mineblaster

havent actually seen the software yet. but if its built on truenas. the one recent gripe ive had is not being able to see the MAC address of the adapters in the network status tob but i set static ips via my router with whitelisted mac addresses. being able to toggle on what adapters have web management and which don't would be a bouns.

i would cut the board for biggers nics. using a dremal is the only way ive done it but ive heard of people using a hot knife. i would also check if the motherboard has "pci-e bifurcation" as quad nvme cards with a pcie switch cost alot more than ones without.

as long as you have two cores. 8gb of ram and a couple of spots for harddrives you are good to go. so anything you can get your hands on as you are looking to do the basics. i wouldn't find anything too ancient but 6th gen intel onwards has nvme support or something am4.

i got a dual second gen amd eypc with two 16 core second gen processor for "not working" money. reset cmos and it powered right up for 300 bucks. its a very nice asrock system with ipmi.