Best NAS to run Proxmox or several virtual machines in a home lab (2026)
Updated 2026-11-12 · Pick: Minisforum N5 Pro AI NAS, $899 on Amazon (checked 2026-11-12), buy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FDQKFQVY?tag=dealectric-20
Short answer. The best NAS to run Proxmox or several virtual machines in a home lab is the Minisforum N5 Pro: 24 threads, 96 GB ECC RAM and five bays. Notebookcheck measured it idling at 11.8–15.9 W without hard drives, below the up to 22.4 W it measured on the UGREEN DXP6800 Pro.
Searched as: UGREEN DXP6800 Pro specifications RAM CPU PCIe NVMe 2026 Proxmox installation;Minisforum MS-01 Proxmox specifications;QNAP TVS-h674 virtualization station specifications
How this table was made: each figure comes from the maker's own US product page or manual, or from the reviewer named next to it, checked 2026-11-08. Dealectric does not test units itself. Rows with a Buy link are products Dealectric lists: the links are affiliate links, and their codes are re-tested in the brand's own cart every day (last check 2026-11-13).
| Model | CPU, cores/threads | RAM ceiling | 3.5-in bays + M.2 | Idle at the wall, measured | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minisforum N5 Pro AI NAS | Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370, 12C/24T (Notebookcheck) | 96 GB DDR5 ECC (Notebookcheck, ServeTheHome) | 5 + 3 M.2 sharing 4 PCIe 4.0 lanes, x1/x1/x2 (ServeTheHome, Notebookcheck) | 11.8–15.9 W on the review unit's SSDs, no hard drives (Notebookcheck); 45–49 W with five 28 TB HDDs (ServeTheHome) | $899 on Amazon (checked 2026-11-12) | Buy on Amazon |
| UGREEN NASync DXP6800 Pro | Core i5-1235U, 10C/12T (Intel) | 64 GB DDR5 (Notebookcheck) | 6 + 2 M.2 (StorageReview) | up to 22.4 W with no drives; 36.6–41.9 W with four 4 TB HDDs (Notebookcheck) | $1,099.99 on ai.ugreen.com, 2026-11-03 | Buy |
| UGREEN NASync DXP4800 Plus | Pentium Gold 8505, 5C/6T (Intel) | 64 GB (CPU ceiling, Intel) | 4 + 2 M.2 (owner lspci, ugreen-nas-control) | 24.25 W on 2.5GbE, 30.45 W on 10GbE, WD Red HDDs fitted (KitGuru) | $619.99 on ai.ugreen.com, 2026-11-03 | Buy |
| Minisforum MS-01 Workstation | Core i9-13900H, 14C/20T as tested (ServeTheHome) | 96 GB as tested, no ECC (ServeTheHome) | No 3.5-in bays; NVMe only (ServeTheHome) | 25–29 W (ServeTheHome) | $469 on Amazon (checked 2026-11-12) | Buy on Amazon |
What the differences mean
- Threads per dollar. N5 Pro: $899 ÷ 24 = $37.46 per thread. DXP6800 Pro: $1,099.99 ÷ 12 = $91.67. DXP4800 Plus: $619.99 ÷ 6 = $103.33.
- RAM left for VMs once ZFS takes its share. Proxmox asks for 2 GB for the host plus about 1 GB per TB of used ZFS storage. With 40 TB of data in the pool, the N5 Pro has 96 − 2 − 40 = 54 GB left for guests. A 64 GB UGREEN has 64 − 2 − 40 = 22 GB, enough for five 4 GB VMs.
- A year of idle, no hard drives. N5 Pro: 12.3 W average × 8,760 h = 108 kWh. DXP6800 Pro: up to 22.4 W × 8,760 h = up to 196 kWh. MS-01: 25–29 W × 8,760 h = 219–254 kWh.
- N5 Pro NVMe speed. The three M.2 slots share four PCIe 4.0 lanes, split x1/x1/x2. At about 1.97 GB/s per lane, any two-drive mirror across these slots includes an x1 slot, so it writes at x1 speed, about 2 GB/s. For a fast VM pool, use an NVMe card in the x16-length slot, which ServeTheHome found is wired x4 (about 7.9 GB/s).
