Hey everyone. I wanted to start a thread of a plan I have to build a home lab server based on the MINISFORUM BD795m motherboard. This thing packs 16 cores and 32 threads. This thing I think would be a Proxmox monster. Also, with the PCI-e slot, could install a 10 or 25 Gbps network adapter. thinking. Thoughts on this? Anyone built something similar to this with the Minisforum motherboards? So far, i have just bought or tested mini PCs that are off-the-shelf hardware. Thinking will be fun to build my own Proxmox server based on the Minisforum motherboards.
My kit:
Check out my full build proposal and description in the new blog post here: https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2025/01/proxmox-home-server-build-2025-ryzen-9-7945hx-96gb-and-10gbe/
Here are the specs:
i think i still prefer the MS-01 due to the extra storage and networking, but the 7945HX is an absolute monster. Hopefully this board will support 128GB when we get the 64GB DIMMs.
@malcolm-r your not kidding. On paper at least this thing looks incredible. Interestingly this is the same CPU as the MS-A2 will have when it is released with the 32 threads. I have been keeping my eyes peeled for the 64 GB DIMMs but haven't seen them so far, but supposedly should drop in February on the news release. Also, I am going to post the details of my build with this board in tomorrow's blog post. Interested to see how this comes together for sure and the overall feeling of building something like this vs buying mini PCs.
@brandon-lee I can confirm it's incredible. I've had mine for a year with the MITX version (BD790I) and it's fantastic. Only issue I have is that to take advantage of the pcie bifurcation I basically have it spread on top of a shelf because I can't find a decent case that supports a 3 or 4 slots riser... It's been impossible to me to find any to the point I'm looking into 3d printing a custom one (but my cad skills are pretty poor so it will be a long side project :D)
@bard that's awesome to see feedback from someone that has been using for longer term. I have already been thinking about this same thing. The problem using a single card is either or if you need networking or storage, but there are some cards out there (albeit expensive) that have multi NVME and 10 gig networking on a single card. Here is an example from Synology:
Synology 10Gb Ethernet and M.2 Adapter card E10M20-T1, RJ-45; 1 port
it's far beyond my expertise, but i'd *love* to see a chassis that can hold like... 5 of these for an awesome cluster.
Yeah that would be extremely cool for sure for a super dense cluster of sorts. I am going to see what my experience is with this setup and definitely keep everyone posted on findings and gotchas if they surface 👍