@wobblewoo said:
You can pick up alot of second hand Xeon chips that were 1000 dollar chips at one point. They are server grade so pretty hardy and the motherboards, typically 2011v3 have alot of extras.
Look up those CPUs on https://www.cpubenchmark.net/ and avoid those with a ‘single thread rating’ below of 1350 points.
Older Xeons perform magnificently as web or database servers,
but sometimes not so magnificently as Plex transcoders.
There are quite some threads on this very forum from people who thought they bought something good, only to be told that these CPUs are not so optimal for Plex.
Do also take a look at the power draw of those old machines and their noise emissions.
In a data center, noise is not an issue - but in your home or office…
