Hello everyone.

Well, I’m here to ask for your insights and knowledge.

I have been self-hosting for almost a year already. Mainly proving things like Jellyfin, jellyseer and all the ARRs. All of this with a modest Raspberry Pi 4b using DietPi OS (which I think is great!)

Now, I want to move to the next stage, acquiring a more powerful machine.

What do you recommend for:

A) Mini PC. I want it to fast and with a huge storage (being able to increase it easily) B) SSD or HDD. Which ones. C) Operative System. I would like to stay on Linux.

Any other recommendations?

Finally, I have an adjusted budget, but pretend to save a bit more to have something nice :)

Thanks!

  • @slackj_87English
    3•9 months ago

    Consider a used HP Elite desk SFF (small form factor) with a 6th Gen or later Intel CPU (or the equivalent from Dell or Lenovo). Space for 2x 3.5 HDD for data, an nvme m.2 slot for your OS drive, and a couple of pcie expansion slots.

    1.) it’s cheap and replacement parts are plentiful 2.) 6th+ gen Intel CPUs have Quick Sync for hardware accelerated transcoding 3.) fast interface for the OS drive, and room for a pair of multi TB HDDs in raid. 4.) some expandability 5.) power draw isn’t horrible, but nor is it great.

    OS wise, lots of options. Ubuntu server LTS is my general go to because it’s easy to Google stuff for and is stable. And I don’t need a desktop environment. I then run the services in docker.

    Note about Intel Quick Sync when running headless: you may need a display emulator to get the system to enable it. The HP bios (and maybe some others) don’t have the option to permanently enable quick sync. The display emulator tricks it into thinking a display is plugged in. You can get them on Amazon for under $10.