Workload guide
Hardware workload guides
For every workload — Plex, Home Assistant, VMs, AI, cameras, storage — the complete requirements guide: minimum, recommended and comfortable specs, generated by the WisePC decision engine.
Storage
5
File storageGeneral file sharing and centralized storage for a family or small team.
BackupOffsite/onsite backup target with versioning and integrity checks.
Photo storageLarge photo library with indexing (e.g. Immich, Synology Photos).- Video storageLarge video library, editing footage or camera archives.
- ArchiveCold or warm archive for data that must be kept long-term.
Media
7
PlexPlex Media Server with streaming and optional hardware transcoding.- JellyfinOpen-source media server with transcoding and multi-user support.
- TranscodingOn-the-fly video transcoding (4K HDR, tone mapping, multiple streams).
- Multi-user mediaMany simultaneous users streaming from a media server.
- Media downloader (Arr stack)Sonarr/Radarr/Prowlarr/SABnzbd/qBittorrent automation stack.
Music serverSelf-hosted music streaming (Navidrome, Plex music, Airsonic).
Ebook / audiobook librarySelf-hosted books and audiobooks (Calibre, Audiobookshelf, Kavita).
Virtualization
3
AI
4
Local AI inferenceRunning LLMs or other models locally (Ollama, vLLM, llama.cpp).
Image generationStable Diffusion and similar local image generation.
Voice assistant (local)Local STT/TTS and wake-word (Whisper, Piper, Rhasspy).- Model training / fine-tuningFine-tuning and training small models (LoRA, small checkpoints).
Security
2
Development
7
DockerRunning Docker services and containers at home or in a lab.
DatabasesPostgres, MySQL, Redis and other databases as services.
CI/CDSelf-hosted build pipelines, runners, artifact storage.- Self-hosted devGit, code servers, issue trackers, docs — all self-hosted.
Homelab opsAnsible, Terraform, GitOps, monitoring (Grafana/Prometheus).
Uptime monitorLightweight monitoring (Uptime Kuma) for service health checks and alerts.- Software developmentIDE, local builds, tests and containers on a developer desktop.
Smart home
1
Networking
3
Gaming
4
Personal cloud
6
Nextcloud / file syncSelf-hosted cloud sync, sharing and collaboration.
Password managerSelf-hosted Vaultwarden/Bitwarden for passwords and secrets.
Notes & documentsSelf-hosted notes, docs and editors (Joplin, OnlyOffice, CryptPad).
Email serverSelf-hosted email stack (Mailcow, Mailu) with spam filtering and webmail.- Chat server (Matrix)Self-hosted chat (Matrix Synapse, Mattermost) with federation and bridges.
- Paperless / document managementDocument scanning and OCR pipeline (Paperless-ngx) with full-text search.
Desktop & creative
8- Video editingEditing and grading video (Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut) — timeline playback, effects and export.
- 3D renderingBlender, Cinema 4D, Unreal and similar — modelling, look-dev and final renders on the CPU or the GPU.
- CAD / engineeringSolidWorks, Fusion, Inventor, AutoCAD, FreeCAD — parametric modelling and assemblies.
- Photo editingLightroom, Photoshop, Capture One, darktable — RAW development, catalogs and retouching.
- Audio production (DAW)Ableton, Cubase, FL Studio, Reaper — recording, mixing and sample-based instruments.
- Office / browsing / schoolDocuments, spreadsheets, browsing, video calls and homework — the everyday desktop.
- Streaming / content creationRecording and live streaming (OBS, podcasts, YouTube) without gaming on the same machine.
- Scientific computingMATLAB, Python/R data science, simulations and numerical work.
Running more than one?