Best Mini PC for a Homelab 2026: MS-01, NUC, SFF

By LK Wood IV · Published 2026-05-01 · Updated 2026-10-07 · 12 min read · St. Louis County, MO

Buy a used Dell OptiPlex 7060 Micro or HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini with an i5-8500T. On Newegg on September 23, 2026 the EliteDesk was $179.99 and the OptiPlex $219.99, each with 16GB of DDR4 and a 256GB SSD already inside: a working Proxmox host for less than a 32GB DDR5 kit costs on its own ($459.99). Step up to the Minisforum MS-01 only for its two 10G SFP+ ports; Minisforum’s Newegg store sells the i5-12600H with 32GB and 1TB for $959. For a quiet box with room for 96GB, the ASUS NUC 14 Pro+ barebone with a Core Ultra 7 155H is $483.74, or $1,105.72 once you add the same RAM and a 1TB SSD.

For the individual hardware decisions, our Beelink Mini S12 Pro review and Mini S13 review explain their changing configurations. The EQ12 review and EQ14 review examine the network and storage differences that a processor-only comparison misses.

Which one fits you? The whole field on one map

The 2026 mini-PC lineup, ranked by what they’re for

Minisforum MS-01 — the networking pick

The MS-01 broke the mini-PC pattern. Two 10Gbps SFP+ ports, two 2.5GbE RJ45 ports, three M.2 NVMe slots, U.2 support, and a half-height PCIe x16 slot — in a chassis you can hide behind a monitor (Minisforum). Its own sibling, the MS-A2, now has the same four ports.

CPU options run from i5-12600H to i9-13900H. The i5 is plenty for a hypervisor. Idle varies with the CPU and setup: scottstuff.net measured 13.2W on an MS-01 i5-12600H under Ubuntu with no add-in card, ServeTheHome saw 25–29W on its i9-13900H test system, and a ConnectX-5 in the slot took scottstuff’s i5 to 32.1W (the MS-01 node page has every figure and its source). The networking earns the watts. For a first home lab that you expect to grow into a real cluster, it is still the mini PC to beat in 2026.

Buying one new is harder than it was. Minisforum’s own store listed every US variant as unavailable on September 23, 2026, including the i5 barebone it prices at $439.90. On Newegg the same day, Minisforum’s store sold the i5-12600H with 32GB and 1TB installed for $959 and the i9-13900H barebone for $669; the i5 barebone was only on offer from a marketplace seller at $589.99 plus $5 shipping.

The MS-A2 swaps in a Ryzen 9 9955HX and keeps two SFP+ on an Intel X710 plus two 2.5GbE. Newegg sold it for $1,449.99 with 64GB of DDR5 installed and no SSD. Buy it for the sixteen cores. The ports are the same.

Best for: Anyone running pfSense or OPNsense as a VM, anyone moving NAS traffic between nodes, anyone who wants real network virtualization without buying a separate switch and second box.

ASUS NUC 14 Pro and Pro+ — the NUC torch keeps burning

Intel sold the NUC line to ASUS in 2023, and ASUS has shipped the NUC 14 and NUC 15 since. The NUC 14 Pro+ runs a Core Ultra 5 125H, Ultra 7 155H or Ultra 9 185H, supports 96GB DDR5-5600 across two SODIMM slots, ships with a 2.5GbE i226 NIC, and uses dual Thunderbolt 4 (ASUS NUC 14 Pro Plus tech specs). Skip the smaller NUC 14 Pro with a Core 3 100U: a marketplace seller on Newegg wanted $549.90 for that barebone on September 23, more than the Pro+ with a Core Ultra 7.

Over the MS-01 you get lower idle power. ServeTheHome measured 8–9W idle on a NUC 14 Pro with a Core Ultra 7 165H, and around 88W under load. Tool-less serviceability comes with it.

The trade is SFP+. A single 2.5GbE port is enough for most workloads, but if you wanted dual NICs for a router VM, you’re using Thunderbolt-to-2.5GbE adapters or shopping elsewhere.

Best for: A quiet, low-idle Proxmox host that runs a dozen LXC containers and a handful of VMs without making your office sound like a hair dryer.

