Building a New Home Server

I was bored so I decided to build a new home server. I wasn’t running into too many limitations with the previous incarnation, but the video card was a bit old (1080ti), and total storage space was low-ish (and I’d run out eventually). Also, the previous storage setup has essentially been around since the early 2000s, so I’m sure I’ve lost some files to bitrot over the years. With that said, I have just kept upgrading to larger HD size in a Raid1 array - no bitrot protection.

Also, I don’t really play PC games, but a new GPU will definitely help for hash cracking during security engagements. Not to mention, now I can save every giant 50GB Burp Suite file forever! I am also in the process of upgrading my home networking setup. I want 10 Gbps from my server to core router/switch and 2.5G backhaul from my WiFi access points. So I figured I’d blow a bunch of money and do everything at once.

My main concern, and a large part of the cost here is six 16TB Seagate Exos Enterprise Harddrives that were put into a ZFS RaidZ2 pool yielding, when all is said and done, 59 Terrabytes of storage space. This should last me a long time.

Here are the parts I went with:

• Motherboard: GIGABYTE X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
• RAM: 64 GB Corsair Vengeance
• GPU: Gigabyte Aorus RTX 5080
• Root Drive: Samsung 990 Pro 4TB (a ‘free’ gift from my order is a 1TB 990 EVO that I used for additional storage)
• 6x 16 TB Seagate Exos Enterprise HD
• Corsair 360 RX Liquid Cooler
• Corsair HX1500i Power Supply
• Random HBA Card
• Random Intel dual 10G NIC

Networking Upgrades:

• Unifi Switch Flex XG
• U7 Pro Max Wireless Access Point

Costs

• Newegg - $4,904.95
• Ubiquiti - $611.21
• Amazon - $115.07

Total Cost: $5,631.23

This may seem like a lot, but this server will likely last for a decade with minimal or no upgrades. And the networking stuff will also be bleeding edge for a very long time. It’s all basically overkill now.

Additionally, I will probably recoup about $600 from selling the previous gear.

Issues

USB and Networking

The Processor/MB didn’t seem to work well with the back panel USB ports or ethernet. WiFi did work, at some point, though. I’m using the 10G NIC card, so the networking issues aren’t too much of an issue. The USB thing was a bit annoying during setup, but I don’t have anything connected to them on day to day operations (but one of them does work and the front panel ones work).

GPU

Also, the GPU is absolutely massive. They’ve really went wild on them these days. Luckily I used a standard PC tower, but I tip it on its side to put it on some shelving next to my networking/UPS rack. The video card comes with some ancillary support for when it’s sitting upright, lol. Also, the GP has a little LCD screen on it. Is that really needed?

Cooler

The instructions for the cooler installation are absolutely horrendous. I put it together how I thought it was supposed to be put together, but I had a leftover cable. The instructions are essentially a bunch of pictures. What they don’t tell you is that some of it is optional/if you need another fan connected. I wasted too much time here.

Pic

Here is poor quality photo of the final product.