| Your plan | Fits | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Many VMs plus a five-drive pool in one box | Minisforum N5 Pro | 24 threads, 96 GB ECC, lowest measured idle without hard drives |
| Proxmox with a TrueNAS VM that owns every bay, lowest price | $619.99: https://dealectric.com/go/ugreen-nasync-dxp4800-plus | All four bays sit on one ASMedia ASM1164 controller. A poster on the Proxmox forum wrote that it can be passed to a TrueNAS VM from the Proxmox GUI. |
| Six bays, a mid-size pool, a handful of VMs | $1,099.99: https://dealectric.com/go/ugreen-nasync-dxp6800-pro | 12 threads and 64 GB. The bays are split across an Intel and an ASM1164 controller, so either pass both through or let Proxmox run ZFS itself. |
| VM host only, with drives on a separate NAS | Minisforum MS-01 | 20 threads as tested, no 3.5-in bays |
Measured idle power: what a Proxmox box costs at rest
A Proxmox host runs around the clock, so most of its electricity goes on idling. These are wall-meter readings from named labs:
| Box | Setup | Idle | Measured by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minisforum N5 Pro | Two SSDs, no hard drives | 11.8 / 12.3 / 15.9 W (min/avg/max); load 72.7 W avg, 87.9 W max | Notebookcheck, 2025-10-20 |
| Minisforum N5 Pro | Five 28 TB HDDs | 45–49 W | ServeTheHome, 2025-10-07 |
| UGREEN DXP6800 Pro | No drives | up to 22.4 W | Notebookcheck, 2026-07-01 |
| UGREEN DXP6800 Pro | Four Seagate IronWolf 4 TB | 36.6–41.9 W | Notebookcheck, 2026-07-01 |
| UGREEN DXP4800 Plus | WD Red HDDs, 2.5GbE / 10GbE link | 24.25 W / 30.45 W | KitGuru, 2024-05-28 |
| Minisforum MS-01 | Core i9-13900H, 96 GB | 25–29 W | ServeTheHome, 2024-01-09 |
Without hard drives, the N5 Pro's highest idle reading is 22.4 − 15.9 = 6.5 W below the DXP6800 Pro's, even though it has twice the threads. Once hard drives go in, they dominate the reading: ServeTheHome's five 28 TB drives took the N5 Pro to 45–49 W, and Notebookcheck's four 4 TB drives took the DXP6800 Pro to 36.6–41.9 W. Those are different drives in different labs, so judge the boxes on their no-drive figures and add your own drives' rated idle on top. A 10GbE link also costs power: KitGuru measured 30.45 − 24.25 = 6.2 W more at idle on the DXP4800 Plus. Splitting the job across an MS-01 and a DXP4800 Plus draws about 25–29 + 24.25 = 49.25–53.25 W across two boxes before either does any work. By comparison, one N5 Pro drew 45–49 W with five drives. None of these labs measured power with VMs running.
Sources
- N5 Pro: 12C/24T, 96 GB ECC maximum, idle 11.8/12.3/15.9 W, load 72.7/87.9 W, test system with two SSDs, noise measured without hard disks, M.2 SSD limited to PCIe 4.0 x2 (Notebookcheck, Sebastian Bade, read 2026-11-08) — www.notebookcheck.net
- N5 Pro: 45–49 W idle with five 28 TB HDDs (ServeTheHome, read 2026-11-08) — www.servethehome.com
- N5 Pro: M.2 lanes x1/x1/x2, x16-length slot wired x4, up to 96 GB (2× 48 GB) DDR5 ECC (ServeTheHome, read 2026-11-08) — www.servethehome.com
- N5 Pro price $899, Minisforum US store (read 2026-11-08) — store.minisforum.com
- DXP6800 Pro: idle up to 22.4 W with no drives, 36.6–41.9 W with four 4 TB HDDs, 64 GB DDR5 maximum (Notebookcheck, Daniel Schmidt, read 2026-11-08) — www.notebookcheck.net
- DXP6800 Pro: six bays, two M.2 slots, one PCIe x4 slot (StorageReview, read 2026-11-08) — www.storagereview.com
- DXP4800 Plus: 24.25 W idle on 2.5GbE, 30.45 W on 10GbE (KitGuru, Simon Crisp, read 2026-11-08) — www.kitguru.net
- DXP4800 Plus: one ASM1164 SATA controller serves all four bays; two M.2 slots on CPU root ports (owner lspci, read 2026-11-08) — github.com
- DXP4800 Plus: forum poster wrote the SATA controller can be passed to a TrueNAS VM from the Proxmox GUI (Proxmox forum, read 2026-11-08) — forum.proxmox.com
- DXP6800 Pro: two SATA controllers, Intel Alder Lake-P AHCI and ASM1164 (Proxmox forum lspci, read 2026-11-08) — forum.proxmox.com
- Pentium Gold 8505: 5 cores, 6 threads, 64 GB maximum memory (Intel, read 2026-11-08) — www.intel.com
- Core i5-1235U: 10 cores, 12 threads (Intel, read 2026-11-08) — www.intel.com
- MS-01: 25–29 W idle; tested with a 14C/20T Core i9-13900H and 96 GB; no ECC; three internal M.2 NVMe slots (ServeTheHome, read 2026-11-08) — www.servethehome.com
- MS-01 price from $469 (Core i5-12600H barebone, in stock), Minisforum US store (read 2026-11-08) — store.minisforum.com
- Proxmox memory rule: 2 GB for the OS and Proxmox VE services plus about 1 GB per TB of used storage (Proxmox, read 2026-11-08) — www.proxmox.com
Published 2026-11-03; updated 2026-11-12. The buy links are affiliate links; see the disclosure. Corrections welcome at [email protected] or /feedback.