Best Mini PC for a Home Server: What It Costs to Leave On

A home server — these days often a mini PC, sold as a “mini server” — is a machine you buy once and then leave running. Most guides to picking one compare cores, RAM ceilings and network ports, then stop, as though the decision ends at checkout.

It doesn’t. The machine draws power every hour for years, and the spread between these boxes is wider than most people expect. Going by published measurements, a Minisforum MS-A2 idles at two and a half to six times the draw of a Beelink SER8, depending on which configuration each was measured in. Over three years at the U.S. average electricity rate, that is $72 to $183 more in electricity.

So this comparison leads with the number most of them leave out: what each machine costs to leave on.

Quick picks

Specifications from each manufacturer's documentation. Idle figures are third-party measurements, not our own — see the methodology below for what each one was measured under. Power cost assumes continuous operation at the U.S. average residential rate, 18.31¢/kWh (EIA, July 2026).

Model	CPU	Max RAM (GB)	NVMe slots	Networking	Idle draw (W)	3-yr power cost
Beelink EQ14Beelink	Intel N150 (4C/4T)	16	2	2x 2.5GbE	11.81	$57
Beelink SER8 (Ryzen 7 8845HS)Beelink	AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS (8C/16T)	2563	2	1x 2.5GbE	7-102	$34–$48
Minisforum MS-01 (i5-12600H, barebone)Minisforum	Intel Core i5-12600H (12C/16T)	965	3	2x 10GbE SFP+ / 2x 2.5GbE	13.24	$64
Minisforum MS-A2 (Ryzen 9 9955HX, barebone)Minisforum	AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX (16C/32T)	96	3	2x 10GbE SFP+ / 2x 2.5GbE	25-456	$120–$217

The short version:

• Light workloads on the smallest budget: Beelink EQ14. Cheapest to buy. Its only published idle figure, 11.8W, was measured under Windows, and that is above the SER8’s measured 7–10W.
• The default answer for most people: Beelink SER8. Eight cores, two DDR5 SO-DIMM slots, and a measured 7–10W at idle.
• You actually need 10GbE: Minisforum MS-01. Two SFP+ ports, three NVMe slots, a PCIe slot, and $15 to $30 more than the SER8 over three years.
• You need serious compute: Minisforum MS-A2. Sixteen cores, but it idles at 25W and climbs from there.

How we compared these

We did not test any of these machines. We have not bought them, benchmarked them, or put a meter on them. Everything below comes from two kinds of source, and we say which is which:

1. Specifications come from each manufacturer’s own documentation, checked on September 15, 2026 and rechecked in October 2026.
2. Idle power figures come from independent reviewers who published their measurements — mainly ServeTheHome, plus one detailed analysis from scottstuff.net and one Windows measurement from igor’sLAB.

The running-cost column is arithmetic on those published figures: watts ÷ 1000 × 24 hours × 365 days × 3 years, at 18.31¢ per kWh. That rate is the U.S. residential average for July 2026 from the Energy Information Administration. Local rates vary widely, so scale the numbers to your own bill: at twice that rate, every gap below doubles. If you would rather not do the arithmetic, the power cost calculator does it at your rate, with these machines as presets.

The caveat that matters more than the ranking

Idle power depends on how you run the machine nearly as much as which machine you buy.

The clearest evidence is the MS-01. ServeTheHome measured it at 25–29W. scottstuff.net measured the same model at 13.2W with an i5-12600H and 14.4W with an i9-13900H, running Ubuntu 24.04, with no add-in network card and no power tuning at all.

The difference was not the CPU. Swapping a 12600H for a 13900H moved idle draw by 1.2W, despite 50% more performance cores. What moved it was hardware people add. Fitting a Mellanox 100GbE card raised the i5 system from 13.2W to 32.1W and the i9 system from 14.4W to 27.1W: between 13W and 19W of additional draw, measured with an external fan running to keep the cards from overheating.

Two things follow. A 10GbE SFP+ port you never populate costs you nothing, but a PCIe card you add can cost more than the difference between most of the machines on this page. And a figure measured under one operating system will not necessarily match what you see under Proxmox or a tuned Linux install.

We use the Linux figure for the MS-01 because that is how a home server actually runs. Where a machine has only one published measurement, that is the one in the table. Every figure in the table carries a footnote giving its source and the conditions it was taken under, because a watt figure without those is not worth much.

