You’ve got room for one small box on the shelf, roughly $350 to $750 to spend, and four Intel chips that all get sold as the cheap homelab answer. The Core 3 304 vs N150 question is the one I keep seeing, because Wildcat Lake mini PCs reached Amazon this summer, just above the N150 price band.
The other two contenders are the eight-core parts, the Core 3 N355 and the older Core i3-N305. Below I match a chip to each homelab job, then compare single-thread and all-core scores, Quick Sync for Plex and Jellyfin, idle power, memory, I/O, and Linux and Proxmox support. The boxes worth buying for each chip come last.
Checked against Intel’s spec pages and live Amazon listings in October 2026. I haven’t had a 304 box on my own bench yet, so every measured number below is credited to the reviewer who ran it.
Which chip for which homelab job
Proxmox node or Docker host: Core 3 304. It has about twice the single-thread speed of an N150, PCIe 4.0 and Thunderbolt 4. Get the Beelink EQi with 24GB of DDR5 in a SO-DIMM slot, because RAM is what limits guest count. About $599, check live price.
Cheapest complete 304 box: Beelink EQ mini. The EQ mini pairs 12GB of soldered LPDDR5 with 10GbE. About $409, check live price.
Silent always-on box or small firewall: N150. The fanless MeLE Quieter DL has two Intel i226-V 2.5GbE ports, the NIC that OPNsense and pfSense handle well. Its 8GB is soldered, so keep the job small. About $355, check live price.
Four-bay NAS: Core i3-N305. The TerraMaster F4-424 Pro ships with 32GB of DDR5 already installed, which matters more than the CPU at 2026 memory prices. About $730, check live price.
The N355 gets no award: it is barely quicker than the N305, and US retail is mostly barebone firewall appliances. For Plex or Jellyfin, an N-series box is the measured option, since nobody has published a 304 stream count yet.
How I picked
This is a spec comparison, not a bench test. Every chip spec comes from Intel’s ARK pages, starting with the Core 3 304 specification page. Every measured number (benchmarks, wall power, transcode counts) comes from a named third party: CNX Software, LinuxLinks, Lon.TV, ServeTheHome, PassMark and the SpaceinvaderOne transcoding leaderboard. Prices and stock came from Amazon’s API on October 6, 2026.
One caveat runs through the whole piece. So far the only 304 box that reviewers have measured is the Beelink EQi, so every 304 power and benchmark figure here is really an EQi figure. CNX and LinuxLinks tested the 16GB LPDDR5 board; only Lon.TV tested the 24GB DDR5 SO-DIMM version. I skipped 8GB budget 304 boxes because 8GB is too little for Proxmox.
Core 3 304 vs N150 vs N355 vs N305: specs side by side
| Spec | Core 3 304 | N150 | Core 3 N355 | Core i3-N305 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family | Wildcat Lake, Intel 18A | Twin Lake, Intel 7 | Twin Lake, Intel 7 | Alder Lake-N, Intel 7 |
| Cores / threads | 5 / 5 (1 P-core + 4 LP E-cores) | 4 / 4 | 8 / 8 | 8 / 8 |
| Max turbo | 4.3 GHz | 3.6 GHz | 3.9 GHz | 3.8 GHz |
| Power | 15 W base, 35 W max turbo | 6 W | 15 W | 15 W |
| iGPU | 1 Xe core (Xe3), 2.3 GHz | 24 EU, 1.0 GHz | 32 EU, 1.35 GHz | 32 EU, 1.25 GHz |
| Media engine | Quick Sync, AV1 encode and decode | Quick Sync, AV1 decode only | Quick Sync, AV1 decode only | Quick Sync, AV1 decode only |
| Memory | LPDDR5X-7467 or DDR5-6400 | DDR4-3200, DDR5-4800, LPDDR5-4800 | Same as N150 | Same as N150 |
| Channels / max (ARK) | 1 / 64 GB | 1 / 16 GB | 1 / 16 GB | 1 / 16 GB |
| PCIe | 6 lanes, PCIe 4.0 | 9 lanes, PCIe 3.0 | 9 lanes, PCIe 3.0 | 9 lanes, PCIe 3.0 |
| Thunderbolt 4 | Yes | No | No | No |
| ECC | Not listed on ARK; IBECC in Linux, BIOS unknown | No (ARK) | No (ARK) | No (ARK); IBECC on some boards |
| NPU | 15 TOPS | None | None | None |
The N150 and N355 are Twin Lake, which is Alder Lake-N silicon under a new name. The N355’s ARK page reads almost line for line like the N305’s, and Intel calls it Core 3 N355, with no i3 prefix.