Geekom A8 / A8 Max — the AMD compromise

If you want AMD in a NUC-class chassis, the Geekom A8 ships with a Ryzen 9 8945HS or Ryzen 7 8745HS, dual SODIMM up to 64GB DDR5-5600, USB4, 2.5GbE via a Realtek RTL8125BG, and a single M.2 2280 NVMe slot (CNX Software A8 review). Newegg sold the Ryzen 9 A8 Max with 32GB of DDR5 and a 1TB SSD for $899.99 on September 23, 2026. Because it arrives with memory, that is $205.73 less than a NUC 14 Pro+ barebone filled with the same 32GB and 1TB. The A8 Max also has two 2.5GbE ports where the A8 has one (Geekom A8 Max specs).

The Realtek 2.5GbE NIC is the one footnote here. It works, but Intel i226 is the part you actually want for a hypervisor — driver maturity matters, and Realtek 2.5GbE chips have a history of needing r8125-dkms or vendor-out-of-tree modules on Linux. Plan for thirty minutes of friction.

Best for: AMD-curious homelabbers who want strong multi-core performance and don’t need 10GbE.

The used SFF sweet spot — OptiPlex / EliteDesk / ThinkCentre Tiny

The “1-litre” TinyMiniMicro trio (Dell OptiPlex 7060 Micro, HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini, Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q Tiny) all run the same 8th-gen Intel platform (an i5-8500T is six cores at 35W TDP) and all take up to 32GB of DDR4 across two SO-DIMM slots (Dell, HP, Lenovo). Refurbished units on Newegg come with the memory and an SSD inside. On September 23, 2026 the EliteDesk was $179.99 and the OptiPlex $219.99, each with 16GB and 256GB, and the M720q $198.97 with 8GB and 256GB. They are not interchangeable. The EliteDesk has two M.2 NVMe slots where the others have one, and only the M720q takes a PCIe card.

Slots, bays, ports, NICs and Dell’s adapters come from Dell’s OptiPlex 7060 Micro setup and specifications guide (Rev. A01, September 2021), HP’s EliteDesk 800 G4 QuickSpecs (version 36, February 18, 2020) and Lenovo’s PSREF sheet for the ThinkCentre M720 Tiny, its name for the M720q (December 27, 2022). The riser part numbers, the adapters on ServeTheHome’s units and every idle figure come from ServeTheHome’s OptiPlex 7060 Micro (January 30, 2021), EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini (October 18, 2020) and M720q (September 5, 2020) reviews. Prices are each Newegg listing’s buy box.

Buy the EliteDesk for a Proxmox host that keeps its VMs on a mirror: two NVMe drives, the lowest price, and the only one of the three ServeTheHome metered with the i5-8500T these listings carry. ServeTheHome suggested a SATA boot drive under the mirrored pair and did not try it; HP did not sell that build: its QuickSpecs say the 2.5-inch drive “cannot be selected if 2nd M.2” is chosen, so plan on two drives, not three. Buy the M720q for a second network: Lenovo sold it with an Intel I350-T4 on the riser, which takes the 2.5-inch bay’s place and wants the 135W adapter. Check the adapter on any listing. ServeTheHome’s OptiPlex arrived with a 65W brick, and its 65W CPU needs Dell’s 130W adapter to boot.

All three ports are Intel I219 parts on the e1000e driver, and that pairing has a long-running fault under Proxmox. Under sustained traffic the kernel logs e1000e ... Detected Hardware Unit Hang, resets the port, and the host drops off the network. The Proxmox forum thread on it runs from 2019 to 2026, includes an M720q, an M920x Tiny and an OptiPlex 7050, and picked up again after Proxmox VE 9. The workaround in a thread marked solved turns the port’s offloads off. On an affected host, add this line inside the physical port’s existing stanza in /etc/network/interfaces, below iface eno1 inet manual and before the next interface stanza. Use ip link to check the port name; if it is enp0s31f6, replace eno1 in the command with that name:

post-up ethtool -K eno1 gso off gro off tso off tx off rx off

Keep the existing bridge, address, gateway and bridge-ports settings, then reboot to apply the hook. Some posters still reported hangs after disabling offloads, including one on Proxmox VE 9; others moved host traffic to a second NIC.

