Hardware recommendation

Hardware
1

Hello, everyone!

I am looking forward to setting up my (newly built) smart-home in the coming weeks. However, I got stuck right at the beginning, not being able to decide on the hardware for my Home Assistant installation. Besides HASS, other services that I intend to use are:

  • Frigate (2 HIKVISION cameras, 4k, no Coral TPU as it is out of stock everywhere)
  • Pi-hole
  • Homebridge
  • possibly other services as well.

I have an old-ish PC lying around at home, with the following configuration:
CPU: Ryzen 7 1700
RAM: 16GB
SSD: 256GB
HDD: 2TB

Will that be enough for running all of the mentioned services? Do you think the power consumption will be sensible, running the PC 24/7?

My other option is buying an Intel NUC, with a 10th gen i5 + 16GB RAM + 1TB SSD NVMe. That will set me back around 700$, and I know it may be an overkill, but I can’t seem to find any cheaper, decent options. I prefer not to buy used components.

Thank you!

2

I have a used supermicro dual Xeon processors. Bought used 5 years ago and it is still working. Machine is 10 years old. It has 32 gb of ram and a 1 TB HDD. I run ubuntu with a virtual machine. Well over 100 devices including z-wave, wifi and serial port. No problem.

Try running your current machine and see if it meets your standards. You can always upgrade if you find it doesn’t meet your expectations. I believe you will be fine. I run 5 servers, 2 desktops, router, 4 switches, 3 AP, and consume about 650 W continuously. I make sure my screens shut off when not being used.