Late 2025 mainboard recommendation

Hi,

I have been running CORE for the past ten years on an X11SSL-CF-O / E3-1230v5. 32GB ECC. It has just one 6x4 TB Z2 pool.

Mostly home backup and plex plus some light jails.

All the irreplaceable data is also backed up offsite, but not the large movie collection I could re-rip but would prefer not to.

I’m looking to build a new server to run SCALE. I probably won’t retire my existing NAS until it dies but will use it for weekly backup of the new NAS, not constantly on.

The new one will be on 24x7 and aside from being the backup target for all machines, I plan to run a few apps: gitea/forgejo, immich, jellyfin (likely no need for transcoding, at most two streams going at a time), paperless-ngx, calibre, unifi network controller, maybe owncloud if there’s room. We’re moving to a smaller apartment where I won’t have much room for my tech, and this new machine will likely sit in the living room, so quiet operation and “WAF” are important (budget is lower priority than these last two factors.)

I was thinking of getting a small case like Node 304 or Jonsbo N3 (any others you like?), two 18-20TB HDD mirrored, two small SSD for apps, and a smaller SSD for boot.

I just don’t know what motherboard to get. I’ve seen x10sdv-4c recommended for plain NAS and light apps but get a bit concerned about buying old parts used. Any other mini-ITX boards you’d recommend for what I’m trying to do? If mini-ITX is too tight a constraint please let me know and I’ll try to think about hiding a bigger case somewhere.

Thanks in advance!

Gregor

X10SDV boards really are a perfect fit for a Node 304, or other such small cases. (I trust the Node more than a Jonsbo N on cooling.)
So if you’re concerned my advice would be… to buy two so you have a spare.

New, if you want to maintain ECC RAM, you’d be looking at some expensive socketed server board, or at a Supermicro A2SDi (with SATA SSDs).
Alternate case: Supermicro CSE-721TQ (the TrueNAS Mini). I see many on eBay, though sometimes at prices where I’d like to see a complete build with… a X10SDV in there. Quiet… unless the PSU makes a high-pitch noise which then requires modification with a 40 mm Noctua fan.

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Mini ITX E3C246D2I.
8x sata

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Thank you both! Much appreciated.