Plex server with old xeon c602

Arnold Ma · 25 Dec 2018 at 20:13

Hey guys, I noticed while research, there are some users with good media server experience here - so made myself an account!

I saw another thread people suggesting Xeon chips, specifically e5-2670, did some research and think it'd be my best option as I want to be able to transcode 4k with ease. I think I get the hardware side of things, but any suggestions on the RAM in the below would be much appreciated... something cheap and reliable, as I don't think a Plex server needs much RAM.

2x Xeon E5-2670
2x Noctua NH-U12D Xeon cooler
ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16 SSI EEB
Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Tempered Glass
Corsair RMx 850 80+Gold

The above comes to about £700 if I get CPUs off ebay - is it overkill?

Where I need the most help is the software side, I already have 3-4 HDD of various size (NAS drives), so what OS/RAID set-up shall I use to have some kind of redundancy (RAID 5 to be space efficient)? I've heard about unRAID but a bit confused, is it an OS? Do I need anything with it?

I'd also like to use it as my torrent server - so maybe good RAM is needed, I'd likely leave it on 24/7 so happy to manage it remotely.

Thanks all!

StevieP · 25 Dec 2018 at 20:28

Welcome to the forums!

The spec listed is a bit over my head but I'd wager that if all you want to do is run Plex and a torrent server then circa £700 sounds like massive overkill! Personally I upgraded from a Synology NAS to a HP Microserver with an upgraded Xeon E31260L CPU and it runs Plex like a beast for me!

I went with unRAID because it was relatively simple to set up and did exactly what I wanted it to do! Yes it's essentially an OS - and you can run "dockers" with whatever you want to in terms of utilities - I've got it running Plex and a torrent program called Deluge - both of which were simple to set up with the help of the unRAID community (VERY helpful bunch!) and various Youtube videos!

I'd recommend you watch a few videos on Youtube to see how it compares to FreeNAS, XPEnology etc but I love the way that you can have a single drive serve as a parity drive for your other drives in case of a failure!

Armageus · 25 Dec 2018 at 20:42

E5-2670 are a terrible choice, they are essentially the same architecture as the old 2500k from a few years ago.

If you actually need to transcode then you would be better off with a Ryzen or threadripper AMD chip (which will do the same as the pair of xeons through brute force number of cores), or if not then a skylake or newer intel chip offers transcoding via the integrated graphics.

I'd argue why the need to transcode at all? Ideally your playback device should support the formats that you want to rip to.

PiKe · 25 Dec 2018 at 20:45

Everyone seems to suggest you should not be transcoding 4k, especially as Plex doesn't support HDR and applies tone mapping (really badly).

andy_mk3 · 25 Dec 2018 at 20:45

I would look into GPU transcoding with a Quadro card.

Armageus · 25 Dec 2018 at 20:50

andy_mk3 said:
I would look into GPU transcoding with a Quadro card.

You'd need a P2000 to support all 4k formats with more than 2 concurrent streams though (afaik)

https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-decode-gpu-support-matrix

andy_mk3 · 25 Dec 2018 at 20:56

Armageus said:
Your need a P2000 to support all 4k formats with more than 2 concurrent streams though (afaik)

https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-decode-gpu-support-matrix

Yes I think that's right. Possibly a much more power efficient option though, rather than running a pair of Xeons hard.

Armageus · 25 Dec 2018 at 20:58

andy_mk3 said:
Yes I think that's right. Possibly a much more power efficient option though, rather than running a pair of Xeons hard.

The cheaper more efficient option is to not transcode if you can avoid it - e.g. by having a 4k capable client like the 4k Roku etc

andy_mk3 · 25 Dec 2018 at 21:03

Armageus said:
The cheaper more efficient option is to not transcode if you can avoid it - e.g. by having a 4k capable client like the 4k Roku etc

Of course yes

It depends if the OP wants to transcode for remote or local clients though perhaps?

Arnold Ma · 25 Dec 2018 at 21:04

Thanks for the replies everyone! AND MERRY XMAS!

