NOTE
Please use the Contact form or use these options:
- PING on the TCM Security and HackSmarter Discords
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The guide will now solely focus on NON-SBCs as it’s the best value for the money going forward. No more recommendations of the Raspberry PI or similar Single Board Computing devices moving ahead.
Choose a link to see the hardware suggestions reproduced here, from my good friends at ServerBuilds.net
- Cases
- Motherboards
- CPUs
- Hard Drives
- RAM
- Power Supply
- NIC
- GPU
- OSs
- Firewall Hardware - OPNsense/PFSense/Protectli
- Wireless Access Points (WAPs)
- Network Switches
Cases
Tower Case Suggestions
| Brand | Case + Link | Fits | 3.5” Drive Space | Estimated Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cooler Master | N400 | ← ATX | 8 + 2 | ~$75 |
| Cooler Master | Elite 350 + PSU | ← ATX | 6 + 4 | ~$90 |
| Fractal Design | Node 804 | ← mATX | 10 | ~$115 |
| SilverStone | DS380B | DTX, Mini-ITX | 8 (Hotswappable) | ~$200 |
Rackmount Chassis Suggestions
| Brand | Case + Link | Fits | 3.5” Drive Space | Estimated Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rosewill | RSV-L4500 | All | 15 | ~$150 |
| Rosewill | RSV-R4100 | All | 6 + 2 | ~$110 |
| Rosewill | RSV-R4000 | All | 8 + 3 | ~$100 |
| Rosewill | RSV-L4000 | All | 8 + 3 | ~$120 |
| Rosewill | RSV-L4412 | All | 12 (Hotswappable) | ~$275 |
Motherboard Comparison Table
| Brand (Specs) | Model (Link) | CPU | RAM | Form Factor | PCIe | SATA | NIC | IPMI | Other | Est. Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASUS H310 Chipset | PRIME H310M-C | LGA1151 8th/9th Gen, up to 95W | 2x DDR4-2666, max 32GB, Non-ECC | Micro-ATX | 1x x16, 2x x1, 1x PCI (legacy) | 4x SATA3 | 1x Realtek RTL8111H GbE | ❌ | 1x M.2 NVMe (2280) | ~$50 🔵 |
| Gigabyte B360 Chipset | B360M DS3H | LGA1151 8th/9th Gen, up to 95W | 4x DDR4-2666, max 32–64GB, Non-ECC | Micro-ATX | 1x x16, 2x x1 | 6x SATA3 | 1x Realtek 8118 GbE | ❌ | 1x M.2 NVMe (2280), RGB | ~$60 🔵 |
| ASRock Z370 Chipset | Z370 OEM ATX | LGA1151 8th Gen (Z370), up to 95W | 4x DDR4-4000+(OC), max 64GB, Non-ECC | ATX | 4x x16 physical (3x electrical x4), 2x x1 | 6x SATA3 | 1x Intel I219V GbE | ❌ | 2x M.2 NVMe (2280) | ~$65 🔵 |
| ASRock H310 Chipset | H310CM Mini-DTX | LGA1151 8th/9th Gen, up to 95W | 2x DDR4-2666, max 32GB, Non-ECC | Mini-DTX (fits most Mini-ITX cases) | 1x x16, 1x x1 | 4x SATA3 | 1x Realtek RTL8111H GbE | ❌ | No M.2 | ~$45 🔵 |
| ASRock Z370 Chipset | Z370M-ITX/ac | LGA1151 8th Gen (Z370), up to 95W | 2x DDR4-4000+(OC), max 32GB, Non-ECC | Mini-ITX | 1x x16 | 6x SATA3 | 2x Intel GbE (I219V + I211AT), 802.11ac WiFi + BT 4.2 | ❌ | 1x M.2 NVMe (2280), Dual NIC, WiFi | ~$145 🔵 |
| Supermicro Q370 Chipset | X11SCV-Q | LGA1151 8th Gen, up to 95W | 2x DDR4-2666, max 32GB SODIMM, Non-ECC | Mini-ITX | 1x x16, 2x x4 | 5x SATA3 (+1 SATADOM) | 2x Intel GbE (I210-AT + I219LM) | ❌ | 1x M.2 NVMe (2280), Dual NIC | ~$100 🔵 |
| Supermicro Q370 Chipset | X11SCQ | LGA1151 8th/9th Gen, up to 95W | 4x DDR4-2666, max 64GB UDIMM, Non-ECC | Micro-ATX | 1x x16, 2x x4 (open-ended), 1x x1 | 6x SATA3 (+1 SATADOM) | 2x Intel GbE (I210-AT + I219LM) | ❌ | 1x M.2 NVMe (2280/22110), Dual NIC | ~$75 🟢 |
| Supermicro C246 Chipset | X11SCA-F | LGA1151 8th |