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[goatherder]

Realistically speaking, what is the lowest-end, most power efficient *current* PC that will run MC as an audio server/endpoint?
I'm after something that wouldn't look out of place piggybacking (physically) on a Synology 4-bay NAS and suck up (way?) less watts than the NAS.

- No video.
- Media will be on NAS.
- Support every potential audio playback media type on-device outputting to USB DACs.
- Remote access to full regular MC interface (i.e. remote desktop or other)
- Run MC Server for off-network library sync, off-network streaming to both remote MC installs and JRemote, and multi-zone master.
- Run DSP.
- Capable of timely transcoding (e.g. 24/96 to 256K MP3) to stream off-network.

I know an i7 NUC13 for example will probably do this no issues, but I'm wondering how low I can go. Would even the Id Pi work???

[JimH]

... I'm wondering how low I can go. Would even the Id Pi work?

Yes.

You could probably put all your audio on it as well.  This new MC32 feature will make it easy to get it there:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,137825.0.html

[goatherder]

I would just restore the MC backup from the current main server tbh, I assume that's not changed and that it will work on the Pi version.

So the 4b or 5 will actually do all that fine? 
Would 4Gb be enough, or 8?

[JimH]

An RPi 3 or 3+ would do it.

[goatherder]

Cool, thanks

[BillT]

Although I've had MC running on a Raspberry Pi 4, I don't think that they are a good option any longer. Intel J4125 or N100 based mini PCs are as cheap or cheaper than a RPi once you've acquired all the peripherals you need to make a system, and the power consumption is on a par with RPis.

Of course, you can run Windows on an Intel system rather than having to endure the pain which is Linux.

I have 3 of this type https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001321908776.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.4.21ef18020aiHnc one of which has MC server running on it.

[eve]

Although I've had MC running on a Raspberry Pi 4, I don't think that they are a good option any longer. Intel J4125 or N100 based mini PCs are as cheap or cheaper than a RPi once you've acquired all the peripherals you need to make a system, and the power consumption is on a par with RPis.

Of course, you can run Windows on an Intel system rather than having to endure the pain which is Linux.

I have 3 of this type https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001321908776.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.4.21ef18020aiHnc one of which has MC server running on it.

This is the answer. There are about a BILLION of different options here and you can get them on Amazon very easily (if you want easy returns or whatever).

Fanless n100, n5105, J4125 etc all will handily deal with running an audio library. Tiny power consumption and obviously no noise. Way better than a Pi IMO

[Awesome Donkey]

Gotta agree too, looking at the price and performance comparisons. Plus you can run Windows (or Linux) if you want on the x86 boxes, instead of just Linux (or Android, I guess) on ARM-based SoCs like the Pis.

I got a N305 fanless box coming from AliExpress (it's a bit overpowered, but I'm going to use it for more than just running an audio-only MC server, it'll also handle my Emby server, AdGuard Home, VMs, etc.) and I'm excited to see how well it performs against the Orange Pi 5B and Raspberry Pi 4s I'm currently using that I intend to replace with it.

[eve]

Gotta agree too, looking at the price and performance comparisons. Plus you can run Windows (or Linux) if you want on the x86 boxes, instead of just Linux (or Android, I guess) on ARM-based SoCs like the Pis.

I got a N305 fanless box coming from AliExpress (it's a bit overpowered, but I'm going to use it for more than just running an audio-only MC server, it'll also handle my Emby server, AdGuard Home, VMs, etc.) and I'm excited to see how well it performs against the Orange Pi 5B and Raspberry Pi 4s I'm currently using that I intend to replace with it.

The N305's have QuickSync right? If so it'll do well with the Emby/Plex/Jellyfin stuff.

These intel things absolutely crush Pi's. Even before the small x86 stuff came into favor, I was having a hard time wrapping my head around people implementing Pi's 'automatically' instead of actually thinking out the use case. Very rarely are applications in that sweet spot where the Pi isn't absolute overkill, nor underpowered. Yes, of course there's a million ARM SBCs but after using a bunch of them, I can tell you, they're not usually worth it for 'demanding applications' (where the performance, on paper should be just right) due to the lack of specific drivers. Just because the specs / hardware can do it, doesn't mean you'll be able to take advantage of that outside of whatever horrible android distro is provided, or whatever half baked debian / ubuntu thing they've cooked up. Mesa is getting better but man, like 2018 ish, I went through a whole bunch of ARM platforms and the situation was... dire.
Especially now, like dollar for dollar, the x86 crap is a far better deal. You aren't worrying about drivers, it'll run any OS you want within reason and from a support perspective, there's generally more software with x86 builds (you can build an ARM version of stuff but it may not work). I'm not an ARM chick, eventually I'll fold, but beyond what Apple is doing (hardware only, i don't really care about their 'consumer software ecosystem') , there isn't anything hugely exciting for me personally in the space yet, RISC-V tho... mmmmm (a processor that's less of a ship of Theseus is a very appealing concept)

[Awesome Donkey]

My N305 fanless NUC arrived today... and as expected it far exceeds the performance of my Raspberry Pis and Orange Pi 5B. I installed Windows 11 Pro on it, setup a MC32 server on it, installed and setup both AdGuard Home and Emby Server and all of it together functions beautifully. Even without a fan it runs cooler than my Raspberry Pis did! YAY!