£500 or less Linux Workstation – Plex Transcoding, VMs, Homelab – Open to Older Parts

roccles · 10 Apr 2025 at 09:45

Hi,

I’m looking to build a Linux-based workstation PC with a budget of around £500. This won’t be used for gaming — it’s mainly to help me get deeper into Linux without the risk of breaking my main machine.

I’m happy to use older parts (up to 10 years old) if they still perform well and meet my needs.

Key use cases

Programming
Running virtual machines and Docker
Plex server (will always need to transcode, accessed via TV/Xbox apps)
Home Assistant
General use (browsing, YouTube, etc.)

Build goals

CPU: Strong multi-core performance
RAM: 64GB ideally
GPU: No gaming needs, but must support hardware transcoding for Plex
Storage: At least 1TB
Form Factor: Would love a small/compact build, but full-size is fine too
Noise: Quiet or near-silent preferred

I started looking at some of the popular mini PCs, but I feel like I could build something much better for the same price — especially if I can make use of older components.

Any recommendations or part lists would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers

randal · 10 Apr 2025 at 10:10

The way I see it you have 3 options on that budget and requirement set:

Something on AM4 with an NVidia P400/T400 GPU. You'll need to "unlock" these via a driver mod script to remove the 3 concurrent stream limit for decoding. For that budget, 5700X/3D on a B550 with 3600mhz RAM that sort of thing.
Plex will use QuickSync on Intel CPUs as well, I'm not too au fait with current Intel setups but for your budget and use case - you could get away with a modern Intel NUC (Gen 12 onwards supports 64GB, previous generations worth considering top out at 32GB). They have M2/SATA SSD options in most cases. I've run ESX and Proxmox on lesser NUCs with multiple VMs with no worries.
Or my personal favourite - Lenovo Mini/Tiny PCs. I personally use these today, I have two M920X as a Proxmox cluster running multiple VMs - two of which are Docker hosts and another is my Plex server. They top out around 32GB unless you on the latest models and are typically Intel limited - BUT they are cheap, plentiful and super easy to work with. I've even modded one of mine to support 4x NVMEs and a 10GBe NIC.

Moley · 10 Apr 2025 at 10:17

I bought a second hand HP Z620 Workstation last year to run as a Proxmox server. It has two Xeon Processors E5-2697 v2, 15Tb storage and 192GB Ram. It cost me £528. You could get one with less RAM and spend the saving on a GPU.

roccles · 10 Apr 2025 at 16:35

Thanks guys, that gives me some interesting avenues to investigate.

Tetras · 10 Apr 2025 at 18:50

Just an example build to compare.

I included 64GB as requested, CPU cooler is in the CPU box.

Would recommend trying to get a 13400 instead for the same money (doable), since it adds 4 E-Cores, assuming they will play nice with your software.

Motherboard is very basic, has no wifi and will not accept much of an upgrade, but this is a spec to meet the budget.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Intel Core i5-12400 2.50GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AL-IN) = £139.99
1 x MSI PRO H610M-E DDR4 (LGA 1700) DDR4 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-03383) = £59.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C18 3600MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MY-4CF-CS) = £109.99
1 x Team Group MP33 PRO 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen3 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-02681) = £43.99
1 x Kolink Tranquility Silent Midi Tower Case - Black Noise Dampened (SKU: CA-03W-KK) = £62.99
1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95

Total: £501.90 (includes delivery: £0.00)