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What's the best affordable pre-built mini server?

What's the best affordable pre-built mini server available in Europe? I'm looking for a reliable and compact option that won't break the bank

Edit: something that are not arm based

Edit 2: I'm looking to set up a system that can run Jellyfin, Ollama, and a few other small services. By 'pre-built', I mean I want to buy a device that already has the necessary hardware and installation, so all I need to do is install the operating system and I'm good to go

Blue_Morpho , (edited )

How small? How many drives? I bought several used Lenovo P330 E2276G for my servers.

The Intel CPU has great low power GPU for video encoding/decoding for video streaming.

The Xeon ECC ram gives long term reliability. It's important if you leave your PC on 24/7 for years at a time.

diy OP ,

I am not a big fan of buying used.

LunarLoony ,
@LunarLoony@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Why not? It would help massively with the 'affordable' criterion

diy OP ,

I just need something that works. I've had a bad experience with a previous model that wouldn't boot on my Ubuntu server drive, no matter how much time I spent on it. But if you know of any models that are worth checking out, I'm all ears.

LunarLoony ,
@LunarLoony@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Might be worth trying to find a refurbished HP ProLiant MicroServer. There are a few on eBay UK within the £200-400 range. You can sometimes find professionally refurbished units as well.

Blue_Morpho ,

Used servers/workstations are likely more reliable than new consumer.

They were very likely kept temperature controlled, have ECC, and are actually known working instead of something like Asus. If I remember correctly, PC mortality is very high the first 6 months, goes down to near zero for 5 years, then starts going back up.

Replace the SSD/hard drive and you are good. You might not even have to do that. I checked the stats on the SSD that came with my used Lenovo workstation and it had like 20 hours on it.

Aux ,

If you want to run Ollama and other ML stuff, you're looking at buying an RTX4090, my friend. Affordable and ML are two things you can't put into one sentence.

486 ,
@486@lemmy.world avatar

While you certainly can run AI models that require such a beefy GPU, there are plenty of models that run fine even on a CPU-only system. So it really depends on what exactly Ollama is going to be used for.

diy OP ,

I am satisfied if it can run a 7/8B relatively fast

HumanPerson ,

I see people mentioning small office desktops, and they are good, but I will warn you that they use proprietary parts so upgrading and repairing them can be difficult. Also jellyfin.org has some good info under the hardware acceleration section for what to use.

Charadon ,

A used mini computer, like a lenovo thinkcentre, hp prodesk mini, and dell optiplex micro.

sunbeam60 ,

Dunno about affordable but you can usually find some decently priced 1L Dell Optiplex micro systems. I’ve got one running under my desk 24/7. Great Linux support.

forger125 ,

You can try the Minisforum MS-01. Relatively compact, inexpensive, with a lot of options for expandability as well as relatively powerful Intel CPUs with QuickSync for LLM and transcode. Here is a nice overview of the device.

slazer2au ,

https://aoostar.com/products/aoostar-r7-2-bay-nas-amd-ryzen-7-5700u-mini-pc8c-16t-up-to-4-3ghz-with-w11-pro-ddr4-16gb-ram-512gb-nvme-ssd?variant=47203172221226

2 bay nas with a Ryzen7 and up to 32GB ram.

diy OP ,

Thanks i will take a look at that.

qaz ,

There is also a cheaper option with an N100

Presi300 ,
@Presi300@lemmy.world avatar

Go on ebay or your local 2nd hand market and search "mini PC" or "Office computer"...

bitchkat ,

I love my NUCs but haven't really paid attention to what has happened since Intel sold that line to ASUS.

diy OP ,

Thanks i will take a look at the NUC.

SpeakinTelnet ,
@SpeakinTelnet@sh.itjust.works avatar

Edit: something that are not arm based

You want pre-built to run ollama, that's at least gonna cost you an arm, maybe even a leg.

xcjs ,
@xcjs@programming.dev avatar

It depends on the model you run. Mistral, Gemma, or Phi are great for a majority of devices, even with CPU or integrated graphics inference.

helenslunch ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Define "pre-built"?

What will you be using it for?

I'm still testing the CWWK X86 P5 but so far it seems like a near-perfect solution for personal use and the price can't be best.

diy OP ,

I want to run Jellyfin, ollama (local AI), and some other small services.

helenslunch , (edited )
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Define pre-built.

How big is your media library?

Ollama will probably benefit from a more powerful processor like a Ryzen 7000/8000 series.

Can't comment on NPUs and TOPs and all that. Still completely at a loss as to what is or is not marketing nonsense when it comes to AI. But the new Ryzen CPUs are supposed to have more of those, if you can wait.

diy OP ,

By 'pre-built', I mean I want to buy a device that already has the necessary hardware and installation, so all I need to do is install the operating system and I'm good to go. Storage capacity between 1 and 8 terabytes

helenslunch ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

I want to buy a device that already has the necessary hardware

Does that include disks? That's going to limit your options considerably.

The one I recommended does not come with RAM or storage but those are both very easy to install and you can choose what size. It also comes with 2xSATA/power connectors. You could get 2x8TB 2.5" SSDs but I'd probably go with 4x2TB NVMe, that would give you 8TB RAW or 6TB with a parity disk.

diy OP ,

I have no problem with installing RAM and storage. Whats it called.

Cupcake1972 ,

what are you gonna use it for?

diy OP ,

something that are not arm based
I’m looking to set up a system that can run Jellyfin, Ollama, and a few other small services. By ‘pre-built’, I mean I want to buy a device that already has the necessary hardware and installation, so all I need to do is install the operating system and I’m good to go

Decronym Bot , (edited )

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
NUC Next Unit of Computing brand of Intel small computers
NVMe Non-Volatile Memory Express interface for mass storage
Plex Brand of media server package
SSD Solid State Drive mass storage

[Thread for this sub, first seen 5th Jun 2024, 13:55]
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delver ,

I'm not sure if they're still affordable but I ended up getting both a morefine and a beelink, one with the n100 Intel CPU and the other with the n305. They handle everything I've thrown at them, and come with out of the box quicksync transcoding for Jellyfin/Plex. Handles 4K transcode like a champ.
Couple that with 2.5g Ethernet and they sip power.
Though they might have gone up in price since I bought mine.

CuttingBoard ,

I have a beelink running jellyfin and it's fine.

CuttingBoard ,

It has the n100.

Getting6409 ,

I've had a good experience so far with two minipcs, mele quieter 4c for kodi, and a morefine m9 (I think this one is branded as mipowcat in the EU). They're both n100, the m9 can go up to 32gb of ram although it is picky about what modules it will accept. I use the m9 for jellyfin and about 10 other services. Quick sync works great as far as I've tested it. For jellyfin I'm relying mostly on direct streaming, but I tried a few episodes with forcing some transcoding by using Firefox for playback and it worked fine.

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