Hey folks. I’ve been running a media and torrenting server off an Odroid HC2 running OpenMediaVault 6 on Armbian. It’s been doing pretty great, and I have it set to run docker containers for qBittorrent, ProtonVPN, the *arrs, etc.
The problem I’m running into is that the HC2 has an arm32 CPU that is not supported by most apps, so I’m stuck running old images. I want to upgrade to a newer mini PC/SBC that is more future-friendly. I’d like it to be capable of running Plex streaming at 4K, Radarr/Sonarr/Prowlarr, etc. as well as other apps as docker containers. I might repurpose the HC2 to just run self-hosted NextDNS.
Here are my questions:
- What mini PCs or SBCs would you recommend? I’m leaning strongly towards a mini PC over an SBC because it would be more powerful, I don’t need specialized software for it, recovery and backups are much easier, etc. I’m not too concerned about power usage unless it’s extravagant.
- Which OS would you recommend as a media server?
- What is the simplest way to transfer my server over with minimal fuss? I use private trackers, so I’ll have to very carefully stand up the new server and transfer over torrents, etc. in one fell swoop. I’m guessing I should just be able to install the apps and then transfer over the configurations and media files and change permissions, etc.
- Anything else I need to consider?
Thanks!
If you have Plex pass the key for 4k streaming is hardware transcoding. Quick sync with any newer Intel CPU, like 8th Gen and up, is going to hardware transcode 4k fine. Personally I bought an HP chromebox gen 2 and threw Linux on it to run Plex then have VMs and what not on separate small form factor boxes.
I’d bet you could probably run all the services you’re mentioning on something like a single USFF Optiplex but if you want to throw drives into it for storage then the towers would be the way to go.
Ideally I want something with a small form-factor, but more bays for additional storage might come in handy. Definitely won’t need the DVD drive though :D I also don’t want to have to pay for that W10 license since I’ll be running linux on it. I don’t have Plex pass, but good point about the Intel 8th gen CPUs.
I like the Chromebox suggestion, I hadn’t thought of that as a possibility. Something like that might be perfect, thanks.
Just be real careful with the chromebox, an lot of them can’t run Linux and are pretty low specs so I wouldn’t want try putting everything I want to run on them. The CPU in HP gen 2 one I have is just a dual core without hyper threading. I would only even look into the a Chromebox if your thinking about Plex pass and hardware transcoding.
Also should be noted anything bought used your not paying for a Windows license though most the SFF boxes come with windows license baked into the bios.
Good points, thanks. I might end up getting one of those Intel NUCs instead, they look just right for the job.