#homelab

• N100 Mini PC Power Consumption: Idle and Load Watts

  What an N100 mini PC actually draws at the wall: 6-12W idle, 20-30W loaded, why the 6W TDP figure misleads, and the yearly cost of leaving it on.

• How to Build a Low Power Homelab: Start With a Watt Budget

  A watt-budget approach to a low power homelab: pick hardware that idles under 10W, verify it with a meter, and run a Docker stack for about $1 a month.

• How Many VMs Can an N100 Mini PC Run?

  RAM sets the ceiling on an N100 mini PC, not cores. A per-service memory budget, three worked Proxmox stacks, and the symptoms of an overloaded host.

• Mini PC BIOS Settings for a 24/7 Homelab

  The BIOS pass a headless mini PC needs before the OS goes on: AC power recovery, Wake-on-LAN, VT-d, C-states, boot mode, fan curve, and radios.

• N150 vs N100 for a Homelab: What Actually Changed

  Intel's N150 quietly replaced the N100 in 2026 mini PCs. What the Twin Lake refresh changes for a homelab, what it does not, and which one to buy.

• Proxmox iGPU Passthrough for Plex in an LXC

  Give a Plex or Jellyfin LXC access to an N100 iGPU under Proxmox: the render device, the group ID trap, unprivileged containers, and how to verify it.

• Best Mini PC for a Proxmox Homelab in 2026

  Three mini PCs that actually run Proxmox well, from a $150 N100 box to the MS-01's dual 10GbE, with specs, trade-offs and what to check before buying.

• Best Mini PC for pfSense Firewall: Hardware That Works

  How to pick the best mini PC for a pfSense firewall: NIC compatibility, AES-NI, RAM sizing, and the specific models that work reliably in 2026.

• N100 Mini PC for Plex Transcoding: Quick Sync Limits

  The Intel N100's Quick Sync makes a tiny mini PC a capable Plex transcoder, within limits. What it handles in hardware and where it hits the wall.

• Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny vs N100 Mini PC for a Homelab

  Used Lenovo M720q/M920q/M75q Tiny vs new Intel N100 mini PCs for a 24/7 homelab — idle wattage, expandability, BIOS quality, and which is the better buy.

• Mini PC Won't Turn On After Power Outage: The BIOS Fix

  Mini PC still dark after an outage? One BIOS setting fixes it. The exact menu name for NUC, Beelink, Minisforum, Wyse, HP and Lenovo, plus how to test it.

• UPS Sizing for a Mini PC Homelab: Runtime and VA Math

  Picking a UPS for a 10-30W mini PC homelab is about runtime, not VA. The math, the trap with cheap line-interactive units, and the models worth buying.

• A Starter Self-Hosting Stack for a Mini PC

  The first services to run on a new N100-class mini PC, in order: reverse proxy, DNS, remote access, backups, then the apps, with a RAM budget for each.

• Storage Options for a Mini PC Homelab

  NVMe, SATA SSD, USB and network storage in a small homelab box: the real performance, power and reliability tradeoffs, and when to add a proper NAS.

• A Low-Power 24/7 Home Server Build That Stays Quiet

  A complete parts-to-power walkthrough of a 24/7 home server built around idle wattage and silence: hardware, the OS layer, BIOS tuning, and the UPS.

• Quiet and Fanless Mini PC Homelab Builds

  How to get a genuinely silent 24/7 homelab box: fanless hardware options, near-silent fan tuning, the storage and power-brick noise, and how to verify it.

• Mini PC vs NAS vs Raspberry Pi for a Homelab

  Mini PC, prebuilt NAS or Raspberry Pi for a first homelab? Cost, idle power, what each is genuinely good at, and the trap each one sets for beginners.

• Proxmox on a Mini PC: A Realistic Setup Guide

  Whether Proxmox makes sense on a single low-power mini PC, plus install choices, the LXC versus VM call, storage layout, and the watts the hypervisor costs.

• Power Consumption Math: What a 24/7 Mini PC Actually Costs

  The real cost of running a mini PC 24/7, worked from the wall meter up: watts-to-dollars math, real rate examples, and where a few watts are worth chasing.

• Thin Client Homelab: Turn a $40 Wyse 5070 Into a Server

  The Dell Wyse 5070 is the best cheap used x86 homelab box: what it idles at, what the Extended model adds, and the storage and RAM ceilings to expect.

• HP T620, T630, T640 Thin Clients as Homelab Servers

  Used HP thin clients are a cheap entry into an x86 homelab. What the T620, T630, and T640 idle at, what they run, and the specs that decide which to buy.

• The Intel N100 Mini PC Buying Guide for Homelabs

  What to look for when buying an Intel N100 mini PC for a 24/7 homelab: RAM, storage layout, NIC quality, BIOS quirks, and which brands to trust.

• N100 vs N305 vs N97: Which Low-Power Chip for Your Homelab?

  How the Intel N100, N305 and N97 compare for a homelab: cores, idle watts, memory ceilings and price, plus which one is worth the step up and when.

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