I'm looking to build a cheap but expandable server I can set up in my basement and use to store backups, stream media (Plex), and perform other miscellaneous services on my network.
While I haven't had much trouble choosing other parts for this build (hard drive, case, power supply), finding a good CPU has me feeling a bit overwhelmed. There are just too many factors that go into determining CPU speed for me to easily judge based on specs alone.
What's a good, budget CPU I can use for this purpose? It needs to be fast enough to do on-the-fly media transcoding for Plex, and I want it to be power efficient since I plan to be running this server 24/7, but aside from that cheaper is better. Integrated graphics would be a nice bonus since it would save me from having to purchase a video card separately, but it's not strictly necessary as I can get a cheap video card for ~$35 anyway (the server will usually be running headless, so I don't need anything fancy as far as graphics go).