I bought an N100 mini PC (not POE) as my new server a couple months ago. I really like it. That processor is great for power efficiency.

My x86 Proxmox consumes about 0.3 kwh a day at around 15% average load. I’ve only had the Kill A Watt on it for a day, so I don’t know how accurate that is, but it shouldn’t be too far off.

To your point, I clicked on this post hoping to see what OP was going to use and why because I would like to build my own NAS some day. But like you said, this post is a waste of everyone’s time.

Learning how to use other Docker images to run Docker containers is an important first step in that process.

I’m a programmer. My foray into learning how to containerize applications started by learning how to run containerized applications. Honestly, running them is the more complicated part (for many cases, some are dead simple).

Turning an app into an image is sometimes just a simple two line Dockerfile.

I started learning with Home Assistant and the branched out to pi hole, Frigate, Mosquito, and other home automation tools. I used that knowledge to containerize a home automation tool I wrote myself.

And now I’m working on containerizing dozens of applications at work.

I’ve never done it, but it’s something I’ve seen people do to the heat spreader on the CPU. And yes it would just be mechanical sanding and polishing with paper and paste.

The aluminum has a rough looking finish. You could try giving it a mirror polish. Have you tried changing the thermal paste?

The hardware isn’t super important if you can get a Google Coral TPU. You can run Frigate on a Raspberry Pi that way. Without the TPU, it can be fairly CPU intensive.

I run Frigate on an old laptop and before the TPU it would run really hot. After it runs much cooler.