Service → hardware

Pick a service, get the hardware

Select the services you want to run — Plex, Immich, Home Assistant, Frigate, Docker, local AI — and see exactly what hardware each one needs, in four honest tiers from Minimum Sensible to Overkill.

Media

Plex Media Server

Stream movies, shows and music to every screen in the house — with optional hardware transcoding.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	4 cores	8 GB	2 TB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	8 cores	16 GB	8 TB	any	1 GbE
Comfortable	12 cores	32 GB	24 TB	dedicated	2.5 GbE
Overkill	20 cores	52 GB	48 TB	dedicated	2.5 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Jellyfin

The open-source media server: free transcoding, multi-user, no accounts required.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	4 cores	8 GB	2 TB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	8 cores	16 GB	8 TB	any	1 GbE
Comfortable	12 cores	32 GB	24 TB	dedicated	2.5 GbE
Overkill	20 cores	52 GB	48 TB	dedicated	2.5 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Immich

Self-hosted Google Photos alternative — face detection, search, backups.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	2 cores	8 GB	4 TB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	4 cores	16 GB	16 TB	any	2.5 GbE
Comfortable	8 cores	32 GB	32 TB	any	2.5 GbE
Overkill	13 cores	52 GB	64 TB	any	2.5 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Navidrome

Your own music streaming server, compatible with Subsonic clients.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	2 cores	2 GB	1 TB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	2 cores	4 GB	2 TB	None	1 GbE
Comfortable	4 cores	8 GB	4 TB	None	1 GbE
Overkill	7 cores	13 GB	8 TB	None	1 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Smart home

Home Assistant

The hub for every smart device: dashboards, automations, local control.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	2 cores	4 GB	0.5 TB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	4 cores	8 GB	1 TB	None	1 GbE
Comfortable	8 cores	16 GB	2 TB	any	2.5 GbE
Overkill	13 cores	26 GB	4 TB	any	2.5 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Security

Frigate

Local AI object detection on camera feeds — people, vehicles, no cloud.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	4 cores	8 GB	1 TB	dedicated	1 GbE
Recommended	8 cores	16 GB	2 TB	dedicated	2.5 GbE
Comfortable	12 cores	32 GB	4 TB	ai	2.5 GbE
Overkill	20 cores	52 GB	8 TB	ai	2.5 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Camera recording (NVR)

24/7 recording of IP cameras with retention and motion events.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	4 cores	8 GB	4 TB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	8 cores	16 GB	16 TB	None	2.5 GbE
Comfortable	12 cores	32 GB	32 TB	dedicated	2.5 GbE
Overkill	20 cores	52 GB	64 TB	dedicated	2.5 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Development

Docker services

Run containers: dashboards, downloaders, self-hosted apps.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	2 cores	8 GB	1 TB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	4 cores	16 GB	2 TB	None	2.5 GbE
Comfortable	8 cores	32 GB	4 TB	None	2.5 GbE
Overkill	13 cores	52 GB	8 TB	None	2.5 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Proxmox / virtualization

VMs and LXC containers for experiments, services and isolation.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	4 cores	16 GB	1 TB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	8 cores	32 GB	2 TB	None	2.5 GbE
Comfortable	16 cores	64 GB	4 TB	dedicated	10 GbE
Overkill	26 cores	103 GB	8 TB	dedicated	10 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Personal cloud

Nextcloud

Self-hosted files, sync, calendar and collaboration.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	2 cores	4 GB	1 TB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	4 cores	8 GB	4 TB	None	1 GbE
Comfortable	8 cores	16 GB	16 TB	None	2.5 GbE
Overkill	13 cores	26 GB	32 TB	None	2.5 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Vaultwarden

Password manager for the whole family, hosted at home.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	1 cores	1 GB	0 TB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	2 cores	2 GB	0.5 TB	None	1 GbE
Comfortable	4 cores	4 GB	1 TB	None	1 GbE
Overkill	7 cores	7 GB	2 TB	None	1 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Joplin / notes

Self-hosted notes and documents with sync.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	1 cores	2 GB	0.5 TB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	2 cores	4 GB	1 TB	None	1 GbE
Comfortable	4 cores	8 GB	2 TB	None	1 GbE
Overkill	7 cores	13 GB	4 TB	None	1 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Networking

Pi-hole / AdGuard

Network-wide ad blocking and DNS for every device.