1. CPU performance: one fast core vs eight slow ones
Single-thread is where the 304 runs away. CNX Software’s Windows review of the 16GB Beelink EQi measured 1,732 points in Cinebench R23 single-core, against 1,030 for a Weibu N10 with the i3-N305 and 918 for an N100 box. On Ubuntu, CNX’s follow-up review logged 2,490 in Geekbench 6 single-core, about double the N100 box’s 1,228.
PassMark’s crowd averages, read on October 6 (they drift as samples come in), line up with that:
| Chip | CPU Mark | Single thread | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core 3 304 | 12,256 | 3,831 | 121 |
| Core 3 N355 | 10,510 | 2,199 | 380 |
| Core i3-N305 | 9,349 | 2,033 | 1,206 |
| N150 | 5,342 | 1,892 | 2,226 |
All-core is closer than those numbers suggest. The 304 has five threads and only one is a P-core. In CNX’s Cinebench R23 multi-core run it scored 4,863 to the N305’s 4,505, a lead of about 8%. On Ubuntu, 7-zip went the other way: the eight-core i3-N300 in an ODROID-H5 (a close relative of the N305) hit 23,820 MIPS to the 304’s 16,360, so the older design did about 46% more compression work. Under sustained load CNX saw the 304 settle at 2.9 GHz on the P-core and 2.6 GHz on the E-cores, and blamed power limits, not heat.
The N355 does not change the picture much. ServeTheHome called it “a really weak refresh performance gain” over the N305 in its Qotom review. In its CWWK X86-P6 review the N355 was “nowhere near twice as fast” as the N150 in the same chassis, because CWWK’s firmware lets it burst and then holds it around 9 W. On these boards, the BIOS power limits matter as much as the chip.
2. iGPU and Quick Sync for Plex and Jellyfin
For a media server the N-series is the known quantity. SpaceinvaderOne’s transcoding leaderboard runs jellyfin-ffmpeg and counts concurrent streams until one drops below real time. Twin Lake chips (N150, N250 and N355) fall under its “Alder Lake-N [Intel Graphics]” DDR5 rows, which show a median of 4 streams for 4K HEVC to 1080p H.264 and 2 for tone-mapped 4K HDR. The HDR figure rests on only two clean runs, so treat it as a rough guide. The N100 and N305 “UHD Graphics” rows land on the same 4 and 2. The board does not split rows by EU count, so the N355’s 32 EUs and the N150’s 24 share a bucket.
The 304 has no entry on that leaderboard as of October 6, and I couldn’t find a measured stream count anywhere else. ARK does confirm its single Xe core (Xe3, per Phoronix and CNX) has Quick Sync with AV1 encode and decode. The N-series media engine decodes AV1 but can’t encode it, while HEVC and VP9 10-bit encode and decode work on all three. Jellyfin’s Intel docs say HDR tone mapping works on any Intel GPU with HEVC 10-bit decode, so the N-series boxes are covered there.
One warning sign for the 304 on Linux: CNX found 8K60 AV1 YouTube smooth on Windows, but called 8K60 “completely unwatchable” in both Firefox and Chrome on Ubuntu, with micro-freezes at 4K60 and 8K30 too. That’s browser decode, not a server transcode, but it hints the Xe3 media stack on Linux is still maturing. The Plex and Jellyfin transcoding guide has stream counts for every GPU class if you’re sizing a dedicated media box.
3. Idle power at the wall
Idle draw is the 304’s nicest surprise. CNX measured the 16GB Beelink EQi at 4.0 to 4.2 W on Ubuntu with only Wi-Fi connected, 4.7 to 4.9 W with the 2.5GbE port in use, and 5.6 to 5.7 W on 10GbE. LinuxLinks got 5.5 W with the screens off on the same 16GB board, and Lon.TV saw about 5.4 W on the 24GB DDR5 version.
Under load it acts like the 15 W chip it is, with a 35 W turbo ceiling. CNX logged about 34 W in the first seconds of a five-thread stress test, settling just under 19 W.
The N-series figures come from different boxes, so read them as platform numbers. ServeTheHome measured 10 to 11 W idle on a CWWK X86-P6 N150 with one SSD and no fan, and 12 to 13 W on the N355 version with four SSDs and a USB fan. Its Qotom N355 with 10GBase-T idled at 13 to 15 W while the CPU package sat around 1 W. CNX measured 12.5 W on a Weibu N10 with the i3-N305.
