[samhclark]

I think you're right generally, but I wanna call out the ODROID H4 models as an exception to a lot of what you said. They are mostly upgradable (SODIMM RAM, SATA ports, M.2 2280 slots), and it does support in-band ECC which kinda checks the ECC box. They've got a Mini-ITX adapter for $15 so it can fit into existing cases too.

No IPMI and not very many NVME slots. So I think you're right that a good mATX board could be better.

[geek_at]

Not sure about the odroid but I got myself the nas kit from friendly elec. With the largest ram it was about 150 bucks and comes with 2,5g ethernet and 4 NVME slots. No fan and keeps fairly cool even under load.

Running it with encrypted zfs volumes and even with a 5bay 3.5 Inch HDD dock attached via USB

https://wiki.friendlyelec.com/wiki/index.php/CM3588_NAS_Kit

[sandreas]

Well, if you would like to go mini (with ECC and 2.5G) you could take a look at this one:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006369887180.html

Not totally upgradable, but at least pretty low cost and modern with an optional SATA + NVMe combination for Proxmox. Shovel in an enterprise SATA and a consumer 8TB WD SN850x and this should work pretty good. Even Optane is supported.

IPMI could be replaced with NanoKVM or JetKVM...

[a012]

That looks pretty slick with a standard hsf for the CPU, thanks for sharing

[smartbit]

Nice indeed. With only 2 nvme slots, what drive configuration do you have in your mind? Backup from nvme to HDD locally and another device remote?

[ilkhan4]

You can get a 1 -> 4 M.2 adapter for these as well which would give each one a 1x PCIe lane (same as all these other boards). If you still want spinning rust, these also have built-in power for those and SATA ports so you only need a 12-19v power supply. No idea why these aren't more popular as a basis for a NAS.