I never had any problems with the Realtek NIC.
(I have at least 5 live systems based on this platform, and had no issues with that.)
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Yes, impossible not agree, Is kinda old platform… I was just considering It as backup solution
For me, shocking 
after a really bad experience on Core, Realtek will never stay in my Nas until official support
For Low power, you should aim for the “L” tagged CPUs.
The 2650L v2 is for exaple a 10 core, 20 thread, 60TDP Xeon CPU.
Actually, if one has a home lab at home, and you use a lot of VM–s or more servers, the high power, multicore CPU-s are not that bad if you consider the “perCore” power consumption.
(The E5-2697 v4 is a 22 core, 44 thread CPU with 140 W TDP. If you divide the 140W b the 44 cores, it is a bit more than 3W perthread.)
Regarding the NIC, I never osed Core, only Scale.
I did not see any issues with the Realtek NICs…
TDP is irrelevant: This is (an indicator of) the maximal power use.
What matters is idle power draw. ‘L’, ‘T’ or “whatever-letter” TDP-restricted have the same idle power draw as their regular counterpart.
Worse, because the ‘L’ CPU does not ramp up as high as a regular CPU under load, it takes longer to complete the task… and may use more power in doing so than a regular CPU which ramp up to a higher clock and then goes back faster to idle. This is known as the “Race to idle”.
Only consider a ‘L’ CPU if you have cooling issues and do need to throttle the CPU to keep heat under control.
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It is not “Irrelevant”, but a good indicator about the expected max power draw.
And you are right, that the most important the idle power draw, but that is also not only depends on the CPU only.
The motherboard, the PSU efficiency, the HDDs/SSDs, and the amount of RAM and add-on cards (and, even the fans in the case) all have on an effect on the power draw of the system.
100% true
But this is maybe too much harsh 
Just for example my case, maybe not all are like that:
but imho the 0.4% power difference is well compensated!
In this case despite the difference is quite more
but really: a 25w CPU can run pratically fanless without problem. Can be a really good decision in specific “small” build
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This is why it is really important to ask all the relevant questions BEFORE one buys their system.
If you only want a simple NAS, with TrueNAS on bare metal, and you dont plan to run later any VMs or containers, you can easily get away with a simple, 4 core Intel Atom CPU system, with 16GB DDRx non ECC RAM.
(I know it, because I started my first file server with even less in 2009. )
But, as soon as you plan anything more, your needs will change significantly.
And not into one direction!
Maybe, more RAM is enough for you, maybe you need a dual EPYC CPU monster to have your most suitable system for your needs.
And, finally my thoughts on power consumption of such systems:
If you only need a NAS for yourself and the family, then a cheap, low power, and silent system might be the way to go.
But, if you are after a home lab, then it becomes a HOBBY.
Of course, your goal still could be to create the lowest power, or the cheapest system, or the most cutting edge technology.
This all depends n your needs, goals and options.
Usually, however, those are perpendicular to each other.
(you cannot have a cheap, powerful and modern system. one of the three will suffer.)
I use older generations of Xeon systems, because I got to the conclusion that those are currently the best bang for the buck options.
You can have impressive complet systems, (even a dual Xeon CPU monster too) for the price only a single CPU Supermicro, modern motherboard!
(Even for a price of a normal, not the top of the line, Intel or AMD system)
Yes, it WILL have higher power consumption, and will be slower too.
But, as I told already, it is a HOBBY.
ALL hobbies are expensive!
(try keeping a horse, or even a cat, or fishes!)
It does not make any sense to debate about power consumption if it is a hobby.
It does, it one is planning to use it as an appliance.
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