Ideas for first build

[pbdoss]

I am wanting to build a home server with the idea of running a Proxmox server running multiple VMs include:
- True NAS Scale for a home NAS running RAID 5
- Plex/Jelly Fin server
- running multiple VMs for various home lab learning environment i.e. building a mock AD environment / test various OS / docker environments / pfSense. Just anything that i want to dip my toes into
Here is my currently build so far:
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case
Motherboard: MAXSUN Challenger B760ITX D5 WIFI DDR5 LGA1700
CPU: Intel Core i5-12400 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor
OS Drive: Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB M.2
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-L9i-17xx 33.84 CFM CPU Cooler
HDD: Western Digital Red Plus 4 TB 3.5" X5
PSU: Corsair SF600 (2018) 600 W 80+ Platinum
Additional features:
1. Silverstone ECM28 1x NVMe (M Key) 1x SATA (B Key) M.2 SSD to PCI-E
--- potentially running another m2 drive for a cache and to connect the 5th HDD
2. TP-Link TX401 10Gbe PCIe Network Card
Can anyone give some advise on if they would change anything?

[ed]

Thanks for sharing your planned build — it looks like you’ve put a lot of thought into it!

Overall, your choice of the i5-12400 with 32GB RAM is solid for running multiple VMs on Proxmox, including TrueNAS Scale and your media servers. The Fractal Design Node 304 is a great compact case, and your PSU looks like it has plenty of headroom.

A couple of quick thoughts:

Make sure your motherboard supports enough SATA ports for all your drives, or plan for expandability (your Silverstone M.2 adapter sounds like a smart move for adding drives).

Your plan to use an additional NVMe as cache for TrueNAS could really boost performance, so that’s a good idea.

The 10GbE network card is great if your home network supports it — that’ll help with fast data transfers, especially for Plex streaming and backups.

The Noctua cooler is excellent for quiet cooling, so no worries there.

If you’re planning to expand storage later, you might want to consider a case with a bit more drive capacity or look into external DAS options.