I’m considering turning an old PC (i3-4170, 16GB RAM) into a home server, but my situation is a bit unconventional and I’d like some opinions before committing.
My main goals are to self-host tools like Trilium Notes and Nextcloud, and later maybe expand to media (movies/series), Home Assistant, and possibly some engineering software licenses/services.
Context:
I split my time between two cities. In one of them, I stay only ~3 days a week, and that’s where this PC is located. When I’m there, I actively use this machine for things like Arduino development and general tasks. When I’m away, I’d like it to act as a server running 24/7.
So I’m thinking about keeping it on Windows (10 or 11) to:
Use it normally when I’m physically there
Run my services in the background when I’m not
I know Linux is the “default” answer for servers, but in my case I’m optimizing for:
Convenience and dual-use (desktop + server)
Minimal hardware investment (don’t want to build a dedicated server right now)
My concerns are:
Stability for long uptime
Background services reliability on Windows
Remote access and management
Resource usage with multiple services
Whether I’ll regret not separating “server” and “workstation” roles early
Would you consider this a reasonable approach, or am I setting myself up for headaches?
If you’ve done something similar, what worked and what didn’t?
TL;DR:
I want to use an old i3 PC as a hybrid setup (daily-use Windows machine when I’m in town + 24/7 home server when I’m away) to host things like Nextcloud, Trilium, and maybe media/Home Assistant later.
I’m new to self-hosting/servers, but I do have a background in software and networking.
Is sticking with Windows 10/11 for this a reasonable starting point, or will it cause problems long-term compared to going Linux or separating roles early?