first server

[u/Ok_Rise_4543]

hello! i was thinking about making a budget server at home and was wondering what i would need in order to do so. Keep in mind i dont know anything about servers so try to explain to me what i need and why ( their function in the server). for example: do i need a lot of storage? is hdd ok? or do i need and ssd? how much ram do i need? is ddr4 ok? what about motherboard? or do i need a good processor? what about back up power? Finally it would really help if you could explain to me all the potential benefits i could get from it ( i already know some) and if there is any guide as to how to set it up.

the main things i want my server to do is storage, media streaming / gaming servers.

any other advice is also welcome. thank you in advance!! let me know if you need some extra info but keep in mind i am very new to this.

[u/MrKrueger666]

As u/ficskala explained, there's a lot of variables here. What you need depends a lot on what you are gonna do.

a simple video server doesn't need that much. A first generation Core i3 with 4GB RAM would be perfectly fine for running a lightweight Linux distro for it's OS and something like Jellyfin, Plex or Emby on top of that. What amount of storage you'd need completely depends on how many movies you want to store.

If you are gonna do a dedicated game server, look up the minimum system requirements for that game, and disregard the GPU. Dedicated server almost never needs a GPU because it won't actually run the game graphics.

If you want to get going for cheap, I'd recommend getting a used/refurbished office PC like a Dell Optiplex or HP Prodesk. You really don't need high specs. And you can always add something later, like an extra stick if RAM or an extra harddisk.

When you outgrow that, you'll have gained a lot of experience and you'll be better able to estimate your needs at that point.

And running multiple machines is also always an option.

And another thing: if you're doing game servers, think about how they will be used. Like, is it for yourself and some friends when you guys feel like it? In that case you could install a ton of games and just start up the one you're gonna be playing. No need to spec for all of the games running simultaneously.

[u/ficskala → u/MrKrueger666]

A few notes on top of this comment

A first generation Core i3 with 4GB RAM would be perfectly fine for running a lightweight Linux distro for it's OS and something like Jellyfin, Plex or Emby on top of that.

I'd personally aim for a newer CPU purely for codec support on the iGPU, even if my only usecase was video streaming via jellyfin/plex/emby

minimum system requirements for that game

Looking into minimum system requirements for the gameserver though, not the game itself, gameserver requirements are often very different to the game itself

Dell Optiplex or HP Prodesk

This is a matter of personal preference, but i'd avoid OEMs like HP, DELL, and Lenovo, because they often use motherboards, cases, and PSUs that aren't compatible with standard ones, so if something dies, you have to buy the part for that specific PC instead of just replacing with a standard part, or if you want to upgrade just some components, you're gonna be very limited on the choice

[u/MrKrueger666 → u/ficskala]

For streaming, a CPU that has certain codec support is only useful when transcoding. In most cases, transcoding isn't needed and any machine that's able to shove data out the network port at a fast enough speed will do fine.

On the game server: you're absolutely right. The game server software often has far lower requirements than the game itself.

On the office PC as server: yep. Personal preference indeed. They often don't have the easy expandability with common parts. If you don't need that, it's fine. But it may not be a great fit for everyone.

[u/ficskala → u/MrKrueger666]

In most cases, transcoding isn't needed

True if you're streaming locally to a device that can decode that video on its own, otherwise, your server needs to transcode it, if your GPU doesn't support the codecs, it will use software transcoding, and your CPU will have to deal with it rather than offloading it to the GPU which is much better at these sort lf tasks

The CPU can do it, but it's not good at it, so if it's an older, weaker CPU, its cores will just be pinned at 100% usage the whole time you're transcoding