Hello fellow homelab enthusiasts!

​

I’m currently facing a crucial upgrade decision for my homelab and would greatly appreciate your insights and advice. Here’s the scenario:

​

Current Setup:

​

Dell PowerEdge T320 with E5-2430L v2 @ 2.40GHz, 160GB RAM, and 3.5-inch disks.

Running approximately 50 VMs on ESXi with vCenter, NSX, and more.

Power consumption idling around 80W without disks.

​

Upgrade Goals:

Need more computing power, aiming for more cores and RAM (ideally 512GB-1TB).

Considering a switch to v4 Xeons, possibly x2 2698v4.

Planning to run ESXi 8 and implement nested ESA vSAN with all VMs on-top.

​

Option 1:

​

Supermicro CSE-847-X10DRI-T4+, x2 Xeon v3 2640, 64GB DDR4 RAM, RAID Controller, iPMI OOB

Room for 36 3.5-inch drives, priced at 640 Euro.

​

Concerns about power consumption, as seller reports 500W idle with 20 3.5-inch drives.

And upgrading CPU’s to v4 but should be supported

​

Option 2:

​

Exploring small form factor PCs with 64GB DDR4 RAM and NVMe disks.

Intending to run VMware vSAN on these, potentially scaling to 5-8 nodes with 25G networking.

Worries about running unsupported configurations and potential hardware obsolescence.

Dilemma:

​

Uncertain whether the higher upfront power consumption of Option 1 is justified for potential long-term hardware support.

Apprehensive about investing in Option 2 due to potential lack of support and concerns about power efficiency.

​

Request for Advice:

What are your thoughts on the two options considering long-term viability, hardware support, and power efficiency?

Any alternative suggestions based on your experiences?

I value your expertise and look forward to hearing your recommendations. Thank you in advance!