I’m looking to create a Plex/media server so my family and I can stream our Blu-rays. It would also serve as a cloud of sorts. This is my first time making a server. A thorough search on the i3 has been made, but I remain unsure if an 8 yo processor will meet my needs.
At most, we would be streaming on one or two devices. Aside from that, the storage would just be a nifty way to keep my photos off of iCloud. I plan on making it redundant, but I need to get my hands on another 8TB drive.
it should be fine, your limiting factor is going to be number of transcode streams. When a plex client connects to a plex server and tries to stream a video the client and server will talk and discuss what formats the client can accept and if the video is not in that format the plex server will transcode it on the fly to a format that the client can play. The more powerful the machine the more transcoding streams it can handle at once. But realistically do you need more than like 2 or 3 at most? probably not.