A quiet living-room server is mostly a cooling and noise problem
A first rack server for a living room needs to sit next to a TV, so low noise is the top requirement. The case must stay within about 40 to 50 cm of depth. The plan is to run Proxmox with a Docker for Immich, Plex, and AdGuard, with enough room to add a local LLM through Ollama later.
The proposed hardware includes a 2U SilverStone case, an ASUS W680 , an Intel i5-14600K with , a low-profile Noctua NH-L9i cooler, two 80 mm Noctua fans, a 650 W , two Samsung 990 Pro 1 TB SSDs in a ZFS mirror, and two WD Red Plus 8 TB in a ZFS mirror. Existing DDR5 non-ECC memory would be used at first, then replaced later with DDR5 ECC UDIMM sticks when prices fall. Backups would go to a Synology DS918+ over Tailscale.
The open questions are whether the end-of-life LGA1700 platform is still fine for a mostly idle home server, whether the small 2U cooler can stay quiet during multiple Plex transcodes, and whether 10 gigabit networking can wait until later. The idle power target is about 30 to 40 W when the are spun down.
Key points
- The server would live beside a TV, so noise matters more than maximum .
- The workload is Proxmox with Immich, Plex, AdGuard, and possible Ollama local LLM use later.
- The biggest risk is whether a small 2U cooler can stay quiet during several Plex transcodes.
- Storage is planned as mirrored SSDs for boot and , plus mirrored 8 TB for data.
- The target idle power is about 30 to 40 W with spun down.