I am always on the lookout for new and interesting hardware platforms that can benefit the VMware Homelab Community. In the month of January, there were a number of new announcements that I had been following including news from the Computer Electronic Show (CES) but also a couple of product releases from vendors that I had not heard of before until most recently.
While the global silicon shortage is still a very real challenge, here are some of the new and upcoming hardware platforms that I think could potentially be interesting for VMware Homelabs in 2022. The list below is not exhaustive and I primarily focused on platforms that offers a unique or interesting capability based on the various requirements that I have heard from the community over the years. As an example, I know some of you have expressed interests in platforms that are capable of supporting full length discrete GPU for VDI, AL/ML and Kubernetes-based workloads to a platform that can enable more advanced networking features with multiple onboard network adapters.
If there are other platforms that I or the community should definitely keep an eye out for in 2022, feel free to leave a comment with a pointer to the reference. I will periodically update this article with additional new systems, so definitely bookmark this page and check back frequently.
ASRock DeskMeet
- CPU: Intel 12th Gen (Alder Lake)
- Memory: 128GB (ECC & Non-ECC)
- Storage: 2 x M.2 & 3 x SATA
- Network: 1 x 1GbE
- Graphics: Supports up to 20cm dGPU
- Size: 168 x 219.3 x 218.3 mm (8L)
- Availability: TBD
- ESXi Capable: TBD
- Source: https://www.asrock.com/news/index.asp?iD=4802
ASRock Industrial NUC 1200 Series
- CPU: Intel 12th Gen (Alder Lake)
- Memory: Up to 64GB
- Storage: 1 x M.2 & 1 x SATA
- Network: 2 x 2.5GbE
- Graphics: Integrated GPU
- Size: 110.0 x 117.5 x 47.85mm
- Availability: Available Now
- ESXi Capable: TBD
- Source: https://www.asrockind.com/en-gb/article/117
ASUS PN64
- CPU: Intel 12th Gen (Alder Lake)
- Memory: Up to 64GB
- Storage: 1 x M.2 & 1 x SATA
- Network: 1 x 2.5GbE
- Graphics: Integrated GPU
- Size: 120 x 130 x 55.5 mm
- Availability: Q2 2022
- ESXi Capable: TBD
- Source: https://www.asus.com/nz/news/mepiprmumirleadv/
HP Z2 Mini G9
- CPU: Intel 12th Gen (Alder Lake)
- Memory: Up to 64GB
- Storage: 2 x M.2
- Network: 1 x 1GbE
- Graphics: Nvidia RTX A2000
- Size: 210 x 218 x 68 mm
- Availability: March 2022
- ESXi Capable: TBD
- Source: https://www.hp.com/us-en/workstations/z2-mini.html
HUNSN RS36a
- CPU: Intel 11th Gen (Tiger Lake)
- Memory: Up to 64GB
- Storage: 1 x SATA & 1 x mSATA
- Network: 6 x 1GbE
- Graphics: Integrated GPU
- Size:78 x 126 x 55 mm
- Availability: Available Now
- ESXi Capable: Yes
- Source: https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/01/06/6x-gbe-intel-tiger-lake-network-appliance-supports-pfsense/
Intel NUC 12 Extreme (Dragon Canyon)
- CPU: Intel 12th Gen (Alder Lake)
- Memory: Up to 64GB
- Storage: 3 x M.2
- Network: 1 x 2.5GBE & 1 x 10GbE
- Graphics: Integrated GPU & supports up to 12" length discrete GPU
- Size: 357 x 189 x 120 mm (8L)
- Availability: Q2 2022
- ESXi Capable: Yes
- Source: https://williamlam.com/2022/02/esxi-on-intel-nuc-12-extreme-dragon-canyon.html
1st native 10GbE Intel NUC! 🐉 🥳🤐🤫 pic.twitter.com/E4lyeaFhpU
— William Lam (@lamw) January 11, 2022
Supermicro SYS-E300-12D
- CPU: Intel Xeon D-1700 (Ice Lake-D)
- Memory: Up to 256GB
- Storage: 1 x M.2 & 1 x SATA or 2 x SATA
- Network: 1 x 1GbE (IPMI) & 4 x 1GbE & 2 x 25GbE (SFP28)
- Graphics: Integrated GPU
- Size:6.1" (H) x 25.8" (W) x 18.3" (D)
- Availability: TBD
- ESXi Capable: TBD
- Source: https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/system/IoT/1U/SYS-E300-12D-10CN6P
Supermicro SYS-E302-12D
- CPU: Intel Xeon D-1700 (Ice Lake-D)
- Memory: Up to 256GB
- Storage: 1 x M.2 & 1 x SATA or 2 x SATA
- Network:1 x 1GbE (IPMI) & 4 x 1GbE & 2 x 25GbE (SFP28)
- Graphics:Integrated GPU
- Size: 6.1" (H) x 25.8" (W) x 18.3" (D)
- Availability:TBD
- ESXi Capable: TBD
- Source: https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/system/IoT/1U/SYS-E302-12D-8C
William, the DeskMeet supports 128GB RAM.
Good catch! Not sure how I missed that as that was one of the nice feature of DeskMeet
Could you add MSRP as a line for each option?
Is support for Alder Lake P+E core architectures coming for ESXi, or will only P cores be supported?
Stay tuned
Nice to see this! You might as well remove the DFI GFH51 though if it really only supports 8GB memory, you might be able to turn on a VM, but you won't be able to run any interesting solutions like NSX (and probably vRA, whatever else people are interested in, etc) their management/controller VM footprint alone will make this impossible/extremely limiting.
Its interesting that you mention as the GFH51 has been the most asked about kit thus far about ESXi 🙂
You're making an assumption that only use case is to run the full VMware stack and maybe true for many cases, but just like there's a use for rPI (also max out at 8GB), this could be interesting for running basic infra services (DNS, DHCP, etc) and could even be useful depending if the GPU can accessed.
For industrial use, running your application in a VM, also makes hardware replacements much easier, when running in a validated environment.
And running it on ESXi is much better, than running it in Vmware Player on a Windows PC...
Physical dimensions on the Supermicro SYS-E300 system seems off.. Data sheet is showing:
Height 1.7" (43mm)
Width 10" (254mm)
Depth 8.9" (226mm)
Still waiting to see if it'll run ESXi though! I guess if it won't, it'll probably be just fine for proxmox 😛
Hi
I done with server ASRock motherboard mini ITX and Ryzen into small case following this home lab :
https://www.tekarena.fr/2020/construisez-votre-cluster-de-virtualisation-amd-au-format-mini-itx don’t forget to activate English translation !
For interesting people !