I’m in the market for a new CPU to upgrade my home server, and I’m hoping to get some recommendations from the community. Currently, I’m running an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X in a TrueNAS setup, but it runs incredibly hot, even when it’s not under heavy load, making it feel like a space heater. I’m looking for a cooler and more efficient option that can handle the following tasks:
- Plex Media Server
- A Minecraft server for approximately 6-8 players during peak hours
- Network Attached Storage (NAS) functionality
- Potentially running Home Assistant
I’d appreciate your suggestions for CPUs that strike a good balance between performance and value, with an emphasis on temperature control. Any recommendations for compatible motherboards and coolers are also welcome. My budget is flexible, but I’m looking for the best bang for my buck.
I run all of this minus home assistant on a Lenovo IdeaCentre 310S with a Celeron J4005 and 4GB RAM. To be fair this is running Minecraft Bedrock but we run with the same number of players (4-8 players typically).
For Minecraft Java, it’s going to be all about the IPC. On the cheaper end, grabbing an OEM SFF with something like an i3 8100T would be great for your purposes whilst still being relatively cheap and low on power consumption.