# Hardware Migration & Upgrade Plan

Long-term plan for the three primary machines in Kris's setup. Written 2026-05-12.

## Target end state

| Role | Machine | Why |
|------|---------|-----|
| Desktop / workstation | Mac Pro 7,1 (Intel) | Aesthetic + real expandability + Xeon W + DDR4 ECC |
| Server (STARGATE) | moirai (Arrow Lake) repurposed and rackmounted | Modern silicon, DDR5, fast NVMe, runs all services |
| NAS | Mac Pro 5,1 (cheese grater) | Cheap, huge drive capacity, perfect for bulk storage |

The current STARGATE (HP Z440) gets decommissioned or kept as a cold spare.

---

## Phase 1 — Acquire the Mac Pro 7,1

The 7,1 is the only Mac Pro that makes sense as a serious workstation: Xeon W, DDR4 ECC RDIMM, 8 PCIe slots, MPX bays, up to 1.5 TB RAM, real internal expansion. It's the chassis you grow into.

### Base unit to look for

| Spec | Minimum acceptable base | Notes |
|------|------------------------|------|
| CPU | Xeon W-3223 (8c/16t) or W-3235 (12c/24t) | CPU is socketed (LGA 3647) — upgradeable later |
| RAM | 32 GB DDR4-2933 ECC RDIMM (any config) | Will replace anyway |
| Storage | Whatever Apple SSD it ships with | Replace with NVMe via PCIe blade adapter |
| GPU | Stock 580X or W5700X | Will replace |
| PSU | 1.4 kW stock | Plenty |

Used market target: **$1500-2500 for a base 8-core 32 GB unit** as of early 2026. Don't pay for pre-maxed configs — Apple charges insane markups on RAM/SSD and we can do better aftermarket.

### Upgrade path (priority order)

1. **RAM → 192 GB (6× 32 GB DDR4-2933 ECC RDIMM)** — biggest single quality-of-life upgrade. Use Samsung/Hynix server-pull RDIMM. ~$300-500 used. Populate 6 slots first (1 DIMM per channel) for best bandwidth; only go to 12 slots if you need >192 GB.
2. **CPU → Xeon W-3275M (28c/56t, 2.5/4.4 GHz)** — the top chip. Drop-in, socketed. Used pulls run $400-800. Unlocks full RAM ceiling (1.5 TB) and PCIe lanes.
3. **Storage** — Apple's stock SSD is fine, but for real work: install 2× 4 TB NVMe via Sonnet M.2 4×4 PCIe card (requires bifurcation — works in 7,1). Keep Apple SSD for boot if dual-booting macOS.
4. **GPU** — depends on use. Sapphire Pulse RX 6900 XT (works natively in macOS Monterey+) or Radeon Pro W6800X MPX. Skip Nvidia (no driver support past 10.13).
5. **10 GbE** — stock 7,1 already has 2× 10 GbE on the I/O board. No upgrade needed; this is one of the few cases where the Mac Pro is server-class out of the box.

### Realistic maxed 7,1

- Xeon W-3275M (28c/56t)
- 192 GB DDR4-2933 ECC (room to grow to 1.5 TB)
- 4-8 TB NVMe via PCIe blade card
- Radeon Pro W6800X or RX 7900 XTX
- 2× 10 GbE onboard

Total cost path (base + upgrades): **~$2500-3500** for a machine that will be a top-tier workstation for another 5-7 years.

---

## Phase 2 — moirai → STARGATE migration

moirai is already on Arrow Lake (Core Ultra 7 265K, 20c, DDR5-5600). The migration is logical, not physical-first: provision moirai as a server, move services off the Z440, then optionally rack moirai.

### Current moirai specs (2026-05-12)

| Component | Value |
|-----------|-------|
| Board | ASUS Z890 AYW Gaming WiFi W (LGA 1851) |
| CPU | Intel Core Ultra 7 265K — 20c/20t, 5.6 GHz boost |
| RAM | 32 GB DDR5-5600 (2× 16, 2 slots free) |
| Boot | 1 TB NVMe (Crucial P310) |
| Data | 1 TB NVMe (`/mnt/storage2`) + 1.8 TB SATA (`/mnt/storage`) |
| GPU | AMD RX 6800 XT (Navi 21) |
| NIC | Realtek RTL8125 2.5 GbE + MediaTek WiFi 6 |

### Upgrade path (priority order)

1. **RAM → 128 GB DDR5-5600 (4× 32 GB UDIMM)** — Z890 board cap. moirai is already swap-thrashing at 32 GB; this is non-negotiable before becoming STARGATE. ~$300-400.
2. **Boot/data NVMe → 2 TB or 4 TB (WD SN850X / Samsung 990 Pro)** — leaves room for service data, container volumes, fast Postgres. ~$150-300.
3. **10 GbE NIC** — Intel X550-T2 (RJ45) or Mellanox ConnectX-4 Lx (SFP+). Critical link to the 5,1 NAS. Plug into a free PCIe x4+ slot. ~$60-150 used.
4. **CPU → Core Ultra 9 285K (24c, +8 E-cores)** — optional. Only meaningful uplift available on LGA 1851. ~$600. Skip unless you actually pin out the existing 265K.
5. **Chassis** — if rackmounting matters, swap into a 4U short-depth case (SilverStone RM41-H08 or similar). Otherwise keep the desktop case; it works fine sitting in a basement next to the 5,1.
6. **PSU** — current is fine for service workload. Only upgrade if adding GPU compute later (which the plan says you won't — that goes to a separate machine).

