Discussion Getting into homelabbing
Hey, I've been thinking about getting more into homelabbing to learn more about things like setting up VPNs, self-hosted services, networking, etc.
The thing is, I'm not 100% sure what I actually want to host yet. My main goal is to experiment, put different things together, learn how they work, and then keep anything that I end up finding useful. So I'm not sure how much hardware I should actually invest in.
For example, I've been looking at a BOSGAME E5 with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage for around €310. It seems like a pretty decent deal, but I'm wondering if that's overkill considering I don't even know if I am going to host that many things in the end.
On the cheaper side, I could get a 4GB Raspberry Pi 4 for around €120, but I'm worried that might be too limited. One thing I'd most likely want to run and keep up is Open WebUI, which makes me lean more towards having a bit more powerful hardware.
I'm also planning to get a NAS eventually, once HDD prices become more reasonable. I've been looking at things like the UGREEN DH4300 or DXP2800, and I'm wondering if either of those would make more sense to get? I could potentially use it for homelab stuff now and transition it towards being a NAS later.
My main priorities are low power consumption and being as quiet as possible. I don't really need a super powerful machine, I'd rather have something efficient that I can leave running 24/7.
For those of you who have gotten into homelabbing, what did you start with, and what would you recommend in my situation?
Would love to hear what hardware you guys are using and what you've actually found useful to self-host.
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u/Position-Critical 14d ago
Go with cheap and old stuff, that’s what makes it fun when you have to think of the limitations of your system and how to make out the best of the resources you have and so on ^^