I currently run all my self-hosted apps either on Podman in a VM or in LXCs on Proxmox. For hardware, I’m using a Chinese-made mini computer with an Intel N150 and 16GB of DDR5 RAM that I bought before the whole AI hype started. I also have a Synology NAS that I use mainly for media and photo storage.
I’ve been thinking about tinkering with Kubernetes in my homelab for a while now (I already use it extensively at work, so I’m quite familiar with it), and I started looking around for used hardware to use as bare metal nodes. Nothing fancy—I’m looking for 1 or 2 mini servers or SFF with at least 16GB of memory and a decent CPU (4–6 cores). But with current prices, even decently priced used hardware (~200–250€) is quite difficult to find in Europe, and most of it is HP stuff with Lenovo being a rare breed around here. I won’t even get started on newly bought hardware…
If you’ve bought hardware in this market recently, how did it go for you? Or are most of you holding out for now, waiting for better times?
Like the original Zimaboard? How do you like it? Reading online in forums or reddit, the feedback is really mixed.
I was looking at the Zimaboard 2, but the board alone is like 300€+ and then buying DDR5 with current prices…
Zimaboards do not need RAM. They include it (do not confuse it with the Zimablade).
I just use the default hardware with the Zimaboards. Zimaboard 832s for the masters and nodes, and I recently added a couple of Zimaboard 2s for larger nodes as those have 16gb.
I like the boards, they perform well and the intel cpus in them have internal GPUs so for light transcoding or GPU loads they can be leveraged without need for GPU cards. After trying several other x86 based options, Zimaboards are my preferred option.