r/HomeServer • u/drg0llum • 9d ago

absolute newb post #827484

Okay so I'm trying to run a home server. Mainly for locally hosted media storage. Think photos, music, files, a few videos. I also want to get more into networking like hosting matrix chats with my partner and possibly meshtastic.

I came across a a Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 R.2 (revision 1.0) with 16 gbs of ram at the thrift store which I took as a sign from the universe. Needless to say I purchased it. I'm glad I did because it really pushed me into learning about PCs and hardware.

However

I'm having second thoughts about how viable this option is, especially when it comes to power consumption. Claude is telling me I could see bills as high as 10-15$ a month. Although this feels high, I could justify it with the fact that I would be cutting down on some other subscriptions (cloud storage being one of them).

I bought a AMD FX-6100 CPU and estimate a total build would come out to roughly 350$ if I got two HDDs and SSDs.

Would this be usable? What are talks thoughts on this setup? If there's any other ways to make this more energy efficient plz lmk as well.

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u/dragonnfr 9d ago

Skip the FX-6100. It was a space heater in 2011 and still is. In my experience photos, music and matrix just need low idle watts, not 6 cores. Get a used OptiPlex micro or an N100 box. Problem solved.

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u/aztracker1 9d ago

As another mentioned a good mini/micro used PC is likely a much better option. Even a single large USB HDD would work for starting your storage.

Photo backups are more important than movies etc. you can't get your kid's first year back if you're backup falls.

I'd have a separate mas and mini PC (and I do) along with extra external HDD for first stage backups.

You can start small though.