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Homelab Series

Homelab Hardware: Building the Foundation for a Scalable Lab #

In the world of technology enthusiasts, system administrators, and DevOps professionals, a homelab represents more than just a collection of computing equipment—it’s a personal playground for learning, experimentation, and skill development. As someone who has spent years refining my homelab setup, I’ve learned that the foundation of any successful lab environment begins with thoughtful hardware selection. In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through my hardware choices, the reasoning behind them, and how these decisions have enabled a flexible, powerful, yet sustainable homelab ecosystem.

Why Build a Homelab in 2025? #

Before diving into hardware specifics, let’s address the fundamental question: why build a homelab when cloud services are so readily available? For many of us, the answer lies in several compelling benefits:

With these benefits in mind, let’s explore the core of my homelab setup.

Hardware Selection Philosophy #

When building my homelab, I approached hardware selection with three primary considerations:

  1. Energy efficiency: Equipment running 24/7 can significantly impact your electricity bill.
  2. Noise level: Unless you have a dedicated space, noisy server fans quickly become intolerable.
  3. Performance/value ratio: Balancing capability with cost is crucial for a sustainable setup.

These principles led me to move away from traditional rack-mounted servers toward a more home-friendly solution.

The Heart of My Homelab: Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q #

After extensive research, I settled on the Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q as my primary compute node. This compact mini-PC offers an impressive balance of performance, efficiency, and expandability that makes it ideal for homelab use.

Key Specifications #

Why This Hardware Shines for Homelab Use #

Energy Efficiency #

The ThinkCentre M720q’s energy efficiency deserves special attention. With an average power draw of only 15-20W during typical operation, it consumes roughly 80-90% less power than a traditional 1U server. For perspective, my previous rack server pulled around 180W at idle—translating to approximately €20-25 in monthly electricity costs compared to just €2-3 for the ThinkCentre.

This efficiency stems from several design elements:

Virtualization Capabilities #

Despite its compact size, the M720q offers robust virtualization support:

I’ve successfully run the following virtualized environments simultaneously:

Noise Profile #

For those setting up a homelab in living spaces, noise consideration is crucial. The M720q operates at approximately 28-30dB under typical loads—roughly equivalent to whispered conversation. This quiet operation stands in stark contrast to the 45-55dB jet-like noise of enterprise rack servers.

The system achieves this quiet performance through:

Expansion Options #

While compact, the M720q offers surprising expandability:

Storage Strategy: Local #

My storage approach combines local high-performance storage with networked capacity:

Local Storage #

Scalability Considerations #

A well-designed homelab should grow with your needs. I’ve planned several expansion paths:

Short-term Expansion #

Medium-term Expansion #

Long-term Vision #

Cost Analysis #

For transparency, here’s the approximate cost breakdown of my current setup:

While this represents a significant initial investment, it’s worth noting that this entire setup consumes less than 60W on average—roughly €8-10 monthly in electricity costs. Compared to equivalent cloud computing resources (which would easily exceed €100/month), the homelab achieves ROI within 12-18 months of operation.

Lessons Learned and Recommendations #

After several iterations of my homelab setup, I’ve gathered these key insights:

  1. Start small, grow intentionally: Begin with a single versatile system before expanding.
  2. Prioritize efficiency: Low power consumption compounds into significant savings.
  3. Buy business-class when possible: Enterprise and small business equipment offers better reliability and features than consumer gear.
  4. Consider the complete ecosystem: Memory, storage, networking, and power protection are as important as CPU specifications.
  5. Plan for failure: Implement backup strategies from day one.

Conclusion: Building Your Foundation #

Creating a homelab isn’t merely about accumulating hardware—it’s about building a foundation for learning, experimentation, and personal growth in technology. The ThinkCentre M720q and supporting infrastructure have provided me with an excellent balance of performance, efficiency, and expandability.

Whether you’re exploring virtualization, containerization, networking, or automated infrastructure, starting with the right hardware foundation sets you up for success. By prioritizing efficiency, quiet operation, and thoughtful expansion paths, you can create a homelab that grows with your skills and interests without breaking the bank or disrupting your living environment.

Remember that homelab journeys are highly personal—your specific needs may differ from mine. The key is making intentional choices that align with your learning objectives, space constraints, and budget realities.

In the next article in this series, I’ll dive deeper into my virtualization and containerization strategy, exploring how Proxmox, Docker, and Kubernetes work together to create a flexible and powerful homelab environment.

What hardware powers your homelab? I’d love to hear about your setup in the comments below!

This blog post is part of my ongoing Homelab Series, where I share detailed insights into my personal lab environment. Stay tuned for upcoming posts on virtualization, networking, security, and DevOps automation.

Check also my Post on Medium:

https://medium.com/@devopsenqineer/how-to-build-a-homelab-in-2025-3b551baef38f