Every homelab hardware guide I’ve read either recommends enterprise gear nobody should buy for home use, or vague hand-waving about “just use a Raspberry Pi.” Neither is helpful if you’re trying to figure out what to actually spend money on.

Here’s what I’d buy if I were starting over today, ranked by what matters most.

Start Here: The Server

The most important decision is what runs your services. You have three realistic options:

Option 1: A pre-built NAS appliance – Something like the LincStation N1, which comes with an Unraid license included. This is the lowest-friction path. You get a well-designed chassis, reasonable specs, and Unraid already licensed and ready to configure. The tradeoff is limited expansion and no GPU slot if you want local AI later.

Option 2: A mini PC – Something like an Intel NUC or Beelink Mini PC. Add an external USB drive for storage. This works surprisingly well for a service-focused setup where you don’t need multi-drive storage. It’s quiet, power-efficient, and takes up almost no space. Good starting point before you commit to a full build.

Option 3: A custom build – An older workstation or server chassis with drives you add yourself. This gives you the most flexibility – full PCIe expansion, large drive bays, whatever CPU and RAM you want. The tradeoff is time and the need to make decisions about every component. Not a bad option if you enjoy the build process, but overkill if you just want services running.

My recommendation: start with Option 1 or 2. You can always move to a bigger build when you know what you actually need.

The Switch

Get a managed switch from the start. An unmanaged switch works fine until you want VLANs, then you’re replacing it anyway. The TP-Link TL-SG108E is an 8-port smart switch that supports 802.1Q VLANs and costs under $30. It’s not fancy, but it’s the right foundation.

If you know you’ll want 16 ports, get a 16-port version now rather than daisy-chaining switches later. Daisy-chained unmanaged switches behind a managed switch are a configuration headache.

The Router

Your ISP router is not good enough. It might work, but it gives you no visibility into your traffic, no real firewall control, and usually no VLAN support.

The GL.iNet GL-MT6000 (Flint 2) running OpenWrt is what I’d buy today. It’s a $100 router that gives you full OpenWrt access, 2.5GbE ports, good wireless performance, and a community of people who know how to configure it. If you want something even simpler, GL.iNet has easier-to-configure options at lower price points.

Ubiquiti UniFi is the premium option if you want a polished UI and are willing to pay for it. The hardware is excellent. The controller requirement and cloud account push adds complexity that home users often don’t need.

UPS: Non-Negotiable

This is the thing people skip and regret. An unexpected shutdown mid-disk operation is how you corrupt a filesystem. A power blip that reboots your server while Plex is writing to a database causes errors that are annoying to diagnose and fix.

The APC BX1500M is 1500VA, supports 8 devices, and has USB monitoring so Unraid (or any UPS-aware software) can initiate a clean shutdown when the battery gets low. Get one from the start. Put your server, router, and switch on it. This is not optional.

Storage

For NAS use, get NAS-rated drives. Consumer drives aren’t designed for always-on operation and the failure rate in that use case is notably higher. Seagate IronWolf and WD Red are both good choices. I’d start with 4TB or 8TB drives depending on how much media you plan to store.

Don’t skimp on drive count. Unraid’s parity protection means one drive failure shouldn’t cost you data, but you still want enough drives that you’re not constantly constrained. Four drives plus parity is a practical starting configuration.

The Budget Breakdown

Here’s a realistic starter budget:

  • LincStation N1 or comparable NAS: $400-500
  • 4x 4TB NAS drives: ~$280 (used/refurbished) to $400 (new)
  • TP-Link TL-SG108E switch: ~$28
  • GL.iNet GL-MT6000 router: ~$100
  • APC BX1500M UPS: ~$180

Total: roughly $1,000-1,200 for a complete, solid starting setup. That’s more than a Raspberry Pi, but it’s a setup that will actually handle the workloads you want to run and not frustrate you six months in.

What to Ignore

Rackmount equipment. It’s heavy, loud, and expensive. Home homelabs don’t need rack ears on everything. Get good tower/desktop form factor hardware and put it in a closet or on a shelf.

10GbE networking. 2.5GbE is more than enough for home use and the hardware costs are much lower. Unless you’re doing video production work that requires sustained multi-gigabit throughput, 2.5GbE is sufficient.

The latest-generation consumer CPUs. For a NAS/service server, an older Xeon or i5 with ECC RAM outperforms a new gaming CPU in all the ways that matter: stability, power efficiency at load, and memory reliability. Buy used workstation hardware confidently.

Next post: how I use AI to draft and schedule a full year of blog content, which is directly relevant to how these posts exist at all.

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