Advice on setting up a home server?

[SirMatterNot]

I've been tinkering with self hosting a few services on a basic VPS for the last year. Now want to try out more storage sensitive stuff like Immich and Paperless and (maybe) run a media server. Figured I'd do this on my own hardware.

I have a decade old machine with a 2nd gen i5 and Corsair TX650M that I am hesitating on repurposing as a server because I'd like a power efficient setup. Currently in two minds between swapping out the cpu+mobo+ram for a 7th or 8th gen setup vs getting a mini pc and calling it a day. If I take the first approach, would my PSU be an efficiency bottleneck even if I upgrade to more recent hardware?

Still very much a noob at this so all suggestions are welcome.

 

[vivek.krishnan]

Would suggest to first setup on the machine you have, and then move to newer hardware.

The CPU is ancient and will not be efficient basis on a per watt basis.

For newer hardware, unless this is for heavy usage, I would suggest to pickup a mini PC from the likes of aasim or zeno or others. The PSU adaptor included is quite power efficient usually.

Coming to the PSU efficiency - generally, the max efficiency is around the 50% mark of the rated PSU. Unless this has changed in the years.

 

[SirMatterNot]

The CPU is ancient and will not be efficient basis on a per watt basis.

Yes, this was my assumption as well. And I doubt I'll be running particularly heavy stuff so unlikely that the PSU will get pushed beyond the low end of its capacity after a hardware upgrade.