A web-based simulator where users input their service stack (Plex streams, torrent clients, ad blockers), performance targets, and budget. The tool benchmarks thousands of hardware configs (Intel NUC, Minisforum, Synology, DIY) against real-world service profiles, generating optimized build recommendations with predicted FPS, concurrent stream limits, cost analysis, and visual architecture diagrams for compute-storage separation.

Mini PC market has exploded with 40+ new models in 2023-24 offering diverse CPU/GPU options, while 4K HDR content and AI services push NAS devices beyond their limits. The self-hosting community grew 300% since 2020, creating urgent demand for data-driven hardware decisions beyond Reddit opinion threads.