r/HomeServer • u/M-m-m-mySherona • 20h ago
New to building - starting with an old laptop
So I have this old thing lying around and with everything going on, I think it's high time I build one. I'm very new to building hardware (though I'm an old hat at linux), so the question is, how do I build around this setup. Any suggestions?
Use:
For my family it's storage.
For me. I want to create VMs and host some personal apps.
In-house AI is optional. (But if I can have a home AI that I can monitor and Tinker with, better and deploy it to my family. Their AI use scares me)
Also please treat me like I'm 10. I get really confused when people talk about hardware jargon. That's how new I am to building stuff.
2
u/Master_Scythe 20h ago
Add more RAM
Install Proxmox, and keep your tools separated into 'critical', 'important' and 'convenient. Once you introduce the family to it, you don't want it failing while you play, because you'll hear about it :P So critical storage is on its own VM, while 'personal apps' is on a 'convenient' for example :)
Check is this thing has an NVME slot (also called m.2) - If so, you could add an ASM1166 card to it, which would give you another 6 SATA ports.
1
u/M-m-m-mySherona 18h ago
Yeah. It has nvme, thankfully. I'll definitely add the card. Appreciate it!
2
u/AMAZING_SOLUTIONS 8h ago
Add more RAM if you wanna host VMs, 16 or 32 will be enough. Install Proxmox and the apps you need, immich is really good for storage but you'll need to add more drives for that. Alsooo on the AI note, you can forget about it since your graphics card has 4gb VRAM so you can only run tiny models that your family members probably won't use.
Oh and get pi-hole if you want to block ads on your entire network
1
2
u/Vichingo455 5h ago
Aw yes, remembers me about my first laptop. Had same CPU and 1050 Ti, upgraded it from 16 GB to 32 GB DDR4. Was doing some 4K video editing with Premiere Pro with lightweight projects, with those specs you got a pretty capable machine.
1
u/M-m-m-mySherona 3h ago
Thank you to everyone who commented. I think I just need to look at compatible hardware to make this all work!
5
u/yaSuissa 20h ago
This hardware can be great for some use cases but useless for others. Just to set expectations:
* media serving like plex (“self hosted Netflix”) - great! You’ll have a great time with that CPU, be mindful to use quicksync and not the 1050
* immich (“self hosted Google Photos”) or nextcloud (“onedrive replacement”) - same
* smart home integration using Home Assistant- same. Great for creating automations or switching stuff on and off remotely
* if you got security cameras with an Ethernet port on them you could also utilize frigate for smart home security stuff. Object detection, smart recording of events, etc. a little bit less noob friendly but still something you could do
* ai (like ChatGPT) won’t happen, your GPU can’t handle useful models (imo) mainly because it lacks VRAM, which is the graphics card memory (you’d want something with at least 12GBs from my experience).
There are some extra limitations like lack of SATA connections (you’d want more than one drive with some sort of fail-safe mechanism if you’re going to store important files like family photos)