So I was wondering, what is exactly the use case of owning a server rack with huge CPUs and 256GB of DDR4 RAM with 1PB of storage?

Obviously, I’m kind of exaggerating here, but it does seem that most homelabs are big server racks with at least two CPUs and like 20 cores in total.

Why would I want to buy a server rack with all the bells and whistles when a low-power, small NAS can do the trick? What’s the main advantage of having a huge server, compared to an average Synology NAS for example?

Honestly, I only see disadvantages tbh. It consumes way more power, costs way more money and the processing power it provides is probably only relevant for (small) businesses and not for an individual like me.

So, convince me. Why should I get a homelab instead of a regular NAS?

  • RandomLegend [He/Him]@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    1·
    1 year ago

    I started with a basic as shit NAS and was happy with it.

    Then i wanted Hardware Acceleration for my Plex Server because i wanted to stream high resolution content when i was out of the house.

    I then rebuilt my old Gaming Rig into a server.

    After i realized that i now have much more power to use i started to host a bunch of services; AdGuard, Plex, Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr, Overseerr, Homarr, Lidarr, SabNZBs, Kavita, Kaizoku, HomeBox, HomeAssistant, Nextcloud, FoundryVTT, PaperlessNGX, Audiobookshelf, Romm and Whisper for my HomeAssistant.

    That’s stuff i would’ve never even had the chance to host on something simple like a little NAS.

    Oh and most homelabs are NOT racks with 2 cores… in my case, old gaming PC with Ryzen 5 2600X, 16Gigs of Ram and GTX1660 Super