Introducing Soryu, my primary Linux server. Crafted within a refined aluminum unibody chassis, Soryu delivers a compact footprint without compromise—supporting up to ten SSDs for exceptional capacity and flexibility.
Overview
Soryu is built to balance performance, efficiency, and reliability in a small form factor. It's designed for running my own personal cloud service, Core Cloud—without the noise or power draw of a traditional rackmount. The guiding principles were simple: strong single-thread performance, ample memory headroom, fast and reliable storage, and robust networking, all within a chassis that invites neat cable management and future expansion.
Specifications
- CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-11600K @ 3.90GHz
- MB: GIGABYTE Z590I VISION D
- RAM: 2 × Crucial Pro 32 GiB DDR4-3200
- Drive:
- NVMe SSD:
- KIOXIA EXCERIA G2 SSD 2000 GB
- KIOXIA EXCERIA SSD 500 GB
- SAMSUNG MZVLW256HEHP-000H1 256 GB
- Intel MEMPEK1J016GAL 16 GB
- SATA SSD:
- Crucial CT1000MX500SSD1 1000 GB
- Intel SSDSC2BW056H6 56 GB
- NVMe SSD:
- PSU: Enhance ENP-8345L 450W
- NIC: Intel I225-V 2.5GbE
- OS: Linux Soryu 6.12.48+deb13-amd64
What I'd Change Next
Future iterations may explore:
- An ECC-capable platform for end-to-end data integrity.
- 10 GbE SFP+ or NBASE‑T for faster networking.
- A modest PCIe lane upgrade (e.g., a newer Intel platform) to enable more NVMe expansion and further scale SSD capacity.
- Replacing Linux with FreeBSD (currently blocked by FreeBSD's support for Swift and the Thunderbolt/USB4 standard).
Soryu embodies a simple idea: powerful, reliable computing doesn't need to be loud, large, or complex. With thoughtful hardware and software, this compact server becomes a quiet cornerstone for my everyday services at home.
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