geerlingguy / geerlingguy/mini-rack

Looking for low-power parts to functionally replace my full-sized rack

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Description

Hi, really nice to see this project.

I'm getting into the world of low-powered devices and I'm interested in pulling the least amount of power. I noticed a mini-rack would be perfect for that.

Currently I have a full-sized rack but now I only live with my partner, so I feel we don't need much for 2 people. My current parts and their idle usage:

- Router: BKHD N100 x86 with OPNsense with 2 SFP ONTs (dual-WAN) -> 20W
- Switch: Ubiquiti 24-port PoE switch (USW-24-POE) with 2 cameras and 1 TP-link AP connected -> 20W
- Proxmox Host: BKHD N100 x86 with 5 containers + 2 VMs -> 15W
- NAS: BKHD N100 x86 with 4 3.5 HDDs -> 35W

In total I'm pulling around 100W average.

I later learned these Chinese BKHD motherboards do a bad job at putting the N100 in lower power C-states but I had already bought them, so I feel with the proper hardware I can do with much less power.

I'm using 8 switch ports, and while OPNsense is cool I feel OpenWRT (ARM) is fine enough. For Proxmox I'd still like x86 though, and a battery backup would be nice as power outages are common where I live (South American countryside).

So far I've looked at:

- Router: NanoPi R6S with OpenWRT ARM + 2 Unifi ONTs I have
- Switch: Mikrotik CRS112-8P-4S-IN 8 port PoE (16 port would be better though...) + my existing cameras and AP
- Proxmox Host: Radxa X4 x86 (or maybe go ARM?)
- NAS: ODROID-H4+ x86
- Battery/UPS: ???

I feel like I could maybe lower the usage to around 50W with this? Obviously, less is better.

I'd love to hear suggestions for improvement and mounting options. Thanks a lot.

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