Building the Homelab Server: Hardware Choices and Why

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

As I said, the homelab project isn’t static. However, this is the current hardware snapshot, if you will.

Main server (custom build):

Case: Jonsbo N4, with a custom 3D-printed front intake for two extra fans, improving airflow and cooling for the HDD bay
CPU: Ryzen 5 5650G PRO APU (6C/12T). Specifically chose the PRO variant for ECC support
Cooler: Noctua NH-L9x65
Motherboard: ASRock B550 Pro4, known and proven to work with unbuffered ECC RAM
RAM: 2x 32 GB DDR4
Boot/OS drive: Crucial MX500 250 GB, running Proxmox VE
PVE storage: 1.8 TB Kioxia Exceria Plus G2 SSD
TrueNAS OS drive: WD SN730 1 TB, passed through to the TrueNAS VM
TrueNAS storage: 4x 4 TB Toshiba N300 HDDs, passed through to the TrueNAS VM
PSU: Seasonic Gold 550W, roughly 50W idle draw
NICs: Intel I225-V (vmbr0) and Intel I226-V (dedicated backup NIC, vmbr1). Both added after disabling the onboard Realtek chip, which proved unreliable on Proxmox and isn’t worth the risk in a real testing environment
HBA: LSI SAS2008, passed through to the TrueNAS VM
Zigbee: Sonoff USB MG24 controller, passed through to Home Assistant

Now I want to explain the rationale behind each hardware choice, so I decided to make this its own post. The main homelab writeup would get too large otherwise, and it’s easy to lose focus along the way.

My Homelab

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Overview

I’m a firm believer in experience gained by breaking things, working through failures, and solving problems under real constraints, with real ownership of the decisions.

The homelab idea was introduced to me by r/homelab and a few other forums, including Tom Lawrence’s, a very technical community.

For context: my current setup is a rework of a previous build. Below I’ll detail the actual hardware choices, the struggles along the way, and the real-world constraints behind them.

Hardware on polar-node // runbooks

Building the Homelab Server: Hardware Choices and Why

My Homelab

Overview