Choosing Your Requirements

TheWhen deciding on what hardware that you need for your serverserver, dependsyou onneed to know what you're hopinggoing to use it for. 

When you're running one or two services, a Raspberry Pi would probably suffice, while running your own personal cloud and media services might require a refurbished desktop computer.  Single-boardRunning computersyour own media server may require a faster processor, a decent graphics card and traditional desktops have slightly different install processes.  Media servers can require more processing power, such as a dedicated graphics card, as well asadequate storage space for any digital media.

Raspberry Pi and traditional desktop operating systems have differing install processes, but use the same software. 

 

Processing Power

Choosing the type of main processor you will use for your server is an important decision.  

The Raspberry Pi – and other single-board computers  – use a different type of processor than the one you'd find in a traditional desktop. These ARM (Advanced RISC Machine) processors are in the same family as the one that power your cellphone.  Built for power efficiency and stability, they cannot often handle sustained heavy loads.