Hey all

Been playing around with plex and the *arr’s for a while on my main desktop.

Now looking to set up a server to run plex, downloads, pi hole and eventually some other backup’s.

Unfortunately the PC I had laying around is 32bit and it seems like most things are removing support for that architecture if they haven’t already. Now I’m faced with the problem/opportunity of getting something new (to me).

But I’m struggling with the absolute sea of options out there and also don’t want to spend on brand new gear.

There’s quite a bit of server grade hardware floating around (like a Dell Poweredge server T410, 32GB ram, Intel Xeon E5645 2.13GHz Quad-core for $100AUD) or even rackmount gear (probably overkill but a boy can dream).

Or should I just get a consumer case with the most drive bays I can find and build from there?

Lowish power consumption is a priority, planning on running ubuntu or similar.

Any and all tips welcome! Thanks.

  • @JDubbleuEnglish
    3•10 months ago

    I have a Pi 3B+ I run qBittorrent, Plex, ProtonVPN through Wireguard, and a Samba share on and have had 0 issues. It’s connected to a 2 TB external SSD which is where the Plex media library lives and coincidentally where qBittorrent downloads to by default wink wink. I also have a P2P VPN called ZeroTier that allows me to securely connect to the Pi from anywhere. You should be golden with a Pi 4.

    I’ve had zero issues even transcoding 4k BluRay content, but it required adding active cooling to prevent the Pi from overheating. Thankfully you can get a tiny heatsink and fan for under $10.

    Edit: Accidentally said RPi 5 which didn’t exist… Fixed.

    • @[email protected]English
      2•11 months ago

      Im quite sure your rpi didnt transcode 4k, it was probabl direct play. Rpi 4 cant even transcode 1080p, but for direct play its more than enough. Didnt know raspberry pi 5 was available. Yeah rpi4 is not bad at all if you use powered case for hdd/ssd. The problem is that its not cheap anymore, but its super efficient ~5W I think. If you want 8gb model, psu and hdd case, its probably caround 150$

    • @[email protected]English
      1•11 months ago

      I have a fan running on mine. You made me feel good about that choice! I have a 5T external SSD i purchased. Would I be able to house media, as well as a private lemmy instance with a front end and the ability to hold pics users upload, etc? Just family stuff, nothing enterprise level.