Cheap, dedicated Plex media server?

King Mustard · 24 Aug 2017 at 15:10

I need a small, quiet, dedicated machine that holds the 2x internal HDDs that I already have.

Ideally, it'll be no more than £300 but I think I'm pushing my luck with that price.

My video files are x264 and x265. Mostly 1080p x265 but soon enough, I'll transition to 4k x265.

Transcoding is often used, so I'm guessing I'll need at least a Core i3?

Two clients maximum at any one time (two Chromecasts).

Any ideas?

Randall8686 · 26 Aug 2017 at 05:24

I use a thinkserver ts140 with a quad-core xeon. They were on cashback and I got it for something like £250-300 with a 1tb her and the Xeon costing that much alone. It holds 5 1080p streams no problem and handles 4k ok too.

If you hunt about there are some good priced units out there or auction sites for a used one. I actually run xpenology on mine and then plex in that. Works a treat

fezster · 26 Aug 2017 at 11:32

How about a Dell T30. It has a Xeon E3-1225v5 and is available for £310 with cashback.

GTiPUG · 26 Aug 2017 at 12:21

Are Intel NUCs any good for this?

King Mustard · 29 Aug 2017 at 22:14

fezster said:
How about a Dell T30. It has a Xeon E3-1225v5 and is available for £310 with cashback.

Very nice, thank you!