thoughts on this for a BI server?

[JayBart]

Minisforum ms-02 ultra

Thinking of getting this ^^^ for a BI server. I know it's overkill, I know I can get something cheaper, but for about $1k (I have a ton of ddr5 memory and 4/8tb ssds hanging around from a machine I was going to build before the memory shortage, never returned any of it.. lucky me ...) it doesn't seem like a bad deal. The only issue I see is that I'd have to run an external enclosure for the spinning disks (again I have multiple 10tb spinning drives, so that's not an added expense).

So.. setting aside the cost, which I know I can get something cheaper, any issues with using this w/ a TB4 attached JBOD enclosure?

 

[wittaj]

Talk about overkill.

Many here have shown that using USB for external drives for live writes cannot keep up, yet some claim they can.

Personally I would go with a cheaper computer with drives connected by SATA.

 

[bp2008]

A thunderbolt JBOD is probably going to be reliable enough (PROBABLY).

But for best reliability, you can't beat internal storage. Just about any computer case with 3.5" HDD bays will also have room for a discrete GPU which is nice if you want to do AI stuff with Blue Iris, or run a Plex server, or whatever. Then you have the simplicity of it all being in one box with one power cord and no separate thunderbolt cable.

If you have tons of RAM and SSDs on hand anyway, you might as well make it a proxmox server and let Blue Iris run in a virtual machine ... if that kind of thing floats your boat.

If you still want it all in a small machine and don't need a discrete GPU, something like a minisforum NAS could do the trick. MINISFORUM N5 Pro AI NAS | Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370 & PCIe x16

 

[JayBart]

A thunderbolt JBOD is probably going to be reliable enough (PROBABLY).

But for best reliability, you can't beat internal storage. Just about any computer case with 3.5" HDD bays will also have room for a discrete GPU which is nice if you want to do AI stuff with Blue Iris, or run a Plex server, or whatever. Then you have the simplicity of it all being in one box with one power cord and no separate thunderbolt cable.

If you have tons of RAM and SSDs on hand anyway, you might as well make it a proxmox server and let Blue Iris run in a virtual machine ... if that kind of thing floats your boat.

If you still want it all in a small machine and don't need a discrete GPU, something like a minisforum NAS could do the trick. MINISFORUM N5 Pro AI NAS | Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370 & PCIe x16

Yeah, I saw that. They make some nice stuff !
I could just get a case, a mobo, and a power supply, and the would likely be just about all I need. I actually do have a 9850x3d and an asus proart x870e mobo hanging around, but I really want to keep that for a simpit I'm building.

For $1k, on the minisforum, I know I'm overpsending, but at most a few hundred $$. Really just want to make sure external enclosure is going to be ok.

That said, I'm going to look into a case / mobo / psupply, see what the cost differential will be.