One of those footnotes is an admission. ServeTheHome’s SER8 measurement does not state the operating system. We have used it anyway, because it is the only independent measurement of that machine we found and the figure is consistent with the platform — but by our own argument above, treat it as less certain than the MS-01 number, where the conditions are spelled out.

The EQ14 figure has a different problem. igor’sLAB does state the conditions, and they are Windows, not Linux. It is the only measurement of that machine we found, so it is in the table, but it may not match what the EQ14 draws under Proxmox or a Linux install.

Beelink EQ14 — the one you leave in a cupboard

Beelink EQ14

Beelink · $

VerdictBest when the workload is light and the machine never gets touched

Strengths

• Dual 2.5GbE on a machine at this price
• Two M.2 2280 slots despite the size
• Internal power supply — no brick

Trade-offs

• 16GB RAM ceiling, single DDR4 slot
• Four cores, four threads — no headroom
• Only published idle figure was measured under Windows

The EQ14 is an Intel N150 in a 126mm box with its power supply inside. For a machine that runs Pi-hole, Home Assistant, a Syncthing node and a couple of containers, it is difficult to argue with.

Two things make it more interesting than the usual N100 box. It has two 2.5GbE ports, which is unusual at this price and genuinely useful if you want the machine to sit between networks or run a firewall. And it takes two M.2 2280 drives, so mirrored storage is possible without external disks.

The ceiling is real, though. Officially it takes a single DDR4 SO-DIMM to a maximum of 16GB. Four cores and four threads will not run a Proxmox cluster with room to spare. This is a machine for a fixed, modest set of jobs. If Proxmox is specifically what you are planning, the port count and NVMe slots matter more than anything on this page, and we work through both in our Proxmox comparison.

On power, the one published figure does not favor it. Beelink does not publish an idle figure. igor’sLAB measured 11.8W at idle under Windows, which is about $57 over three years at the U.S. average rate, against $34–$48 for the SER8. The two were not measured under the same conditions, and we found no Linux measurement of the EQ14, so treat the gap as unconfirmed. What the EQ14 does save is money at checkout.

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Beelink SER8 — the default answer

Beelink SER8 (Ryzen 7 8845HS)

Beelink · $$

VerdictThe best balance of headroom and running cost here

Strengths

• Measured 7–10W at idle for eight cores and sixteen threads
• DDR5-5600 across two SO-DIMM slots
• Two PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe slots
• Three-year warranty

Trade-offs

• Single 2.5GbE port
• No PCIe slot — what you buy is what you get

If you want one recommendation without qualifications, this is it.

The Ryzen 7 8845HS gives you eight cores and sixteen threads, and ServeTheHome measured the system at 7–10W at idle (3.5–4.7W at the package). That combination is the interesting part. You are not trading efficiency for capability here — it idles in the same range as much weaker machines while having enough compute to run a dozen containers and several VMs without thinking about it.

Memory needs a note. Beelink publishes a ceiling of 256GB of DDR5-5600, but ServeTheHome’s review unit had two SO-DIMM slots, fitted with two 16GB modules, and two SO-DIMMs do not add up to 256GB at any capacity sold today. What you can actually install is the largest pair of SO-DIMMs you can buy. The table shows Beelink’s figure and footnotes this. Two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots handle storage.

Under load ServeTheHome saw 77–79W at the wall, and measured noise going from effectively silent at idle to 36–39dBA against a 34dBA noise floor: audible in a quiet room, unremarkable in a cupboard.

The limitation is expansion. One 2.5GbE port and no PCIe slot. If you need a second network segment or a SAS controller later, you will be buying a different machine, not upgrading this one.

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Minisforum MS-01 — when you genuinely need 10GbE

Minisforum MS-01 (i5-12600H, barebone)

Minisforum · $$$

VerdictBuy it for the networking and the PCIe slot, not the CPU

Strengths

• Two 10GbE SFP+ ports plus two 2.5GbE
• Three NVMe slots
• PCIe 4.0 x16 slot for a NIC, HBA or low-profile GPU

Trade-offs

• $15 to $30 more than the SER8 over three years, even under Linux
• Published idle figures vary by a factor of two depending on OS and cards
• Barebone — budget for RAM and storage on top

The MS-01 exists for one reason: two 10Gbps SFP+ ports and a PCIe 4.0 x16 slot in a box you can put on a shelf. Add the two 2.5GbE RJ45 ports and Minisforum quotes 65Gbps of total Ethernet throughput. Three NVMe slots mean a boot drive plus a mirrored pair. Memory is two DDR5-5200 SO-DIMMs, up to 96GB according to Minisforum’s store. Intel’s spec sheet lists 64GB as the i5-12600H’s maximum; the table uses Minisforum’s figure and footnotes Intel’s.

