Optiplex Home Server

[BushMasterJM]

Hello all. I have an Optiplex 3040 with a Core i3-6100 cpu. I want to use it for a home server with a couple docker containers running jellyfin, Minecraft server, etc. I already upgraded the ram but I am wondering what CPU I should buy for it. The i3 doesn't seem like it would be enough but I don't know a ton about how intel cpu generations work and what exactly I should be looking for. Any suggestions are welcome and a link to a better explanation of what gen cpu can do what and how old of a cpu I can buy would be most helpful. A guide to the different cpus per year/gen would be invaluable more than just knowing if the number has a K on the end, its a fast boi and if it has a U, it a slow boi or whatever. Furthermore any suggestions on linux distros to run on the server would be great. Thanks in advance.

[Electronics Wizardy]

If you got the hradwre you might as well try it nd see whta the performance like.

 

But cpu wise look at other 6000 series cpus like the i5 6400 and the i7 6700. 7th gen parts should work with a bios update so something like a 7400 or 7700.

 

[Crunchy Dragon]

11 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

 7th gen parts should work with a bios update so something like a 7400 or 7700.

Not without a BIOS hack. As I recall, there were some minor electrical differences in the LGA 1151 socket between Skylake, Kaby Lake, and Coffee Lake, hence the magical need for Z170, Z270, and Z370 existing, also for Intel reasons....

 

There were some hacks to get Kaby Lake running on Z170 boards, but those were pretty few and far between, and I don't recall any of them being particularly stable. I don't believe there was ever success getting 8th gen to run on Z170, and I also fail to recall if anything more than a 7th gen i3 was successfully booted. Something to look up, I guess.

 

Intel was truly Intel-ing at that time in history.

[LIGISTX]

1 hour ago, BushMasterJM said:

Hello all. I have an Optiplex 3040 with a Core i3-6100 cpu. I want to use it for a home server with a couple docker containers running jellyfin, Minecraft server, etc. I already upgraded the ram but I am wondering what CPU I should buy for it. The i3 doesn't seem like it would be enough but I don't know a ton about how intel cpu generations work and what exactly I should be looking for. Any suggestions are welcome and a link to a better explanation of what gen cpu can do what and how old of a cpu I can buy would be most helpful. A guide to the different cpus per year/gen would be invaluable more than just knowing if the number has a K on the end, its a fast boi and if it has a U, it a slow boi or whatever. Furthermore any suggestions on linux distros to run on the server would be great. Thanks in advance.

Besides mincecraft, it will run the rest of it with ease.

 

I ran my homelab on a i3 6100 for years! I had half a dozen VM's running, and half a dozen docker containers inside one of those VM's. Plex, home assistant, truenas, windows LTSC, multiple ubuntu server VM's, all easy for that i3. Minecraft may need more power tho.

[DeuMoneyMaster]

i use an i3 4150 with 32GB ddr3 1333MHz for my homeserver with proxmox installed and it works perfektly fine cpu usage is low most of the time ant powerdraw as well so you should be fine i think. to give you a better answer you sould tell us exactly what you want to do on that server. for the two you named above that i3 is perfectly fine. that is at least my opinion

[Electronics Wizardy]

11 hours ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Not without a BIOS hack. As I recall, there were some minor electrical differences in the LGA 1151 socket between Skylake, Kaby Lake, and Coffee Lake, hence the magical need for Z170, Z270, and Z370 existing, also for Intel reasons....

 

There were some hacks to get Kaby Lake running on Z170 boards, but those were pretty few and far between, and I don't recall any of them being particularly stable. I don't believe there was ever success getting 8th gen to run on Z170, and I also fail to recall if anything more than a 7th gen i3 was successfully booted. Something to look up, I guess.

 

Intel was truly Intel-ing at that time in history.

but ren't 6th and 7th gen generally fully compatible? 8th and 9th use the same socket but probalby wont work, but a bios update should get 7th gen working on that system.

[Crunchy Dragon]

9 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

but ren't 6th and 7th gen generally fully compatible? 8th and 9th use the same socket but probalby wont work, but a bios update should get 7th gen working on that system.

I don't think so?

 

Last I checked, 7th gen needed a new motherboard.

[Needfuldoer]

26 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

but ren't 6th and 7th gen generally fully compatible? 8th and 9th use the same socket but probalby wont work, but a bios update should get 7th gen working on that system.

Even if the H110 chipset supports Kaby Lake, there's no guarantee Dell added that support to their BIOS.

[Blue4130]

4 hours ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

I don't think so?

 

Last I checked, 7th gen needed a new motherboard.

Pretty sure that's incorrect.

[BushMasterJM]

20 hours ago, LIGISTX said:

Besides mincecraft, it will run the rest of it with ease.

 

I ran my homelab on a i3 6100 for years! I had half a dozen VM's running, and half a dozen docker containers inside one of those VM's. Plex, home assistant, truenas, windows LTSC, multiple ubuntu server VM's, all easy for that i3. Minecraft may need more power tho.

I’ve been researching proxmox and docker. I would like a jellyfin server, Minecraft server, and the capability to spin up some linux isos from time to time. The best plan I’ve come up with is installing proxmox on the hardware and then creating a linux vm within proxmox that will have docker on it. Then docker will run the Minecraft server and Jellyfin server. If I want to try a linux distro, I spin up another vm on proxmox. Is that a good plan or am I not understanding things correctly?

[LIGISTX]

1 hour ago, BushMasterJM said:

I’ve been researching proxmox and docker. I would like a jellyfin server, Minecraft server, and the capability to spin up some linux isos from time to time. The best plan I’ve come up with is installing proxmox on the hardware and then creating a linux vm within proxmox that will have docker on it. Then docker will run the Minecraft server and Jellyfin server. If I want to try a linux distro, I spin up another vm on proxmox. Is that a good plan or am I not understanding things correctly?

Yea that'll work perfect!