On The First Hosting

A quick update on hosting endeavors for Greater Venith, alongside an estimate of how long it will take.

For many years, I, Digital Cheese, GRAND EMPEROR of Greater Venith, have promised Venithia a server. This, I have determined, will actually be enacted upon soon. I have determined that, given my circumstances, I have three sane options, one of which will provide plentiful long-term upgrades, while the other two have more faults albeit significantly cheaper prices. I will discuss the pros and cons of each, but will not be putting it up to a vote, because I will do whichever I can enact first, as I will eventually need to upgrade anyways.

Option One -- Use An HP EliteDesk 800 G2 Mini

This is the easiest, but may be out of the cards if things do not go according to plan. I have 8GB of DDR4 SODIMM necessary to test a boot, but I will have to get a new power supply for this brick. If it boots, we are able to use the i7-6700, 8GB DDR4 SODIMM, and 10TB storage I have to get started. If it does not boot, it is out of the question. The error given indicates either a motherboard *or* powersupply issue, the former of which would be costly enough to where I could just get a new mini PC for around the same price, especially after Windows 10 was recently discontinued, thus forcing many companies to resell their old mini PCs which used 7th generation Intel CPUs and before.

The mini PC in question supports an i7-6700, 32GB DDR4 SODIMM, an M.2 2280 NVMe SSD (possibly double-sided), and a 2.5in SATA HDD or SSD. This is, obviously, good enough for a server, especially given it has gigabit ethernet. However, it *does* limit us on upgrade options, which while fine now, will be a problem in a few years. Regardless, it is the easiest option, and it is nice enough that I can put it right next to my living room router without having to hide it in a way which could easily thermal throttle the system.

Other than cost if the PSU I plan to get ends up working, this system also has the advantage of lower power draw than the other two options, a massive benefit whenever I have legitimate need to make sure I do not have a 1000+ watt system running at full throttle, especially for extended periods of time. Even with the second option listed further down, I am doing a few weird things to reduce power draw and save on potential costs. Lower power systems with higher overall performance is, therefore, much preferred over higher power systems which throttle or have other issues, especially for a system which needs tons of concurrent tasks to be executed, rather than one or two tasks executed extremely fast.

Option Two -- Custom Built PC

This is the option I'm aiming for, particularly if the EliteDesk 800 G2 Mini does not go well. This is significantly more expensive, however, I already have the motherboard, and this gives significantly more upgrade potential than alternatives. Hundreds of gigabytes of RAM, terabytes of M.2 NVMe storage, and even other weird addons are massive advantages not seen in that older EliteDesk, not even to mention the obviously higher core/thread counts. I have the entire *planned* build below, and what you see below will likely be the final part selection, albeit I may add something in the future.

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/cubepwn/saved/W48mFT

It *is* expensive, but will be very much worth it in the end. Also, I already have the motherboard. You'll notice a lack of HDDs, because I plan to just use the 4TB and 6TB HDD I have currently, but I will (obviously) expand on this overtime. Even with RAM going way up in price, it is well under 3k USD, and I could probably get it down further if I go for 32GB RAM instead of 128GB like I am interested in, which I may for now since I can actually go as high as 256GB RAM on this motherboard.

I am adding a 1000W PSU because I *may* need it if I expand in the future, for those wondering. I don't want to have to suddenly change my PSU the moment I want to add a few HDDs or some other addons.

If done right, this will be the one I go for, but we'll see. I am limited on my options, although I believe I can easily scrape up the money with a few months of work, especially when considering I have no bills to pay or anything else of the sort, so in that regard, just about every dollar I make is saved for myself. So, in a way, there's a good chance it's possible. However, I still have other plans available, just in case.

Option 3 -- MINISFORUM MS-A2

Depending on what one thinks, it is both the best and the worst of both worlds. The best as in, you get tons of power like the custom-built but in a small and low power form-factor like the mini PC, however, it is also the worst, as in, it's still extremely expensive while it mostly lacks the upgradability of the custom built. I may do this anyways if I get lucky, but I wouldn't expect this one to be done, especially when the SSD slots don't support double-sided M.2 NVMe drives, and I'm also concerned about reliability here.

Regardless of which option is picked, it should be easy to get a server up. However, I would not put it taking any less than six months unless I get very, very, very lucky. I will not be asking for donations, even if I ask for cryptocurrency, I have no way to spend it myself due to various issues. However, I do ask, Venithian, to not lose hope, for the days of the empire have only just begun. Those who trust shall be rewarded greatly, and those who doubted shall see I was right.

-- Digital Cheese, Feb 08 2026 A.D. At 21:22 CDT