random resource - lots of options. look up *ARR stacks

https://github.com/Rick45/quick-arr-Stack

LLMs

dont bother unless youre shelling out for a big ol gpu etc

Didn’t see it mentioned, but would recommend openmediavault. It runs on headless debian and is very stable.

my i7 3700k with 8gb of ddr3 handles multiple 4k streams just fine. it doesn’t transcode on the fly super well, I transcode everything to hevc before putting it on the server. it will happily transcode a single 4k stream in the rare case a client doesn’t want hevc.

point is, don’t target latest gen simply because it’s latest. 12th gen is definitely newer than I’d opt for, and while 16gb is cool, 32 is absolutely overkill for the use cases you listed (other than the llm, which others properly list as “don’t worry about it unless you have 3k in your back pocket to shell on gpus”)

something that can push at least 2-3 4K streams.

12th gen i5 with 16GB DDR4. Maybe 32GB if I can swing it.

unless you’re transcoding each stream that should work, at least for Plex.

Currently running 10th gen i5 with 32gb of DDR and can run one 4k transcode, five 1080 streams, and four live TV streams. though, the transcode is laggy but if you pause and let it buffer it should work.

keep in mind I’m also running headless transmission, a VPN, tor, and like 8 other services on the same server.

if all you’re streaming is 4k, you will hit a point of diminishing returns on network throughput. I’d recommend getting a switch with SFPs and connect your server up to a 2.5gbe or even a 10gbe (though overkill but the sky is the limit). as long as all your stream boxes are connected through that switch on their regular 1gbe they should be fine.

personally I run a opnsense router/firewall and have everything passed through an unlocked Brocade ICX6610-48P-E. you can find them on eBay. FYI, these are commercial units and are VERY LOUD. basement or attic installation is a must if you don’t have a network closet. bonus, the ICX6610 allows you to turn on/off POE per port and even set the voltage. this means you can power everything from cameras, stream boxes, wireless APs, to even some POE lights. it’s also a managed switch, which means you can split your ports up on VLANs and other really neat things.

The cheapest PCs are ones that didn’t make the cut for Windows 11, so I’d look for 6th or 7th Gen. RAM is cheaper as well. Then you can build something cheap, and iterate from there.

For a beginner, check out Unraid. It’ll do 99% of what you want without being a hassle.

16GB ram is plenty for everything but getting into LLM’s.
If you do that then more is always better… 32GB plus a 6-8GB GPU would be a basic setup for qwen 35b-a3b for example

You can run an LLM, but it will be limited. Look into Open Vino Model Server.

I’d recommend a minimal install distro (Ubuntu server, Arch, Gentoo, etc…), then add the things you need from there.

Document every step. <— important

It isn’t nearly as much fun a building a dedicated server, (or what I like to do – repurpose old junk) but the services you mentioned will run just fine on a decent desktop or laptop, especially if you aren’t doing some hungry task while they are running. -1 for Plex. +1 for Jellyfin. You can run them all on your LAN and access them around the house by the machine’s LAN IP and the services’ port number. You can do the same thing if you have tailscale on your phone or other remote computer, just use the tailscale IP and the service’s port. You can use Nginx Proxy Manager to send your services through a cloudflared tunnel to a hostname you buy, and keep access limited to just yourself and a select few (FYI I hear Cloudflared doesn’t like a lot of video streaming, so don’t give access to too many folks).

Jellyfin will run on a windows machine without screwing with docker, and will host your music too, though the UI isn’t great.

You can use a simple fileserver on windows to host other stuff like pics.

Just start somewhere and you’ll be neck-deep before you know it. You can use

Wonder what this bot is farming for