00:00Thinking about building your own compact home server or finally ditching those monthly cloud
00:04storage fees? Putting together a DIY NAS is easily one of the most rewarding tech projects you can
00:10tackle, but picking the right foundation can make or break your build. To save you the headache,
00:15I've tracked down the best deals on the top 5 mini-ITX NAS motherboards you can get your hands
00:20on right now. Starting off with our best budget workhorse, we have the C246 Pro 8-Bay motherboard
00:26coming in at an incredible price of around $110. The standout feature here is pure expansion
00:32potential, you get 8 native SATA ports, 4 gigabit LAN ports, and support for Intel 8th and 9th gen or
00:38Xeon E-series processors. If you have an older desktop CPU lying around and want to build a
00:44high-capacity, drive-packed storage vault without spending much cash, this board is an absolute
00:49no-brainer. Next up is the 6-Bay mini-ITX board featuring Intel's modern Alder Lake N chips like
00:55the N100 and N305, priced right around $306. Its best feature is modern energy efficiency,
01:02combining low-power soldered chips with DDR5 memory support and dual 2.5-gigabit Intel i226 VLAN ports.
01:10It's practically built from the ground up for operating systems like TrueNAS or Unraid,
01:14making it worth every penny if you want a whisper-quiet, low-wattage server running 24-7 that
01:19won't bump up your electric bill. Moving along, we've got the upgraded N156-Bay motherboard that
01:26brings a full 10-gigabit Ethernet port to the table for around $210. That built-in 10G networking is the
01:33real showstopper here, giving you lightning-fast throughput so editing files directly over your
01:37local network feels just like using a fast internal drive. At just over $200, it strikes an awesome
01:43sweet spot between low-power processing and high-speed data transfer, making it an incredible
01:48value for soft routing and fast backups. If you love the low power of Intel's N-series chips but
01:54refuse to compromise on drive space, this 8-bay mini-ITX motherboard is the answer, priced at around
02:00$333. The highlight here is getting a massive 8 SATA slots alongside 10-gigabit networking packed
02:07into a tiny mini-ITX footprint. It's worth buying because you don't have to piece together PCIe
02:12expansion cards to get serious drive density, it gives you everything you need right out of the
02:16box for a seriously capable home media server. Rounding out the list is the feature-packed 6-bay
02:22firewall and NAS board supporting chips up to the core i3 and 305, sitting at about $330.
02:29What sets this board apart is its versatile network layout, boasting a 10G port alongside dual 2.5G
02:35ports, 2 NVMe slots, and DDR5 support. If you're building an all-in-one homelab box to run
02:41OpenSense, host multiple virtual machines, and manage mass storage with zero bottlenecks,
02:47this motherboard is hands-down the most flexible option on the market.
02:51All the links to each of these motherboards are waiting for you down in the description
02:54below so you can grab the latest prices. If this video helped you plan your next home
03:00server build, please drop a quick like, hit that subscribe button, and let me know in the
03:04comments which board you're going with. See you in the next one!
