Tips on choosing Hardware for an Homelab?
Hi Guys and Gals,
I need some help with putting together a small homeserver / labsystem.
The Main Goal for that device is to let me try around with stuff like Proxmox and IaC principles. My NAS is handled by an WD MyCloud and I am fine with using Git in the Internet for my projects. Plex is also handled by that NAS so also no need for that.
For reasons that I cant remember, I still have one HPE 32GB Stick of DDR4 Memory from my old employer around its still sealed so I assume that its still working, for the beginning that should be enough RAM just got way to expensive for my liking. Storage is also a smaller issue as I still have some old Drives around that will handle the mayority of requirements, what is needed is an small SSD for the OS.
The case should be rather small and fit into an Ikea Kallax as I have one next to an Ethernet Outlet and would love to place the "Server" inside that.
I thought about the Jonsbo N4 or N5 depending which one I can get for a good price on Amazon.
I am currently undecided between Intel and AMD on the CPU and therefore MB topic, best would be an Internal GPU but I also have an old GTX970 around that could handle that. Powerdraw is also a consideration, that shit is quite expensive here so I will likely power the System down if not activly needed at that time, It will just be a lab and not running any other critical System.
My total Budget would be not more than 500€, i am currently unemployed and want to use the Server to fill in some gaps that I have in my skillset while searching for a new position.
Or any other idea how I could set a lab up on my Gaming System (Intel i7-14700K with 64GB of RAM) I used to run some VMs in VMWare Workstation the past when I was setting up stuff for work but since that i my daily driver I dont want to remove the Windows from it.
Any suggestions on this list? The Memory is just a placeholder for now
[PCPartPicker Part List](https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/zXB3bp)
Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor](https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/GY6NnQ/amd-ryzen-5-5600xt-37-ghz-6-core-processor-100-100001585box) |-
**Motherboard** | [ASRock B550M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard](https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/NT7p99/asrock-b550m-pro4-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-b550m-pro4) |-
**Memory** | [Crucial CT32G4DFD832A 32 GB (1 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 CL22 Memory](https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/633mP6/crucial-32-gb-1-x-32-gb-ddr4-3200-memory-ct32g4dfd832a) | €244.00 @ Amazon Deutschland
**Storage** | [KIOXIA EXCERIA PLUS G3 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/7hZXsY/kioxia-exceria-plus-g3-1-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-lsd10z001tg8) |-
**Case** | [Jonsbo N4 MicroATX Desktop Case](https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/mMkH99/jonsbo-n4-microatx-desktop-case-n4-black) |-
**Power Supply** | [be quiet! SFX Power 3 450 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply](https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/jVC48d/be-quiet-sfx-power-3-450-w-80-bronze-certified-sfx-power-supply-bn321) | €66.77 @ Amazon Deutschland
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **€310.77**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2026-04-05 21:57 CEST+0200 |