10-03-2025, 05:04 PM
Between the Intel N305 and N355, you’re basically looking at the same efficient architecture with a small bump in frequency and burst performance on the N355. The difference is measurable on paper but in real-world NAS/Proxmox workloads it’s marginal, especially for your described use case:
• Storage and Proxmox containers: Both chips will handle this comfortably.
• Home Assistant + light Jellyfin (no transcoding): Again, no noticeable difference — both CPUs have more than enough headroom.
• Frigate with Coral/Hailo-8 offload: Since inference is pushed to the accelerator, the CPU load is minimal. Either CPU is fine here.
Where the N355 helps is if you plan to do more sustained multi-threaded workloads, such as heavier VMs or additional Docker stacks running at the same time. For $50–60 AUD difference, it’s not a bad “insurance policy” if you think you may grow into more services later, but for your current plan the N305 will do the job just as well and remain a touch more power efficient.
• Storage and Proxmox containers: Both chips will handle this comfortably.
• Home Assistant + light Jellyfin (no transcoding): Again, no noticeable difference — both CPUs have more than enough headroom.
• Frigate with Coral/Hailo-8 offload: Since inference is pushed to the accelerator, the CPU load is minimal. Either CPU is fine here.
Where the N355 helps is if you plan to do more sustained multi-threaded workloads, such as heavier VMs or additional Docker stacks running at the same time. For $50–60 AUD difference, it’s not a bad “insurance policy” if you think you may grow into more services later, but for your current plan the N305 will do the job just as well and remain a touch more power efficient.