These boxes take DDR4, and in 2026 that is a cost advantage. A 16GB DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM was $93.79 on Newegg the same day, against $459.99 for a 32GB DDR5-5600 kit. You give up 2.5GbE and USB4. The weakness is gigabit ethernet. For a single-node Proxmox host running a few self-hosted apps, 1GbE is fine; cluster traffic between nodes wants a USB 2.5GbE dongle. The EliteDesk’s 11–12W is the idle figure I would plan on for any of the three with an i5-8500T.

Best for: Cluster-curious homelabbers, the “what does Proxmox feel like” crowd, anyone who wants three nodes for HA testing (three OptiPlexes are $659.97), and anyone who would rather not pay 2026 DDR5 prices.

The entry tier — a complete Intel N150 box

For a first homelab that runs Pi-hole, Home Assistant, a couple of Docker containers, and maybe a light Jellyfin instance, an Intel N150 box is enough, and because it ships populated you skip the DDR5 tax. GMKtec’s own store listed the G3 Plus (16GB, 512GB) at $499.99 and unavailable. On Newegg on September 23, Beelink’s store sold the Mini S13 with an N150, 16GB of DDR4 and a 512GB SSD for $349. That is more than a used EliteDesk with the same memory and two more cores, so buy the N150 for a new machine with a warranty. It does not save money. ServeTheHome metered a CWWK Intel N150 box at 10–11W idle at the wall, with one SSD and no USB fan.

The ceiling is real. Single-channel memory and four small cores mean you will feel it the moment you ask it to transcode two Plex streams or run a stack of hungry VMs. For the smart-home hub, ad blocker and one media app that most first labs are, it is the right amount of computer.

Best for: First-timers who want new hardware, and appliance roles (Pi-hole, AdGuard, Home Assistant).

Once you’ve settled on this tier, the boxes inside it differ more than the class shorthand suggests — soldered versus socketed memory, Intel versus Realtek networking, and vendor power ratings that run from 6W to 25W for the same chip. Which N150 mini PC, by job compares eight of them against Intel’s own specification.

Notebookcheck’s repeatable Cinebench R23 run shows why the box matters as much as the N150 label. Its BMAX B4 Turbo scored 2,428 multi-core, while the Beelink EQ14 N150 scored 2,753 in the same database; its N150 average was 2,494. The test records Windows Performance mode, memory, storage and comparison systems, so use it as a bounded N150 benchmark rather than a promise for every N150 mini PC.

Beelink and Windows picks: choose the exact machine

Beelink is a brand, not a performance tier. Its official support forum identifies separate SER5 Pro 5700U, SER5 Pro 5800U and SER5 MAX 5800H firmware branches (5700U, 5800U, 5800H). A listing that says only “SER5” is incomplete. Match the CPU, memory, storage, ports and board revision before using a review or BIOS file.

For a small home computer, the SER5 tier is the balanced choice only when its exact configuration is documented and supported. The N150 tier is cheaper to run but slower; the NUC is easier to expand but sold barebone in many listings. A “best mini CPU” does not exist apart from the workload: prioritize four-core efficiency for an appliance, more CPU headroom for Windows work, and memory plus networking for a server.

For a gaming mini PC, start with the GPU and the exact games. The N150 boxes on this page are appliance machines, not gaming recommendations. The Geekom A8/A8 Max is the integrated-graphics candidate in this shortlist because its documented Ryzen 7 8745HS or Ryzen 9 8945HS platform is a different performance class, but the manufacturer specification does not prove a frame rate. A budget gaming choice needs a reproducible test of the exact box, resolution and settings; otherwise a larger used PC with a disclosed discrete GPU is the safer value comparison.