Tier	CPU	RAM	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	1 cores	1 GB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	2 cores	2 GB	None	1 GbE
Comfortable	4 cores	4 GB	None	1 GbE
Overkill	7 cores	7 GB	None	1 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

WireGuard VPN

Secure remote access to your home network from anywhere.

Tier	CPU	RAM	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	2 cores	2 GB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	4 cores	4 GB	None	2.5 GbE
Comfortable	6 cores	8 GB	None	10 GbE
Overkill	10 cores	13 GB	None	10 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Reverse proxy

Expose services with TLS — Nginx Proxy Manager, Traefik or Caddy.

Tier	CPU	RAM	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	1 cores	1 GB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	2 cores	2 GB	None	1 GbE
Comfortable	4 cores	4 GB	None	2.5 GbE
Overkill	7 cores	7 GB	None	2.5 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Firewall (OPNsense)

Stateful firewall, VLANs, IDS/IPS for the whole network.

Tier	CPU	RAM	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	2 cores	2 GB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	4 cores	4 GB	None	2.5 GbE
Comfortable	6 cores	8 GB	None	10 GbE
Overkill	10 cores	13 GB	None	10 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

AI

Ollama (local AI)

Run LLMs locally — chat, code completion, private AI.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	8 cores	16 GB	1 TB	ai	1 GbE
Recommended	12 cores	32 GB	1 TB	ai	2.5 GbE
Comfortable	16 cores	64 GB	2 TB	ai	10 GbE
Overkill	26 cores	103 GB	4 TB	ai	10 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Stable Diffusion

Local image generation with your own models.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	8 cores	16 GB	1 TB	ai	1 GbE
Recommended	12 cores	32 GB	2 TB	ai	1 GbE
Comfortable	16 cores	64 GB	4 TB	ai	2.5 GbE
Overkill	26 cores	103 GB	8 TB	ai	2.5 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Whisper (voice)

Local speech-to-text and wake-word voice assistant.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	4 cores	8 GB	0.5 TB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	8 cores	16 GB	1 TB	dedicated	1 GbE
Comfortable	12 cores	32 GB	1 TB	ai	2.5 GbE
Overkill	20 cores	52 GB	2 TB	ai	2.5 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Storage

NAS file storage

Centralized storage and sharing for the family or team.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	2 cores	8 GB	2 TB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	4 cores	16 GB	8 TB	None	2.5 GbE
Comfortable	8 cores	32 GB	16 TB	None	2.5 GbE
Overkill	13 cores	52 GB	32 TB	None	2.5 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Backup target

The place every other machine backs up to — versioning and integrity.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	2 cores	8 GB	2 TB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	4 cores	16 GB	4 TB	None	2.5 GbE
Comfortable	8 cores	32 GB	8 TB	None	10 GbE
Overkill	13 cores	52 GB	16 TB	None	10 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Gaming

Game server

Dedicated servers for Minecraft, Valheim, CS2 and friends.

Tier	CPU	RAM	Storage	GPU	Network
Minimum sensible	4 cores	8 GB	1 TB	None	1 GbE
Recommended	8 cores	16 GB	2 TB	None	1 GbE
Comfortable	16 cores	32 GB	4 TB	any	2.5 GbE
Overkill	26 cores	52 GB	8 TB	any	2.5 GbE

Minimum sensible: The smallest build that genuinely works — tight, focused, no fluff.
Recommended: The sweet spot: handles the service plus the usual side-services.
Comfortable: Real headroom — this service will never be the bottleneck.
Overkill: More than you will ever use for this service alone — spend the money elsewhere.

Want one system that runs several services together? The planner weighs the combined workload.

Open the planner What can I run

Frequently asked questions

Where do the tiers come from?

The tiers come from WisePC's workload model: for each service, the minimum that works, the recommended sweet spot, the comfortable headroom and a derived Overkill tier (comfortable × 1.6 compute, × 2 storage).

Can I run several services on one machine?

Yes — most services share resources. Use the planner and select several services; the engine sums and overlaps the requirements instead of stacking them.

What if I already have hardware?

Register it in My hardware and the analysis shows exactly which services your current system can comfortably run — including an honest “do nothing”.