The NIC, SSD count, fan and BIOS limits swing idle power more than the SoC does.
4. Memory: one channel, and the 2026 RAM bill
ARK lists a single memory channel for all four chips, so nobody gets dual-channel here. The difference is speed. The 304 takes LPDDR5X-7467 or DDR5-6400, while the N-series tops out at DDR5-4800, and plenty of N150 boxes still ship with DDR4-3200. CNX’s memcpy test on the 16GB LPDDR5 EQi shows what that buys: 21,001 MB/s against 9,578 MB/s on an N100 box and 12,034 MB/s on the ODROID-H5.
Capacity looks lopsided on paper. ARK says 64 GB for the 304 and 16 GB for the N-series, but Hardkernel has confirmed 32, 48 and 64 GB SO-DIMMs on its N305 board, and ServeTheHome notes these chips have “regularly unofficially supported twice as much memory”. For a VM node that ceiling matters more than cores, and our breakdown of how many VMs each mini PC tier runs shows why.
Then there’s the price of that RAM. On October 6 a single 16GB DDR5-4800 SO-DIMM cost about $240 to $270 on Amazon, and a 32GB DDR5-5600 stick cost about $430 to $520. That breaks the old barebone math. A barebone four-slot N305 NVMe board at about $359 plus the cheapest 16GB stick comes to about $599 before you buy an SSD. A complete Beelink EQ mini with a 304, 12GB and 512GB is about $409, and the 16GB EQi is about $469.
CNX saw this coming in April, warning that “affordable/cheap in 2026 might translate into a complete system going for around $400” because of the RAM situation. The cheap-barebone argument for the N-series is gone this year. Buy a box that already has its memory, or one where the bundled RAM is the real value (the TerraMaster below).
5. I/O and NICs for a firewall or NAS
The 304 gets fewer PCIe lanes but faster ones: six PCIe 4.0 lanes (split as one x4, three x2 or six x1) against nine PCIe 3.0 lanes on the N-series. CNX found the Beelink EQi wires its two M.2 slots as Gen4 x1 and Gen4 x2. That is plenty for two NVMe drives. Nobody sells a 304 version of the four-slot N305 and N355 pocket NAS boards yet, which spread their Gen3 lanes across x1 and x2 links (Hardkernel’s ODROID-H5 uses three M.2 x2 slots plus one x1).
The 304 also brings Thunderbolt 4 (up to two integrated ports, per Intel), which no N-series chip has. The last section explains why I wouldn’t lean on it yet.
For a firewall the N-series wins by default. Multi-port i226-V boxes with N150 and N355 chips are a well-worn path on OPNsense and pfSense, and our pfSense and OPNsense hardware picks lean on them because FreeBSD’s igc driver handles the i226-V. Current 304 boxes are desktops: the EQi pairs a Realtek RTL8127 10GbE port with one Intel I226-V. I did not find a single multi-port 304 firewall appliance on Amazon.
For storage, four NVMe drives in a pocket box still means an N305 or N355. Two drives and a fast link favor the 304. The DIY TrueNAS and Unraid mini PC build covers the software side for either.
6. Linux, Proxmox and FreeBSD support
The N305 is boring on Linux, in the good way: its GPU binds i915 by default and HuC firmware loads automatically from kernel 6.2. The N150 and N355 need a newer kernel than you’d expect. Their GPU IDs only joined i915 in Linux 6.9, so on the stock Proxmox VE 8.x kernels (6.8 from 8.2 on) or Debian 12’s 6.1 the iGPU doesn’t bind and you get no Quick Sync. Use Proxmox VE 8.4 with the opt-in 6.14 kernel, or any 9.x release. ServeTheHome ran its CWWK N355 box on Proxmox VE 8.4 and then 9, with ZFS.
The 304 needs a recent stack. Phoronix reports that Linux 6.17 brought initial Wildcat Lake iGPU support and 6.18 the patches that actually drive displays. Treat 6.18 as the floor. CNX ran Ubuntu 26.04 on kernel 7.0 with the xe driver and Mesa 26.0.3, and Lon.TV reported that older Ubuntu releases lacked driver support. For VA-API, Intel’s media-driver only gained the Wildcat Lake IDs in intel-media-25.2.6, so an older distro package will not hardware-decode on it.
On Proxmox, version 9.2 (May 21, 2026) made the 7.0 kernel its default, so install 9.2 or newer on a 304 and skip 8.x entirely. I have not seen a written Proxmox test on Wildcat Lake yet. In-band ECC is another unknown: Linux 6.17 added igen6 EDAC support for Wildcat Lake, but I could not confirm that any retail 304 BIOS exposes IBECC. On the N-series, Hardkernel’s ODROID boards expose it and most consumer mini PCs don’t.
