Good news selfhosted crowd! I pitched the idea of setting up a server, and she is down with the idea!

I want to run Linux and host things like Jellyfin, Audiobookshelf, Navidrome, maybe Plex (I currently host it off my Mac desktop but would move it to a dedicated server).

I know you can host Plex et al on something like a Raspberry Pi, but I want a bit more power. I want something that can push at least 2-3 4K streams.

I’m considering targeting 12th gen i5 with 16GB DDR4. Maybe 32GB if I can swing it. Is that overkill? I know you want 8th gen Intel for hardware transcoding of either x265/HEVC or AV1 (probably the former as the latter is newer).

There are other projects I’d like to run. I’d like to be able to host my own LLM/AI but I’m not trying to go performance overkill here. This would be my first server.

I am somewhat comfortable using the command line, and I would be remoting into the server via my Macs (I have a desktop and a MacBook). However, Linux can run Windows games via Proton and that’s something I’m interested in for some older titles that aren’t on Xbox (like Deus Ex, which came out in 2000 and should run on integrated graphics). I’m not inexperienced with Linux and have been using it off and on (mostly off unfortunately) for over 30 years. My go-to would be Ubuntu, but I’ve heard great things about KDE lately and I know the Internet is in love with Mint these days. Would the distro really matter all that much as long as I have the required services?

  • AllHailTheSheep@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    3 hours ago

    my i7 3700k with 8gb of ddr3 handles multiple 4k streams just fine. it doesn’t transcode on the fly super well, I transcode everything to hevc before putting it on the server. it will happily transcode a single 4k stream in the rare case a client doesn’t want hevc.

    point is, don’t target latest gen simply because it’s latest. 12th gen is definitely newer than I’d opt for, and while 16gb is cool, 32 is absolutely overkill for the use cases you listed (other than the llm, which others properly list as “don’t worry about it unless you have 3k in your back pocket to shell on gpus”)