Solved What is the decent Mini PC to use as a server?

Lamia · May 30, 2019

I am interested in this topic. What is the decent Mini PC to use as a server running FreeBSD11.x or 12? If I could do without Mac(MiniMac), that would be brilliant. I am to drop it at a co-location site. But if that's one of the reliable devices, I won't argue. I don't want any driver fuss.

Lamia · May 30, 2019

Lamia said:
I am interested in this topic. What is the decent Mini PC to use as a server running FreeBSD11.x or 12? If I could do without Mac(MiniMac), that would be brilliant. I am to drop it at a co-location site. But if that's one of the reliable devices, I won't argue. I don't want any driver fuss.

Sorry if I am hijacking your thread.

6502 · May 30, 2019

Silent Fanless FreeBSD Server – Redundant Backup

I brought up this topic in the past. It was in the form of more theoretical Silent Fanless FreeBSD Desktop/Server post and more hands-on Silent Fanless FreeBSD Server – DIY Backup article. On…

vermaden.wordpress.com

Lenovo ThinkCentre M92p Tiny is another good choice (or any Lenovo * Tiny). The only problem is the space - you can put only one 2.5" drive.

Lamia · May 30, 2019

Thanks for referring me to the blog. Yet to be tested for co-location. And I'm aware of it. Vermaden is great - so full of super stunts!

I just dropped the idea of the Thinkcentre.Too big!

Lamia · May 30, 2019

Silent Fanless FreeBSD, if at all Fanless is worth it, which I doubt, should use an ECC RAM; see https://www.ixsystems.com/community/threads/ecc-vs-non-ecc-ram-and-zfs.15449/

Lamia · Jul 7, 2020

Supermicro mobos with ECC RAMs.

Phishfry · Jul 7, 2020

I think you should consider the PCEngines APU2.
They are really worthy. Fanless and room for expansion with mSATA slot, mPCIe w/USB signaling and mPCIe regular.
They use ECC RAM and the 4GB model is more than enough for most tasks.
I build custom NanoBSD for them and run it from SD card.
For the money they are a nice mini-server.

PC Engines apu2 system boards

PC Engines apu2 network platform AMD crowned eagle SBC

www.pcengines.ch

aponomarenko · Jul 7, 2020

FreeBSD user choice: mostly Intel NUCs.

e8bf3 »	mini pc	Apple / Macmini5,2
23966 »	mini pc	Compulab / fitlet2
07253 »	mini pc	Intel / NUC5i3RYB H4...
d0730 »	mini pc	Intel / NUC6i5SYB H8...
e3a69 »	mini pc	Intel / NUC7CJYH
ff6aa »	mini pc	Intel / NUC7CJYH
f93e4 »	mini pc	Intel / NUC7i3DNHE
a34db »	mini pc	ZOTAC / ZBOX-CI323NANO

Almost the same on Linux:

Lamia · Jul 7, 2020

I had a look at PCEngines but wouldn't do the job. I like them for other purposes - gateway.