Building a home Plex server

BarryHercules — Sun, 15 May 2022 14:20:02 +0000

I've decided that the time has come to stop paying out of my own pocket to run a Plex server for family, friends and instead I just want to run one for me and the wife inside the home. I know very little about home computer hardware these days as I've exclusively used MacBooks for the last decade, so I'm looking for some suggestions.

I don't expect to need to transcode beyond 1080p (having the option for 4k would be nice, but far from essential), and we're talking 2 simultaneous streams maximum. Storage wise, I have a bunch of big desktop drives knocking about I can use, but I'm not opposed to using a suitably powerful NAS either.

Noise/heat isn't too much of an issue as this will go in my office, but I would prefer something that's not too noisy.

I'm looking to spend about £300-£400, could stretch to £500 if I get some extra bells and whistles.

Does anyone have their own builds they could share or suggestions for suitable hardware that's reasonably easy to purchase?

build — LowEndSpirit

Building a home Plex server