I have two systems that I need to replace. One is my backup server, which runs FreeBSD and uses some USB attached drives. Really that could be done with anything that is like a Pi, except amd64/x86.
The other is my pfSense router. It is having some hardware issue, which isn’t surprising, I pulled parts out of my scrap pile to make it. For that, I need something that can take an pcie card for my dual 10g network card. Does anyone have any ITX or smallish machines they like? Actual smallness doesn’t matter so much as not being expensive.
How do people go about finding things these days? I used to use newegg, but mostly now it seems to be a trap of accidentally ordering parts from the moon. Amazon is fine if you know exactly what you want already. Pcpartspicker works well, if you are building a full system from parts (which I do for bigger machines) but I don’t know where to get barebones boxes.
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You can get a Dell Optiplex 7020/9020 SFF i5 16GB RAM No HDD from the Michigan State Surplus. For me shipping was about $25 for three of them.
Dell Optipex i loaded my down with max ram and put 2x 2.5hdd and 1 14TB HDD inside. I’ll probably get a storage case for the HDD’s later.
Which one you use?
Optiplex 3070, it’s made a good box for jellyfin, truenas etc. SFF is goof for my needs but if i didnt move often i’d get a regular size to hold more HDD
Nice! I’m thinking about getting a 3040.
They are solid, the bios was my biggest surprise as there are so many settings i can tweak. Dell and Lenovo both make good boxes for homelabs and run linux well.
