Build Advice Building a personal all-in-one home server

[TeslaStormX]

Approximate Purchase Date
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Hosting a couple of game servers when needed, a couple of vms (windows/linux), media content (jellyfin, immich, syncthing, nextcloud) and storage.

Parts Not Required: PC accessories (mouse/keyboard/monitor/etc) - only planning to buy the PC itself.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg, amazon, bestbuy preferred but willing to try other websites/retail stores like micro center

Country: United States

Preferences: no need for fancy rgb lights or anything like that prefer to keep everything black.

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Comments: (e.g.: Need to have a window and lots of bling, I would like a quiet PC)

 

[COLGeek]

Budget?

 

[punkncat]

You didn't list a budget.

If the VM aspect is going to be the primary use case alongside the game servers then a large core count CPU is going to be desired. This could be accomplished a number of ways but if you are talking consumer desktop it pretty much leaves R9 AM5 flavors on the table.

What are you planning for the base OS to be from which you run the VM and so on? Are you planning for a virtual enviro for the main use case or on hardware?

 

[TeslaStormX]

Budget?

My budget range is 1800 - 2200, but I created my thread too early by mistake. This is what I have at the moment.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3gJTcx

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X 4.7 GHz 12-Core Processor ($350.79 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 77 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($90.35 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI PRO B650-P WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard ($169.99 @ iBUYPOWER)
Memory: Silicon Power XPOWER Pulse Gaming 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL38 Memory ($202.52 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital WD_Black SN850X 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($94.99 @ SanDisk)
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 24 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($318.92 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 24 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($318.92 @ Newegg)
Case: DARKROCK Classico Storage Master ATX Mid Tower Case ($95.67 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Rosewill CMG1000G5 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($127.56 @ Amazon)
Total: $1769.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-08-12 18:00 EDT-0400

 

[TeslaStormX]

You didn't list a budget.

If the VM aspect is going to be the primary use case alongside the game servers then a large core count CPU is going to be desired. This could be accomplished a number of ways but if you are talking consumer desktop it pretty much leaves R9 AM5 flavors on the table.

What are you planning for the base OS to be from which you run the VM and so on? Are you planning for a virtual enviro for the main use case or on hardware?

Sorry, I submitted my thread too early and hit enter instead of shift+enter to add a space 🙁 My budget range is 1800 - 2200
I was using TrueNAS for my server and I'm assuming on hardware is having my gpu passthrough into one of my vm for some light gaming.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3gJTcx

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X 4.7 GHz 12-Core Processor ($350.79 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 77 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($90.35 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI PRO B650-P WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard ($169.99 @ iBUYPOWER)
Memory: Silicon Power XPOWER Pulse Gaming 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL38 Memory ($202.52 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital WD_Black SN850X 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($94.99 @ SanDisk)
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 24 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($318.92 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 24 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($318.92 @ Newegg)
Case: DARKROCK Classico Storage Master ATX Mid Tower Case ($95.67 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Rosewill CMG1000G5 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($127.56 @ Amazon)
Total: $1769.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-08-12 18:00 EDT-0400

 

[punkncat]

A lot of this is going to depend on how many games or how many other things such as VM are going to be running at any given time, alongside how much storage you really need.

IMO there is already an issue with too little RAM and far too much dependence on HDD storage unless this is one or two use case scenario. If the system is going to be for watching movies and playing older games it may well be overkill but at that same time for modern games and quick access to mutiple VM you might be shooting it in the knee counting on platter storage.

 

[TeslaStormX]

A lot of this is going to depend on how many games or how many other things such as VM are going to be running at any given time, alongside how much storage you really need.

IMO there is already an issue with too little RAM and far too much dependence on HDD storage unless this is one or two use case scenario. If the system is going to be for watching movies and playing older games it may well be overkill but at that same time for modern games and quick access to mutiple VM you might be shooting it in the knee counting on platter storage.

I have a bunch of movies/tv shows I've ripped from my bluray/cd discs hence the high amount of hard drive space. I assumed the ram amount would've been fine, but if you are saying I need more, do you have any recommended amount or brand I should be getting?

As for gaming I do plan to play some older games and some newer ones but I dont plan to be playing any of them in high graphics settings.

Thank you.

 

[USAFRet]

I assumed the ram amount would've been fine, but if you are saying I need more, do you have any recommended amount or brand I should be getting?

A lot of this depends on simultaneous users, and what they are doing.

My QNAP NAS does just fine with 16GB, probably would be OK with 8.
Just serving up data, and collecting Macrium Backups.

But the VMs are what will need RAM. Each VM comsumes its own walled off section of RAM.
8 or 16GB each. Or more.

 

[TeslaStormX]

A lot of this depends on simultaneous users, and what they are doing.

My QNAP NAS does just fine with 16GB, probably would be OK with 8.
Just serving up data, and collecting Macrium Backups.

But the VMs are what will need RAM. Each VM comsumes its own walled off section of RAM.
8 or 16GB each. Or more.

Well tbh I'm probably not gonna go over 4 vms and I forgot I had a home assistant vm installed. I'm planning to have a windows 11, 98 and fedora 41 installed. Idk if going over 128gb is overkill and the max my motherboard can handle is 192gb.

 

[USAFRet]

Well tbh I'm probably not gonna go over 4 vms and I forgot I had a home assistant vm installed. I'm planning to have a windows 11, 98 and fedora 41 installed. Idk if going over 128gb is overkill and the max my motherboard can handle is 192gb.

The key is simultaneous VM (and other uses).
If only one at a time, 64GB total is almost certainly fine.

 

[TeslaStormX]

The key is simultaneous VM (and other uses).
If only one at a time, 64GB total is almost certainly fine.

Oh yeah, I don't plan to run windows 11/98 or fedora 42 all at once. I'll just shut off the vm and switch to the other appropriate one. I do plan to run home assistant, syncthing, jellyfin, immich, and nextcloud all at once. Maybe even a surveillance self-host too, but not anytime soon. Besides that issue is there any issues with my current build? Thanks again.

Forgot to mention the game server too that I plan to host. I don't plan to run them all at once, only when needed.

 

[cruisetung]

Also think 64GB should be enough.

Don't know if you ever need to passthrough iGPU, and don't know if following discussion will help since you are not using Proxmox

[SOLVED] - iGPU passthrough with amd 7950x

Hi, I am trying to passthrough my igpu on my amd 7950x. The igpu will not passthrough and I keep getting the error in the picture below. The VM starts however I do not see the output on the monitor. Please let me know how I can fix this to passthrough my iGPU. Intel was so much easier. I also...

forum.proxmox.com