What version of OS X Server should I run on an early 2008 (pre unibody) 15" MacBook Pro 2.4GHz 4GB?

[astromoose]

I've never run OS X Server before. I know 10.6 Server is a separate install, while in newer versions of OS X it's an add on to the base installation.

Yes I know it will run all the way up to El Capitan.
I'm using this machine as a server (plex, file sharing, VPN, torrentbox).

I was going to keep it old school and run 10.6 but I was wondering what you all thought the sweet spot for performance would be for this machine. Perhaps Mountain Lion, or Mavericks?

Running 10.6 it's just a hair too slow for plex server to do high bitrate 1080p transcodes. I was hoping (perhaps erroneously) that something like Mavericks might have better performance.

I've included a poll as an experiment but please post your thoughts.
Thanks.

 

[DJLC]

I doubt you're going to get better Plex performance from a more recent OS. But if I had to choose I'd probably go with El Cap; I like to be cutting edge.

Really the only thing you're doing that necessitates OS X Server is VPN, which you may be able to set up in your router instead. I'd tend to look at that route and see if Plex performance is better in 10.6 client (non-server).

 

[bobr1952]

I vote for El Capitan since it runs just fine on my 2008 iMac--which only has 2GB of RAM. Slow because of the minimal RAM but you should be fine with 4GB.

(looking back I just noticed you want to run Server--so my answer was not for the server edition--sorry)