That capability costs power. The Linux figure, 13.2W idle for the i5-12600H with no add-in cards, is 1.3 to 1.9 times the SER8’s draw, or $15 to $30 more over three years. Not ruinous. But the ServeTheHome measurement of 25–29W, taken on an i9-13900H review unit, is also real, and if that is what your configuration does you are closer to $140 for three years instead of $64.

Buy this if you are actually going to use the 10GbE or the PCIe slot. If you are not, you are paying for capability twice — once at checkout and again every month.

A note on CPU choice: the 1.2W idle difference between the i5-12600H and the i9-13900H means the cheaper chip is not the efficient one. Pick on performance and price, not on power.

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Minisforum MS-A2 — compute first, everything else second

Minisforum MS-A2 (Ryzen 9 9955HX, barebone)

Minisforum · $$$

VerdictOnly if the workload genuinely needs sixteen cores

Strengths

• Ryzen 9 9955HX — 16 cores, 32 threads
• 96GB DDR5 ceiling, U.2 plus two M.2 slots
• Dual 10G SFP+ and a splittable PCIe x16

Trade-offs

• 25W at idle, and 45W on one measured configuration
• 39dBA at idle — you will hear it
• Three-year running cost can run to $217

Sixteen cores and thirty-two threads, up to 96GB of DDR5, a U.2 slot alongside two M.2 slots, dual 10G SFP+ and a PCIe x16 that splits into two x4 links. On paper it is the most capable machine here by a distance.

ServeTheHome were blunt about what that costs: this is “not a mini PC that is closer to 6-10W” — they measured 25W at idle, with one configuration sitting at 45W. Under load they saw 135–145W, and noted that adding cards and lifting power limits could take it past 200W.

Run the arithmetic and the 25W baseline is $120 over three years; the 45W configuration is $217. Against the SER8’s $34–$48, that is a difference of $72 to $183 in electricity alone.

It is also audible. ServeTheHome measured 39dBA at idle against a 34dBA noise floor, and into the 50s under load. This is not a living-room machine.

None of that makes it a bad buy: it makes it a specific one. If you are running builds, transcoding several streams, or a lab with real VM density, sixteen cores will earn their keep. If you are running Home Assistant and a Plex server, you are buying a space heater with a network port.

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How to choose

Pick the row that matches your workload, then the column that matches what you care about.

Where the same machine appears in both columns, there is no trade-off worth making at that workload.

Use case	If the power bill matters most	If capability matters most
Light always-on services	Beelink SER8 (Ryzen 7 8845HS)	Beelink SER8 (Ryzen 7 8845HS)
General home server, containers and a few VMs	Beelink SER8 (Ryzen 7 8845HS)	Beelink SER8 (Ryzen 7 8845HS)
Media server with regular transcoding	Beelink SER8 (Ryzen 7 8845HS)	Minisforum MS-A2 (Ryzen 9 9955HX, barebone)
Storage or network heavy	Minisforum MS-01 (i5-12600H, barebone)	Minisforum MS-01 (i5-12600H, barebone)
Heavy compute or VM density	Minisforum MS-01 (i5-12600H, barebone)	Minisforum MS-A2 (Ryzen 9 9955HX, barebone)

The SER8 appearing twice in the general home server row is the honest answer to the most common case: for a general-purpose home server there is nothing to trade off, because the efficient choice is also the capable one.

It also takes both cells of the light-services row, because on published figures it idles lower than the EQ14. That comparison is between a Windows measurement and one with no stated OS, so it is not settled. The EQ14 is still the cheaper machine to buy, and if 16GB and four threads cover your workload, that is the reason to pick it.

One caveat on the media server row. It is ranked on core count, which maps to how many simultaneous transcodes a machine can handle in software. Most people transcoding at home will be using hardware acceleration instead, where the integrated GPU does the work and core count matters far less. None of our sources measured hardware transcoding on these machines, so we have not ranked on it: if that is your use case, treat this row as the software-encoding answer and check the iGPU separately.

