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.
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 $10.
Edit: Accidentally said RPi 5 which didn’t exist… Fixed.
I have a fan running on mine. You made me feel good about that choice! I have a 5T external SSD i purchased. Would I be able to house media, as well as a private lemmy instance with a front end and the ability to hold pics users upload, etc? Just family stuff, nothing enterprise level.
Im quite sure your rpi didnt transcode 4k, it was probabl direct play. Rpi 4 cant even transcode 1080p, but for direct play its more than enough. Didnt know raspberry pi 5 was available. Yeah rpi4 is not bad at all if you use powered case for hdd/ssd. The problem is that its not cheap anymore, but its super efficient ~5W I think. If you want 8gb model, psu and hdd case, its probably caround 150$
