I currently have a Synology 220+ and a couple of VPS’s, and I’m looking to consolidate, while getting out of Synology’s walled garden. I’ve already got a couple of 3.5’s in the Synology, and 4 2.5’s lying around and I’m planning on running a number of docker containers and a couple of vms.
That said, I’ve never built anything before, and basically just went to PCPartPicker, started with the case, and checked 5-stars on each component and went from there. So… how absurd is my build?
| Type | Item | Price |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor | $135.00 @ Amazon |
| CPU Cooler | Cooler Master MasterLiquid 360L Core ARGB Liquid CPU Cooler | $90.71 @ Amazon |
| Motherboard | MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard | $165.99 @ B&H |
| Memory | TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory | $26.99 @ Amazon |
| Storage | Seagate IronWolf NAS 8 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive | Purchased For $179.00 |
| Storage | Seagate IronWolf NAS 8 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive | Purchased For $179.00 |
| Storage | Seagate IronWolf NAS 8 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive | $159.99 @ Adorama |
| Case | Fractal Design Meshify 2 ATX Mid Tower Case | $173.89 @ Newegg |
| Power Supply | Corsair RM650 (2023) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | $89.99 @ Corsair |
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts | ||
| Total | $1200.56 | |
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-05-23 19:32 EDT-0400 |
Yeah, I posted this assuming I would get a lot of comments about it being more than I needed, and this was already me paring it down. But then I got a lot of comments saying to add more memory, reduce the cooling, and add a ssd but otherwise not much about reducing it.
Yeah, but even if they seems to be contradictory messages, they are not.
RAM is always the first resource that is depleted is a nas/homeserver built, more ram or the possibility of expanding the ram is always a safe bet. But for a nas or a non Realtime system ddr4 is also not mandatory.
Reduce the cooling goes into the direction that the system is not going to be under high cpu load, so no need to dissipate, you can even reduce the cpu.
SSD is not necessary for a nas but it will make you VMs or containers snappier.
So coming back to the subject, your cpu is overkill, and therefore your mother board too (it has even support for sli!), having more ram is always good but my opinion is with 16gb you are good to go for a good amount of time (my server runs on 8gb and I don’t experience any problem yet), obviously, your cooling needs to pair your cpu tdp.
SSD or m2 memories are cheap additions, and like somebody else suggested, it is good to have many pci slots even if they don’t go full speed (x16) but will give you the flexibility to add more sata ports or Ethernet connections on the 10gb.
Honestly, if budget is not a concern you can not be mistaken with this built, but I can see potential to spare like 100 bucks in hw and another 100 in bills in next years
I think I mentioned somewhere, but if not, over the last couple of years I learned a lot about the software side of running my homelab via synology and the vps’s, but I still know almost nothing about hardware, so this is all really useful information. Thanks!
So I want to reduce the cooling, CPU (get one with integrated graphics), and motherboard, and not necessary but look into adding ssd and more memory.
I’m okay with spending a bit up front if it’ll last a long time, but I also don’t want to buy too much and be useless.
You got it quite well :)
Have fun with the build