### Realistic maxed STARGATE

- Core Ultra 7 265K (or 285K if you want)
- 128 GB DDR5-5600
- 4 TB NVMe boot + 4 TB NVMe data
- 10 GbE NIC to NAS
- RX 6800 XT stays (display + occasional accel, irrelevant to services)

This destroys any used enterprise box of similar cost in per-core performance, while consuming less power and being silent.

### Migration order (Z440 → moirai)

1. Upgrade moirai RAM to 128 GB **first** (otherwise migration just moves the swap thrashing).
2. Install 10 GbE on moirai + on the NAS-to-be.
3. Stand up Docker / Tailscale / nginx on moirai as a parallel STARGATE.
4. Migrate services in order of blast radius (small first):
   - AdGuard, Glance, Invidious
   - Immich (move blobs over 10 GbE)
   - n8n, Linkding
   - Ghost / forge instances
   - krisyotam.com and notes.krisyotam.com last
5. Update DNS / Tailscale routes once everything is verified.
6. Decommission Z440 (keep as cold spare for a few months before parting out).

---

## Phase 3 — Mac Pro 5,1 NAS

The 5,1 is the cheapest credible NAS chassis on the planet for the storage capacity. Single-CPU tray with a hex-core is the right config — dual-CPU adds heat and noise for no NAS benefit.

### Base unit to look for

| Spec | Target | Notes |
|------|--------|------|
| Tray | Single-CPU 5,1 (2010 or 2012, both fine after firmware flash to 5,1) | Avoid dual-tray unless you find one cheap; ZFS doesn't need 12 cores |
| CPU | Xeon W3690 (6c/12t @ 3.46 GHz) | Last supported single-CPU chip |
| RAM | 64-96 GB DDR3-1333 ECC RDIMM | 6 slots, 16 GB sticks |
| PSU | Stock 980W | Plenty for 8 drives |
| Firmware | Flashed to 5,1 if it's a 4,1 | One-time mod, well-documented |

Target price: **$200-400 for a working empty 5,1 chassis.** Don't pay for upgrades — RAM, CPU, drives all go in aftermarket.

### Capacity ceiling

Internal-only, stock chassis:

| Location | Stock | With brackets/cards |
|----------|-------|---------------------|
| 4× 3.5" sleds | 4× 3.5" HDD | unchanged |
| 2× 5.25" optical bays | empty | 4× 3.5" HDD via $15 brackets |
| PCIe NVMe (slot 1, x16) | n/a | 1-4× M.2 NVMe via adapter (cache/L2ARC) |

**8× 3.5" HDDs internal.** At today's 24 TB drives: **192 TB raw / ~140 TB usable RAIDZ2**. At conservative 16 TB drives: **128 TB raw / ~96 TB usable**.

### Required upgrades

1. **HBA — LSI 9211-8i in IT mode** (~$40 used). Replaces the slow SATA II onboard ports. 8 SAS/SATA channels at SATA III speeds. ZFS prefers this.
2. **10 GbE NIC — Mellanox ConnectX-3 EN** (~$25 used) or ConnectX-4 Lx. Pairs with moirai's 10 GbE.
3. **RAM to 64-96 GB DDR3 ECC RDIMM** (single-tray takes 6 sticks). ZFS ARC loves RAM. ~$80-150 used.
4. **NVMe PCIe adapter** in slot 2 — 2× 1 TB M.2 for L2ARC + special vdev. Hugely improves metadata-heavy ops. ~$30 adapter + drives.
5. **8× 16 TB HDDs** — bulk of the cost. Buy in pairs over time; ZFS lets you expand by replacing one drive at a time. WD HC550 or Seagate Exos used pulls run $130-180 each.

### Software

- TrueNAS SCALE (Debian-based, official ZFS, web UI) — recommended for set-and-forget
- Or Arch + OpenZFS if you want full hands-on (matches the rest of your stack)
- Datasets: at minimum split `/photos`, `/media`, `/backups`, `/archive`
- Snapshots: hourly/daily/weekly/monthly, with zfs-auto-snapshot
- Replication: nightly `zfs send` to a Hetzner Storage Box or similar for off-site

### Realistic build cost

| Item | Cost |
|------|------|
| Mac Pro 5,1 empty | $300 |
| W3690 CPU | $50 |
| 96 GB DDR3 ECC | $150 |
| LSI 9211-8i HBA | $40 |
| 10 GbE NIC | $50 |
| NVMe adapter + 2× 1 TB | $130 |
| 8× 16 TB HDD | $1200 |
| Cables, brackets | $50 |
| **Total** | **~$1,970** |

For ~$2K you get a 96 TB usable NAS in a beautiful chassis with 10 GbE to the rest of the rack. Drives are 80% of the cost.

---

## Sequencing recommendation

If acquiring everything on a budget over time:

1. **Now / immediately:** moirai RAM upgrade to 128 GB. This unblocks the migration and stops current swap thrashing on both moirai (when it migrates) and STARGATE (after migration).
2. **Within a few months:** acquire Mac Pro 5,1 chassis + minimum upgrades + 4-6 drives. Stand up NAS, migrate bulk media off Z440's `/mnt/storage` (currently 82% full).
3. **Within a year:** acquire Mac Pro 7,1 base unit. Use as workstation while moirai handles services. Upgrade 7,1 RAM/CPU/storage incrementally as budget allows.
4. **As needed:** add 10 GbE between moirai and 5,1. Expand NAS drives in pairs.

Total budget across all three machines, end-to-end: **$5,000-7,000** spread over 12-24 months. Result is a homelab that will last another decade.