So I’m looking to build a home server for PLEX and home assistant but I’ve got 64gb of DDR4 SODIMMs that I’d love to use - the main thing is having enough pcie lanes/slots as I think id need a dedicated gpu for transcoding content so would need a motherboard or NAS that has 4x m.2 slots or another pcie slot that I could add in a card that lets me add 4 m.2’s
I’m not too fussed about size, ideally on the smaller side as a bespoke solution NAS or an motherboard i could put into a compact enough case.
Ideally it would also have a stronger cpu than say an n100 so i could run some other things in containers over time
budget; not too fussed just trying to use parts like the ram ive already got
This mini-ITX setup has M.2 slots plus PCIe expansion for adding storage with an adapter card like the ASUS Hyper M.2 x16. For transcoding, go with a low-profile NVIDIA GTX 1650 or Quadro P2000.
The Fractal Design Node 304 case fits everything while staying relatively compact and providing good airflow. This build uses your existing RAM while handling PLEX, Home Assistant, and other containerized workloads comfortably.
Expect to spend $700-900 (not counting your RAM) depending on where you buy components. This gives you much better performance than similarly priced pre-built NAS solutions.
The only board that came to mind are the asrock rack AM4 itx series, but they are expensive, e.g. ASRock Rack X570 D4I-2T. I think you are better of selling the DIMMs.
If you are fine with only using one DIMM look at the Hardkernel-H4 Ultra with m.2 adapter.