this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2024
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I recently bought a domain from Porkbun (thanks to all of the comments on this post!) and I want to self-host some services myself. I currently have a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ and I'm not quite sure if it can handle these things:

  • A matrix homeserver
  • A lemmy instance
  • A website with static HTML pages
  • Privacy-respecting frontends (Piped, Redlib etc.)

I am thinking about getting a maxed-out Raspberry Pi 5 with a whole 8 Gigabytes of RAM. Is it worth it? I need a machine that is quiet, doesn't draw that much power and is overall pretty good for the money.

Edit: I bought this Mini PC instead of the Raspberry Pi 5. Thanks to all the comments!!

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (7 children)

If you don't need the I/O pins, look into a mini PC. In the US, used can easily get you something under $100 US. New would probably be around $100-$150.

If you get a low CPU, they idle around what the PI would be doing.

A PC would give you faster, more durable storage, inside of a case. And maybe memory upgradability, if you need it eventually.

A PC would be bigger, but some are not much bigger, especially if you add any USB dongles or external storage to the PI.

The YouTube channel "Hardware Haven" has a bunch of random old "junk" computers he's worked on.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (6 children)

I agree.
Pis are great for tinkering, GPIO things, or ultra low power.
Plenty of older hardware out there that is as powerful (or more so), more reliable (ie, not an sd card), and more maintainable (ie can swap CPU/ram/disks/fans/psu).
But, power consumption is always a concern. At $0.30/kwh, 10 watts is $27 per year.
So, if a pi draws 5w and an SFF draw 25w, thats $55 per year. Any price benefit of a larger/older PC is negligiable after a year or 2, so reliability probably wont come into it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Is there an intel/amd/x86_64 computer I can power via PoE?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

A quick google found things like these:
https://things-embedded.com/us/edge-computers/poe-computers/

Obviously tailored more to the industrial/automation/embedded side of things with odd IO. And probably a ridiculous prolice tag.
PoE++ (802.3bt) can deliver 60w. UPoE extends this to 100w. So, there is a LOT you can power from that!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Neat, and agreed that the price is probably stupid money.

With that in mind, it’s why I like the Pi for smaller projects - I can power them via PoE.

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