This post is a response to this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nr4o4wyG0c&t=0s
This little PC (link) sits in my room and is only 3 meters away from my bed, so it had to be quiet or I couldn't sleep
That is the reason why I use a passive CPU Cooler, a (extremely oversized) be quiet! PSU and a SSD for Windows 10
The loudest part in my Plex Media Server is the 5400 RPM drive - which is good - once it spins down, it's virtually silent
The CPU may be only as fast as an old Core 2 Duo but thanks to the R3 GPU one 1080p Transcoded Stream works just fine
Since I am the only User of this Plex Media Server and most Clients can do Direct Play this isn't a Problem at all
My Build only uses 15W at Idle (10W HDD Spin Down + Monitor off) and 25-30W while Transcoding, so it's very energy efficient
The hardware used is as follows:
CPU: AMD Athlon 5150 4x 1.60 GHz + Arctic Alpine M1 passive
MoBo: MSI AM1I
RAM: 2x 2GiB Samsung DDR3-1333
SSD: Kingston A400 SSD 120GB
HDD: Seagate BarraCuda Compute 4TB
NIC: Intel PRO/1000 PT Server
PSU: be quiet! System Power 7 350W
Case: Cooler Master Elite 431
Compared to many of the big Dual Xeon Plex Media Servers you see on YouTube and the rest of the Internet, mine seems to be very weak by comparison, but even in the hot summer months when temperatures reach up to 40°C / 104°F it runs pretty much silent all the time ?
wow, those power numbers are pretty rad and I'm sure your wallet likes that your server uses the equivalent of a CFL lightbulb 😛
I don't think your server is weak, it sounds like you sized it perfectly for your use case AND if the loudest component is your 5400 rpm drive I think you did a few things right 😛
You clearly took power, noise, and heat all into account when you built this thing so kudos to you for building a practical machine 🙂
