SFF Proxmox Node Price Tracker
Dell OptiPlex Micro, HP EliteDesk/ProDesk Mini, Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny, ASUS NUC, Beelink & Minisforum
A tiny, quiet, power-efficient PC is one of the best ways to run Proxmox without a full server rack (my guide to choosing a mini PC for Proxmox covers what to check). Enterprise small form factor machines get retired from corporate fleets constantly, which keeps the used market well stocked, while newer mini PC brands like Beelink and Minisforum compete on price and, in Minisforum's case, on ports enterprise micros don't have. This tracks current listings across the brands homelabbers actually buy, plus Intel N100 and N305 mini PCs.
As of Oct 30, 2026: 91 working listings (for-parts and as-is excluded). Lowest price $77, median $475. Price history logged since Oct 11, 2026 (906 listing-days). Live from eBay listings. How this data is collected.
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Why These Brands
Each one is here because it's what homelabbers actually run as Proxmox nodes.
Dell OptiPlex Micro
Extremely common in corporate refresh cycles, which keeps the used market well supplied with clean units.
HP EliteDesk / ProDesk Mini
Strong thermal design and reliable Wake-on-LAN, which matters if you want to power-manage nodes remotely.
Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny
Usually the cheapest per-core option in this class, with a straightforward internal layout for RAM/storage upgrades.
ASUS NUC 13 Pro
Sold new, not used: current-generation CPUs and official support, at a real price premium over the enterprise surplus market.
Beelink
Aggressive pricing on current AMD/Intel silicon, and the budget pick when you don't need enterprise remote-management features.
Minisforum
The MS-01 punches above its size with built-in dual 10GbE and dual NVMe slots, making it a favorite for small Proxmox clusters.
Intel N100 / N305 boxes
Sold under many small brands (GMKtec and others). Low power and cheap, with Quick Sync for transcoding. See N305 vs N100 for Proxmox.
96 machines found · prices checked as of Oct 30, 2026
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Price history: cheapest listing price over time
The lowest listing price found each day this tracker has logged live listings — useful for seeing whether now is a cheap or expensive time to buy, not just what's cheapest today.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What's the best small form factor PC for a Proxmox node?
There's no single best answer. It depends on budget and RAM needs. Used Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny and HP EliteDesk Mini machines from 8th/9th-gen Intel offer the best price-to-performance for a first node. Dell OptiPlex Micro units hold value better on resale. ASUS NUC 13 Pro machines are sold new as barebone kits, so factor in RAM and storage costs separately. Beelink and Minisforum are worth a look too if you'd rather buy new than used: Beelink for aggressive pricing, Minisforum's MS-01 for built-in networking a used enterprise micro doesn't have.
Are Beelink and Minisforum good alternatives to enterprise surplus machines?
They're current product lines rather than corporate castoffs, so you're paying more for current-generation AMD/Intel silicon and no wear history. The Minisforum MS-01 stands out specifically for homelab use because of its built-in dual 10 Gigabit Ethernet and dual M.2 NVMe slots, ports you'd otherwise need a PCIe expansion card to add to a Dell, HP, or Lenovo micro, and a real draw for anyone building a small Proxmox cluster. Beelink's lineup (SER5, EQ14) trades some of that expandability for lower prices, making it a reasonable pick for a single lightweight node rather than a multi-NIC cluster member.
Do these machines support VT-x and VT-d for Proxmox?
Generally yes, on 6th-generation Intel Core CPUs and newer (the "T" suffix models common in these machines, like i5-8500T, all support VT-x). VT-d (IOMMU, needed for PCI passthrough) support varies by BIOS and generation: 8th-gen and newer machines from HP and Lenovo tend to expose it more reliably than earlier Dell Micro units. That passthrough is what you need if you're routing a GPU to an Ollama VM for something like OpenClaw.
What happened to the Intel NUC brand?
Intel sold the NUC brand and design rights to ASUS in 2023. Today's business-class NUC 13 Pro line continues the same compact form factor under ASUS. Note that ASUS's separate "ROG NUC" line is a very different, much more expensive gaming-focused product and isn't a fit for a homelab node.
How much RAM do I need for a Proxmox homelab node?
16GB is a reasonable minimum for running a handful of lightweight VMs or containers. 32GB gives real headroom for running several services simultaneously. Most of the machines on this page can be upgraded well past their stock RAM configuration, so buying a cheaper base config and upgrading the RAM yourself is often the better value.
Should I buy used enterprise SFF machines or a new mini PC?
For pure price-per-core, used enterprise machines (Dell/HP/Lenovo) usually win. Corporate fleets replace them on a refresh cycle while they still have plenty of life left. New mini PCs like the ASUS NUC cost more but come with current-generation CPUs, official support, and no wear history.
What's the power draw like on an SFF Proxmox node?
The 1-liter business minis on this page (OptiPlex Micro, EliteDesk/ProDesk Mini, ThinkCentre Tiny) typically idle around 12-16W at the wall in ServeTheHome's testing, and N100 boxes land in the same range, which makes them one of the cheapest tiers to run 24/7. Plug that into my power cost calculator against your electricity rate to see the real annual cost.