The bottom-left cell is the one worth pausing on. If you need heavy compute but care about the power bill, the MS-01 is the compromise: fewer cores than the MS-A2, but roughly half its idle draw on the 25W baseline, and under a third of the 45W configuration.

What the running-cost number does not capture

Three caveats, because a single figure invites more confidence than it deserves.

Idle is not the whole duty cycle. These numbers assume the machine sits at idle continuously, which is close to true for a home server that mostly waits for requests — but not true if you transcode video every evening or run nightly builds. A machine that idles at 10W and spends two hours a day at 70W draws closer to 15W on average. The ranking here rarely changes, because a machine that idles high also tends to load high, but the absolute figures will be low for anyone with a real workload.

Disks are not included. A spinning 3.5-inch drive adds roughly 5–8W each while active and a few watts spun down. Two of them can cost more per year than the difference between two of the machines on this page. If your build involves several hard disks, that decision matters more than which mini PC hosts them. Our NAS mini PC comparison covers how much storage each machine can hold and what the drives add to the power bill.

The cheapest machine is not always the cheaper path. A machine that cannot do the job is expensive at any price or wattage, because you buy it and then buy something else. The EQ14 saves money at checkout only if 16GB and four threads genuinely cover what you are running. If there is a reasonable chance you will want more in a year, the SER8’s headroom is worth more than that saving. And if you are still deciding whether to run anything at home at all, our VPS vs home server cost page works out how many months of a VPS plan it takes for a mini PC to pay for itself, electricity included.

The number is a column in the comparison, not the conclusion. It belongs there because leaving it out hides a real recurring cost, not because it should decide the purchase on its own.

A note on barebone versus configured

Two of the four machines here are sold barebone, and it changes the comparison in ways that are easy to miss.

The Beelink machines arrive with RAM, an SSD and Windows. The Minisforum MS-01 and MS-A2 arrive as a chassis, board and CPU: you supply DDR5 SO-DIMMs, at least one NVMe drive, and an operating system. For a home server the missing Windows license is usually a feature rather than a cost, since the machine will run Proxmox or a Linux distribution anyway.

The memory is the part worth planning. Both Minisforum machines take two SO-DIMMs, and populating both is what gets you dual-channel bandwidth. Buying a single large module to “upgrade later” leaves performance on the table for as long as the second slot stays empty. Minisforum publishes a 96GB maximum for both. For the MS-01, Intel lists a lower Max Memory Size of 64GB for the i5-12600H, which the table footnotes.

The practical effect is that the sticker gap between a configured Beelink and a barebone Minisforum understates the real difference. Price the RAM and the drive before comparing.

FAQ

Does idle power really matter that much?

It depends on your rate and your patience for the arithmetic. At the U.S. average of 18.31¢/kWh, each watt of continuous draw costs about $1.60 per year. A 20W difference is $32 a year, or $96 over three years.

That is not life-changing money. It is, however, more than the gap between these machines at checkout in some cases — and it recurs every year you own the thing. The point is not that you should always buy the efficient one. It is that the number belongs in the comparison rather than being left out of it.

Why does the same MS-01 show such different power figures?

Because the measurements were taken under different conditions. The higher figures come from an i9-13900H review unit as configured by the reviewer; the lower ones from Ubuntu 24.04 with no add-in network cards. Add-in NICs were the single biggest factor: fitting a 100GbE card added between 13W and 19W depending on the machine.

If you see an idle figure quoted anywhere without the OS and the card configuration attached, it is not telling you much.

Is a mini PC enough, or should I buy a used enterprise server?

A used tower or rack server gets you ECC memory, more PCIe lanes and drive bays for less money up front. It also typically idles somewhere between 40W and 100W, which at U.S. average rates is $64 to $160 per year, every year.

For most home workloads the mini PC wins on total cost within the first year or two. Where enterprise hardware still makes sense is when you need many drive bays or ECC specifically.

Why is the Beelink EQ14’s power figure from Windows?

Because it is the only independent measurement we found. Beelink does not publish an idle figure. igor’sLAB measured the EQ14 at 11.8W idle under Windows, and the table uses that with a footnote saying so.

We did not find a measurement under Linux or Proxmox. If you find a credible one, send it to us and we will add it with the source.

Do these come with RAM and storage?

The two Beelink machines in this comparison ship configured. The two Minisforum machines listed here are barebone — no RAM, no SSD, no operating system. Budget for those separately, and note that the MS-01 and MS-A2 both take DDR5 SO-DIMMs in pairs.