FreeBSD is the open question: I found no report of Wildcat Lake under it at all, so I wouldn’t build an OPNsense box on a 304 yet.
7. The boxes to buy for each chip
Four boxes, one per job, each with its catch. For the wider field, see the homelab and Proxmox mini PC guide.
Core 3 304 for Proxmox: Beelink EQi 24GB
This is the 304 box I’d build a Proxmox node on. Lon.TV reviewed this 24GB DDR5 board and measured about 5.4 W idle; the CNX and LinuxLinks numbers above come from the 16GB LPDDR5 sibling. The 24GB version uses a DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM slot that Beelink says takes up to 64GB, next to 10GbE plus 2.5GbE, two Thunderbolt 4 ports and two PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots.
Pass on this one if 16GB is enough. The 16GB LPDDR5 EQi (about $469) is the board CNX and LinuxLinks tested, but its memory is soldered. Either way the 512GB boot drive is UFS 3.1, not NVMe, so I’d add an NVMe drive for VM storage. The 24GB model is about $599, check live price.
Cheapest Core 3 304: Beelink EQ mini
The EQ mini is the lowest-priced complete 304 box I’d trust for a homelab. Beelink lists 12GB of LPDDR5, 512GB of UFS 3.1, 10GbE, Wi-Fi 6E and two Thunderbolt 4 ports.
The catch is memory. If you plan to run more than a few VMs, 12GB of soldered memory is the ceiling for life. Amazon showed it as low stock on October 6. If it’s gone, the BOSGAME E6 ECO (about $380) and ACEMAGIC K5 (about $400) are 12GB 304 boxes in the same price band. The EQ mini is about $409, check live price.
N150 for an always-on box: MeLE Quieter DL
For a box that sits on a shelf running Home Assistant, Pi-hole or a small firewall, no fan beats a faster CPU. The Quieter DL is fanless and has two Intel i226-V 2.5GbE ports, and MeLE sells it as a firewall and home lab PC. If a Raspberry Pi 5 is the other box on your list, our Raspberry Pi 5 vs N150 comparison prices both as complete home servers.
Look elsewhere for anything past light containers. MeLE lists no memory slot, so the 8GB is soldered and permanent, and storage starts at 128GB. The Beelink Mini S13 (about $349) gets you an N150 with 16GB of DDR4 and 500GB, but with a fan. The Quieter DL is about $355, check live price.
Core i3-N305 for a NAS: TerraMaster F4-424 Pro
The N305 has mostly left mini PCs, but it is still alive in NAS boxes. The F4-424 Pro has four bays, two M.2 NVMe slots, dual 2.5GbE, and 32GB of DDR5 already fitted. A 32GB DDR5 SO-DIMM alone cost $434 or more on October 6, so the bundled memory is a big slice of the price.
It’s the wrong buy if all your storage fits on two NVMe drives, because a 304 mini PC does that job in a much smaller box. About $730, check live price. No N355 box made the list: ServeTheHome’s own advice was to buy the N305 version if it’s available or cheaper. If you need six i226-V ports in one fanless box, Dozlzyp’s N355 barebone has sold out, but the same chassis with an N305 (about $340) is in stock and follows that same advice. Add a RAM stick and an SSD to the bill.
What I’d check before buying a 304 box
CNX’s Windows and Ubuntu reviews of the EQi turned up a list of rough edges. Run through these before you commit:
- Kernel 6.18 or newer, and Proxmox VE 9.2 or newer. Older kernels lack display support for the 304’s iGPU.
- Thunderbolt 4 PCIe links. CNX found an NVMe enclosure flaky on Windows (it behaved better on Linux). An NVIDIA eGPU dock wasn’t detected on Windows, and on Ubuntu the dock showed up but the graphics card didn’t.
- Firefox on Ubuntu. The Snap build wouldn’t start on kernels 7.0 and 7.1; the apt build worked.
- Wi-Fi under Linux. The MediaTek MT7922 card managed about 800 Mbps on Linux against about 1.6 Gbps on Windows, so use the wired ports for anything that matters.
- Memory type on the listing. LPDDR5 is soldered for life; a DDR5 SO-DIMM version can grow.
- OPNsense or pfSense plans. Nobody has reported Wildcat Lake on FreeBSD yet, so an N150 or N355 i226-V box is the safer firewall today.
