How much can one Raspberry pi do at the same time?

[brandonyoung]

Hello, new Raspberry Pi owner here.

I have seen various tutorials for using a Raspberry Pi as a DLNA server, automatic bittorrent box, NAS, etc. So, I know that a Raspberry Pi can do each of these. But can or should a single Raspberry Pi be configured for all of them at once, or should I split different uses among different Raspberry Pi's?

For Example:
Can a Raspberry Pi act as a NAS, DLNA server, and bittorrent client at the same time? Or would a single Raspberry Pi choke on trying to do too much at once?

[DeeJay]

Can a Raspberry Pi act as a NAS, DLNA server, and bittorrent client at the same time?

I don't see any technical reason why not.

Or would a single Raspberry Pi choke on trying to do too much at once?

Surely, any system will eventually "choke on trying to do too much at once?"

[gkreidl]

Up to a certain limit, yes. But if torrents are important for you and are running most of the time, I'd use a separate RPi for it. I've seen transmission go to 100% CPU use, if too many connections are open at the same time.