My Homelab Setup in 2026: Reusing Old Hardware Instead of Buying New
When people think about homelabs, they often imagine expensive servers, enterprise networking gear, and racks full of equipment.
My setup is much simpler.
Instead of buying new hardware, I decided to build my homelab using a reused HP ProDesk 600 G2 Mini that I already had available. The goal was to create a reliable and low-power environment capable of running media services, storage, DNS filtering, and Docker containers 24/7.
Hardware
My server is based on the following hardware:
- HP ProDesk 600 G2 Mini
- Intel Core i5-6500T
- 16GB DDR4 RAM
- Kingston 480GB SSD for the operating system and virtual machines
- 2x 1TB HDD dedicated to storage
The host operating system is Windows Server 2019 running Hyper-V.
Even though this hardware is several years old, it still provides more than enough performance for my needs while keeping power consumption relatively low.
Virtual Machines
To keep services organized, I split everything into separate virtual machines.
DNS Server
The first VM runs DietPi and hosts AdGuard Home.
I deliberately keep DNS separate from my Docker services. If I need to reboot or troubleshoot the Docker VM, DNS resolution for the rest of my network continues to work normally.
This separation might be unnecessary for some people, but I prefer having critical network services isolated.
Docker Server
The second VM also runs DietPi and hosts several Docker containers:
- Portainer
- Emby
- Sonarr
- Radarr
- Prowlarr
- qBittorrent
This VM handles all media-related services and container management.
DietPi has been a great choice because it is lightweight, simple, and uses very few system resources.
Storage Server
A third VM runs OpenMediaVault (OMV).
The two 1TB hard drives are attached directly to this VM and used for storage and network shares.
This allows me to separate storage management from the rest of the infrastructure while keeping everything centralized.
Performance
Despite running three virtual machines continuously, resource usage remains surprisingly low.
Typical usage is:
- CPU usage below 10%
- Around 10GB of RAM used
- Minimal disk activity most of the time
For an older mini PC, the performance has exceeded my expectations.
Why I Chose This Approach
One of the main goals of this homelab was to reuse hardware that I already owned.
Many homelab projects focus on purchasing new equipment, but older business mini PCs can still provide excellent value.
The HP ProDesk 600 G2 Mini has proven to be reliable, compact, quiet, and powerful enough for my workloads.
Final Thoughts
This setup shows that building a useful homelab does not require expensive hardware.
By reusing older equipment and separating services into dedicated virtual machines, it is possible to create a stable environment for learning, self-hosting, media streaming, and storage.
As this homelab evolves, I plan to document future upgrades, power consumption measurements, backup strategies, and additional services running on the server.