Low powered PC recommendations

[Harrison]

I'm looking to buy/build a low powered PC that consumes as little power as possible to use as a home server.

It would be to serve video and music, download torrents and usenet, run a minecraft server etc. Nothing too intensive. I also want it to be fairly small and silent. Any micro/mini PC recommendations?

Or would a Synology NAS be a better route? The current server build I'm looking to replace has 4x2TB drivers, plus a boot drive. The NAS option would be a far more expensive option, but would offer the better storage and raid protection, which is why I'm considering both.

 

[Half-Saint]

I'm using a HP ProLiant N36 Micro Server with 8GB of ECC RAM and FreeNAS. You should be able to buy one quite cheaply nowadays.

 

[fitzsteve]

I have also a HP microserver, I only switch it on when needed so when not in use consumes zero power.

 

[Sardine]

Same here

hp microserver but I upgraded mine to i5 T version low power and a gtx 1030 lp card to decode 4k hdr stuff.

nzb client, kodi and light gaming fast enough for cemu mario cart 60fps

running windows 10

 

[Harrison]

Those HP microservers come up on offer quite regularly, don't they. Will definitely consider one. What's the case design like? Easy access? How much space, bays do they have? And ports?

 

[fitzsteve]

Skillgannon had one kicking around, ask on facebook if he still has it.

- - - Updated - - -

They're easy to work with, front door, 4 drive bays on rails, mine boots from USB (freenas) and I've got 2x 2 TB drives and a 500gb drive where my jail is installed.

 

[salaxi54]

If i were you, i'd consider a Pi 4. Nowadays, you can set a Minecraft on one of those. See here: https://www.balena.io/blog/how-to-create-a-minecraft-server-for-the-pi-4-with-balena/
I highly doubt you can set up something more power efficient than a Pi. Could be wrong, eg maybe an Android stick/tv box, but i dunno if those can do the tasks you want. I wish i could set one up for my cockpit computer, but that's not feasible obviously. However, i have built a low power requirements pc, due to the fact that i want to have solar power as an option. Has an MSI Eco mobo, core i5, a passively-cooled Nvidia 1030 GT, 8 GB DDR4, and a 250GB SSD. 300 W psu. No internet, no extra utilities, no games. Just Windows 8.1 and Falcon 4 flight sim. 2 LED video projectors, and 6 mini monitors for various instruments etc.



Still not completely assembled, but all parts have already been purchased.

 

[Sardine]

Those image hosting sites are great

i won apple ear Pods 3 times i must be super lucky all i had to do was agree to be spammed by electronic voices over my land line for marketing purposes and fill in all my personal details etc

bargain as well as learning how to be a stay at home mum earning 15k a day.

thanks

sarcastic mode off

 

[salaxi54]

@Harrison: It appears you can also setup a Minecraft server on an Android unit! Although you'd need to install Linux on top of your Android OS.
But it's feasible, and as people say, it works. You might want to consider it, because Android boxes come in various configurations, and you can get "big horsepower" for rather little money. There's plenty of quad and octa core models out there, that would let the Pi 4 behind in power.
Here's one way of setting up the server on Android: https://beebom.com/how-host-minecraft-server-android/