What’s missing on purpose

No Raspberry Pi 5 — different category (ARM, no PCIe-class expansion, and in 2026 often no cheaper than a used x86 SFF once you add storage and a case). No DIY builds either — if you want a discrete GPU or desktop-class RAM, a Mini-ITX build is the next step up. And no tower servers or used enterprise rack gear: a Dell R730 is a fine way to learn iDRAC, but the site’s idle-power table puts a single-CPU R730 at 90–120W, for work a 10W mini PC now does in a drawer. Everything in this article is a small, quiet, low-idle x86-64 box. If you have not settled on that shape yet, the homelab server chooser puts all five classes side by side first.

The barebone trap: what a mini PC really costs in 2026

Every barebone price on this page is a bare box. No RAM, no SSD, no operating system. In 2026 that fill is the most important number on the page, because the AI-driven memory shortage has pushed DDR5 up. On Newegg on September 23, 2026 a Corsair Vengeance 32GB (2×16GB) DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM kit was $459.99 and a Team Group NV5000 1TB NVMe $161.99. That is $621.98 before the box boots.

Do the arithmetic and the cheap barebone stops being cheap. The MS-01 i9-13900H barebone is $669; filled, it is $1,290.98. Minisforum sells the i5-12600H MS-01 with 32GB and 1TB installed for $959, and a used OptiPlex 7060 Micro arrives with 16GB of DDR4 and an SSD for $219.99. The shortage has inverted the usual advice. The box you fill yourself is now the expensive one.

Comparison table

Reference idle figures come from the named comparison machines, not measurements of the listed models; the EliteDesk figure is ServeTheHome’s measurement of that model with the same i5-8500T. The MS-01 results also use different CPUs and configurations. Barebone prices are the bare box; add $621.98 for 32GB of DDR5 and a 1TB NVMe at the same day’s Newegg prices.

Top picks by budget tier

Under $220 (used, complete) — OptiPlex 7060 Micro, EliteDesk 800 G4 or M720q Tiny

Six real cores at 35W TDP, a chassis over-engineered for corporate desks, and DDR4 plus an SSD already inside: $179.99 for the EliteDesk with 16GB, $198.97 for the M720q with 8GB, $219.99 for the OptiPlex with 16GB. The verdict is an OptiPlex 7060 Micro or EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini (the EliteDesk if you want two NVMe drives), or an M720q Tiny if you want the PCIe-NIC option. If the OptiPlex’s 16GB is a single stick, a second 16GB DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM ($93.79) makes 32GB for $313.78 in total. Pair two and you’ve got a small Proxmox cluster to learn live migration on.

$349 (new, complete) — an Intel N150 box

The Beelink Mini S13 with 16GB and 512GB. Flash Proxmox or plain Debian, and it will host Pi-hole, Home Assistant and AdGuard plus a container or two. It costs $169.01 more than the used EliteDesk, so it earns its place only if you want new hardware.

$959 (new, configured) — Minisforum MS-01 with an i5-12600H, 32GB and 1TB

The networking is the entire argument. Dual SFP+ 10GbE plus dual 2.5GbE cost $959 with the memory and SSD installed, from Minisforum’s Newegg store. The i9-13900H barebone at $669 looks cheaper and is not; filled with $459.99 of DDR5 and a $161.99 NVMe it is $1,290.98, so buy the configured i5 and keep the $331.98. It is still the best 10GbE-in-a-box deal on the market.

If you’re going to run Proxmox versus TrueNAS or Unraid as your hypervisor stack, the MS-01’s NICs let you separate management, VM, and storage traffic on physical interfaces, which is a real architectural win.

$483.74 barebone (new) — ASUS NUC 14 Pro+ with Core Ultra 7 155H

When idle wattage and noise matter more than dual SFP+, the NUC 14 Pro+ is the recommendation: $483.74 for the 155H barebone from a Newegg marketplace seller, $1,105.72 with 32GB of DDR5 and a 1TB NVMe. 96GB RAM ceiling, tool-less serviceability. If 10GbE on a budget becomes a priority later, Thunderbolt 4 to SFP+ adapters work — don’t expect mini-PCIe magic. The NUC 15 Pro with a Core Ultra 7 255H was $662.99 as a barebone, $179.25 more than the 14 Pro+. I would not pay that for a hypervisor. If you would rather not buy RAM at all, the Geekom A8 Max arrives with a Ryzen 9 8945HS, 32GB of DDR5 and a 1TB SSD for $899.99.

