Hi there. I’ve been looking to get something to run locally as I currently use a dedi machine I’m renting from Hetzner.
I’ve been looking at Raspberry Pi, mainly model 4 and while research those I got introduced to Orange Pi as well as ZimaBoard.
I realized the “best” option usually comes down to personal needs, tho I’m curious to which would be the better purchase in terms of “bang for your buck”.
The main stuff I would be running are Plex or Jellyfin servers as well as NextCloud for family photos and a shared calendar. I love tinkering so I like the idea of having enough resources to run additional services without going down on efficiency.
My budget is around 180-200$.
I’ve seen posts where people often mention a mini PC or similar would be a great option tho I’m looking for something smaller and the less noise the better as I may end up showing the thing in a drawer or closet in my bedroom.
Under 200, there is n100 firewalls mini pc. It has quicksync so easy to transcode, and cpu is 6w tdp. Whole pc on idle consumes 11w and max load 22 to 28 w, depending on a How many lan ports are being used. U can check aliexpress and amazon for it. There’s is also n305, which has 8core, but cpu is 15w tdp and will max consume 35 to 40w. This will cost more than 300usd.
Check servethehome youtube videos on it. He tests them in detail.