# 24/7 Plex server

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/24-7-plex-server/818573>\
**Category:** Plex Media Server\
**Tags:** server-mac, server-truenas, plex-htpc\
**Created:** [November 14, 2022, 5:00pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/24-7-plex-server/818573 "2022-11-14T17:00:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nevos2005](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b487fb/32.png) [@nevos2005](https://forums.plex.tv/u/nevos2005)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 5:00pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/24-7-plex-server/818573/1 "2022-11-14T17:00:18Z")

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Hi all

So i am looking for the best and lowest power option for a 24/7 Plex server!!

These are what i have found out so far:

Mac Mini M1/  
or  
Mini PC with AMD CPU  
or  
Old Laptop that just needs a storage upgrade?  
or  
Do i go the NAS route.

Want to be able to stream all my 4k content etc… and have access where ever i am and whenever i need it without my main PC being on.

What are the best options and what are your thoughts?

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**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 6:06pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/24-7-plex-server/818573/2 "2022-11-14T18:06:00Z")

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That’ll highly depend on what clients you use and if they can stream your media as-is or need the server to transcode it. If no or very little transcoding is needed, you can go with pretty much every NAS or a Raspberry Pi as a server. The moment transcoding is needed, you’ll need a more and more powerful computer for the job… an adequate GPU or iGPU can soften that but hw-accelerated transcoding won’t work for all use cases (e.g. if you have subtitles that depend on being burned into the video… that job is solely with the CPU).

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**Author:** ![nevos2005](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b487fb/32.png) [@nevos2005](https://forums.plex.tv/u/nevos2005)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 8:53am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/24-7-plex-server/818573/3 "2022-11-15T08:53:09Z")

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So basically i need a strong CPU to do everything, what would you recommend?

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**Author:** ![nibbles](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/nibbles/32/150497_2.png) [@nibbles](https://forums.plex.tv/u/nibbles)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 10:44am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/24-7-plex-server/818573/4 "2022-11-15T10:44:46Z")

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A Pi 4B can stream 4K, right?  
A small NAS is good and can run on maybe 30W.  
Laptop no. Mini is overkill to direct play, and I’d wait for M2.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2023, 10:45am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/24-7-plex-server/818573/5 "2023-02-13T10:45:27Z")

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