Best mini PC for Proxmox specifically

Proxmox rewards two things a mini PC is often short on: NIC count and RAM headroom.

• The pick for most builds — Minisforum MS-01. For a Proxmox host you expect to grow, the MS-01 is the best mini PC for Proxmox in 2026. Its dual SFP+ 10GbE plus dual 2.5GbE let you split management, VM, and storage traffic across physical interfaces and run a virtualized pfSense or OPNsense firewall without a USB NIC — the limit that bites hardest on single-port boxes. $959 with an i5-12600H, 32GB and 1TB; 96GB DDR5 ceiling.
• Best quiet, always-on — ASUS NUC 14 Pro+. When acoustics and idle watts matter more than SFP+, the NUC 14 Pro+ pairs a 96GB DDR5 ceiling with a platform ServeTheHome measured at 8–9W idle in the NUC 14 Pro with a Core Ultra 7 165H. You trade dual NICs for a single 2.5GbE port.
• Best budget, learning Proxmox — used OptiPlex 7060 Micro or EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini. $179.99 to $219.99 with 16GB and an SSD gets six cores that run Proxmox fine for a handful of LXC containers and a light VM or two. The single 1GbE port is fine for one node and limiting once you cluster — add a USB 2.5GbE dongle for node-to-node traffic.

The one rule that overrides the rest: for a Proxmox host, don’t buy a box you can only give a single 1GbE NIC if you intend to virtualize networking or run more than one node. Once you’ve picked hardware, the Proxmox mini PC setup guide walks the install from bare metal to first VM.

Where to check current prices

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• Minisforum MS-01 (i5-12600H, 32GB, 1TB) Search AmazonLink checked 2026-09-23 Check NeweggLink checked 2026-09-23 · Minisforum specs
• ASUS NUC 14 Pro+ (Core Ultra 7 155H barebone) Search AmazonLink checked 2026-09-23 Check NeweggLink checked 2026-09-23 · ASUS USA
• Geekom A8 Max (Ryzen 9 8945HS, 32GB, 1TB) Search AmazonLink checked 2026-09-23 Check NeweggLink checked 2026-09-23 · Geekom A8 Max specs
• Complete N150 box (Beelink Mini S13, 16GB, 512GB) Search AmazonLink checked 2026-09-23 Check NeweggLink checked 2026-09-23
• Used Dell OptiPlex 7060 Micro (i5-8500T, 16GB, 256GB) Search AmazonLink checked 2026-09-23 Check NeweggLink checked 2026-09-23
• Used HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini (i5-8500T, 16GB, 256GB) Search AmazonLink checked 2026-09-23 Check NeweggLink checked 2026-09-23
• Used Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q Tiny (i5-8500T, 8GB, 256GB) Search AmazonLink checked 2026-09-23 Check NeweggLink checked 2026-09-23
• Other used sources: eBay, ServerSupply, PCLiquidations, r/homelabsales

Refurbished listings change seller and price daily. If a listing is more than 20% above the price dated here, wait a week.

What this hardware should run

The standard stack: Proxmox VE on bare metal, a few LXC containers for lightweight services, one or two VMs for anything that needs its own kernel. The Proxmox mini PC setup guide walks through the install. The self-hosted apps shortlist covers what to actually run on it once it’s up. And if local-AI tooling is on the roadmap, budget its memory too: we measured eleven popular MCP servers at 178–422MB of RAM each, with a realistic five-server stack totaling just under a gigabyte — exactly the kind of always-resident load the 32GB-minimum rule is there to absorb.

A single NVMe boot drive is fine for hypervisor-only use. For bulk storage, the MS-01’s three M.2 slots and the two in the NUC 14 Pro+ and the used EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini all leave room for a ZFS mirror — but for real capacity, run a separate box per the budget NAS builds guide. A 2.5GbE switch is the realistic minimum in 2026; SFP+ matters once you’re moving VM disks between nodes.