone did recommend me the Asus Proart B650-Creator to get more PCIe available and because it has good IOMMU grouping. I’m still trying to figure out what I want there.
Memory - Thanks for advice, I recon that I forget the Minecraft server when evaluating my choices lmao.
Storage - I did figure out tonight while falling asleep that I actually was a shitty idea and tought about 2x 8TB WD Red Pro 7200 rpm to get more room and slightly more speed. I’ll probably install proxmox on a small separate m2 SSD, but I’d honestly do not feel like I want to spend more 2 times more $ per TB to completely get rid of HDDs. The Synology will stays as offsite backup device, yes.
Transcoding - Thanks for the infos, I’ll dig more into it to figure out how it work and what I need.