Advice on setting up a home server?

SirMatterNot

SirMatterNot

Beginner
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.
 
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.
 
demon_slayer said:
for media server go with atleast gen 7 and above as they have hardware decoders if you decide to use the device to stream media
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Don't know if I'll need a media server per se. The only reason to set one up would be to share content with folks, but they're not too keen on anything besides the news so could be a lot of effort down the drain. For personal use I find Stremio with Real Debrid a simpler solution.

That said, if I upgrade hardware will definitely get a processor with QuickSync just to keep the option open as you suggested.
 
just build a home server with what you have, one my first "home servers" was a hcl M.E 2nd gen i5 halftop used to run plex on it. IIRC 2nd gen i5s had h264 quicksync encoding support which was fine at that time. Pretty sure jellyfin now will support it just fine. The only concern is since it is a desktop it will suck a lot of power hence might be unviable for you in the long term for 24/7 operation.
 
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