Proxmox host. Fedora server vm.

• openvpn as a backup (and because i went through the highly laborious process of setting it up)
• wireguard
• nitter (twitter alternative frontend. makes twitter usable)
• audiobookshelf (podcast manager)
• pihole (block ads by dns)
• nginx for my website and some related website stuff
• Vaultwarden (sometimes. I usually keep it off because I prefer KeepassXC anyway)

The hardware is a 10 year old Thinkpad. I think it’s pretty clear by my software list that I don’t ask it to do much, but it does so much for me. Like, I wouldn’t run Jellyfin off of this thing. In fact my NAS is 4x8TB drives but I keep it mostly shut off. It’s powered on maybe about once or twice a week for a few hours at a time. I try to batch my activity with it. Like “oh, yeah, I want file X but it’s on my NAS. Maybe later, when I have a need for file Y I will turn it on and retrieve both.”

I can achieve everything I want with even lower spec hardware, but this Thinkpad has a faulty trackpad anyway, which is also how I got it for cheap. I have never measured it, but supposedly it consumes around 6W at idle which is low enough for me.

I do this exact same setup but one thing to add to your answer and be aware of is that syncthing is not a backup solution. If you delete the files on one computer, those files will be deleted on the other synced devices. And accidents can happen.

So, as always, take backups.