Actually I was looking for this particular form factor for the case, for potential of increasing storage in future and also in case there ever comes the need of slotting in a GPU.
I should probably give out more information about my needs for people to work with; I will primarily use this machine to host the Jellyfin&arr applications, along with Nextcloud, are there any pointers you'd like to mention, as i mentioned prior, this stuff is super alien to me
Just a heads-up: most branded desktops, even full tower ones like the Dell 3060, usually offer a max of 2 internal 3.5" HDD slots. If you’re thinking long-term about expanding storage, you’ll either need to get creative with mounting them(like using the 5.25" bay if available, or converting 2.5" bays with adapters), your best bet is to look into workstation-grade systems which natively support 4+ drives with better airflow and PSU headroom.
Also, when it comes to GPUs, full tower desktops from OEMs rarely have the required PCIe power connectors or a PSU beefy enough for dual-slot cards. That limits your options unless you plan on swapping out the PSU, which is often proprietary in OEM machines, as others have said.
Now, for Jellyfin and related *arr stack (Radarr, Sonarr, etc.), if you’re downloading your media from the internet and choosing the right formats (like H.264 or H.265 with compatible container types), you won’t
need a GPU. I run a similar setup myself—Jellyfin, Nextcloud, and a bunch of other containers—and haven’t once needed a GPU for transcoding. Modern Intel CPUs (10th gen and up) come with QuickSync, which handles transcoding super efficiently and with much lower power draw than a discrete GPU. In fact, even an old iGPU will outperform a low-end discrete card in this use case.
That said, we still don’t know how much storage you’re planning for. If you're thinking 3 or more drives from the start (or soon after), a better path might be to pick up used workstation/server-grade hardware—either from TE members, or
I can help you out as well. These usually come with proper hot-swap bays or room for multiple 3.5" drives without hacks. Also, consider space and acoustics. If you don’t have room for a big box or care about noise, then SFF or Tiny PCs are viable, but only if your storage and expansion needs are modest.
And lastly, since you’re looking at used/refurb gear—remember that “future-proofing” doesn’t always make sense. You're not saving money if you buy for hypothetical scenarios. Focus on what you need now and in the near term, because old hardware might be cheap, but it can lack support (firmware, OS compatibility), efficiency (higher idle wattage), or future upgrade paths (no NVMe, slow SATA, etc.).
TL;DR:
- Define your actual storage needs.
- Don’t worry about GPUs unless you’re doing 4K HDR transcoding for multiple clients.
- Consider power, space, and future upgrade paths before picking a chassis.
- Used workstation/server gear is often the better choice for expandable setups.
- If all else fails, get a used assembled system, by pickup up components of your choice. Again I can help you with that as well.