Xeon vs Ryzen - Dual Xeon is much cheaper than a single Ryzen, and far more powerful, I've read it's hit and miss with 1800x on 4k transcoding.

hardware acceleration via GPU - I believe the quality is not as good with this? I may try with my current set-up as i just bought a RX580 and see if it helps.

transcoding on server vs end player - I'd have to get everyone a nvidia shield or an apple TV, thought it'd be easier, for both torrent (I'd like to move away from leaving my workstation on 24/7 also) and plex if I have a powerful server that can serve all devices! Plus I get a NAS with proper redundency, i'm currently using my workstation for all 3 and it's about time I got off my ass and optimised! 1 stone 3 birds

PS. also need to transcode 4k to lower bitrate as my internet is crap, so 10mbps 1080p is best I can serve...

@StevieP - thanks for the unRAID explanation! I saw a video on how to install it via USB and it does look relatively easy.

All comments are good please keep them coming, any more hardware options or on unRAID vs the other software options would be much appreciated (for plex, torrent and NAS).

PiKe · 25 Dec 2018 at 21:20

Old xeons aren't exactly power efficient.

Arnold Ma · 25 Dec 2018 at 21:27

So I've read, that was one of the cons...

StevieP · 25 Dec 2018 at 21:30

Arnold Ma said:
@StevieP - thanks for the unRAID explanation! I saw a video on how to install it via USB and it does look relatively easy.

All comments are good please keep them coming, any more hardware options or on unRAID vs the other software options would be much appreciated (for plex, torrent and NAS).

Here was my thread as I was experimenting with unRAID but if you want specifics @neodude was a massive help and the community over on the Lime Technology forum are a helpful (and responsive!) bunch!

PiKe · 25 Dec 2018 at 21:31

What devices are you going to be streaming to?

I use Unraid on a dual Xeon x5660 which gives me 24 threads but I doubt it will do more than 3 streams at 4k.

andy_mk3 · 25 Dec 2018 at 21:32

StevieP said:
Here was my thread as I was experimenting with unRAID but if you want specifics @neodude was a massive help and the community over on the Lime Technology forum are a helpful (and responsive!) bunch!

Forgot to mention I'm using unRAID too, it's awesome. I've gone from running like 12 VM's to having twice as many services running in docker, it's sweet!

Arnold Ma · 25 Dec 2018 at 21:34

PiKe said:
What devices are you going to be streaming to?

Smart TV and firestick, plus ipads for mine and my GF's parents, mobile phones every now and then while anyone (family) wants to view content while travelling, though this is much less often, if at all.

StevieP said:
Here was my thread as I was experimenting with unRAID but if you want specifics @neodude was a massive help and the community over on the Lime Technology forum are a helpful (and responsive!) bunch!

Thank you! will read through!

PiKe · 25 Dec 2018 at 21:35

How are you going to deliver 4k over a WAN connection? What is your upload speed?

Arnold Ma · 25 Dec 2018 at 21:38

andy_mk3 said:
Forgot to mention I'm using unRAID too, it's awesome. I've gone from running like 12 VM's to having twice as many services running in docker, it's sweet!

Stupid question maybe, VMs to run apps or?

PiKe said:
How are you going to deliver 4k over a WAN connection? What is your upload speed?

I won't need to serve the content to myself over Plex, so retaining quality for local consumption. Rest are all remote, my upload is circa 20mbps hence ideally need to transcode down to 10mbps 1080p for remote users.

andy_mk3 · 25 Dec 2018 at 21:40

Arnold Ma said:
Stupid question maybe, VMs to run apps or?

Yes that's right. I used to have Plex, SABnzbd, Sonarr, Radarr etc all in VM's, now they're all in dockers.

PiKe · 25 Dec 2018 at 21:48

Arnold Ma said:
Stupid question maybe, VMs to run apps or?

I won't need to serve the content to myself over Plex, so retaining quality for local consumption. Rest are all remote, my upload is circa 20mbps hence ideally need to transcode down to 10mbps 1080p for remote users.

Client defines the quality, remote quality is set at default at 4mbps 720p unless you specially change it. Will all your content be 4k? You could just have 4k stuff in a separate library you don't serve to remote users.