build a custom server or not for blu ray compression? currently use n40L

[413x]

Thinking about this as i really need to compress some blu rays and i think the cpu in my n40l is just going to take too long.
I also think it is the cpu in the server that is struggling with converting blu ray rips for mobile device streaming

Would want something that is low power when idle but has plenty of cores for the compression task

 

[cokecan]

Before I invested in an N40L I was using a mini-itx based build in a passive case for my "server" and htpc duties. It was plenty quick enough, with an i3 cpu and 8GB RAM in but VERY low power even on full load thanks to T variant of the i3 and also the Pico PSU. I can't remember exact readings but I'm pretty sure it consumed less power than the HP.

After purchasing the N40L I made the above box my desktop but soon realised the N40L wasn't quite quick enough for transcoding 1080 content with plex and would take an age to compress BD rips. So I opted to just do both of these things on the desktop again. My circumstances have changed since then and now I just rip my blurays with MakeMKV without compressing so I don't need the extra power of the i3 and hence am selling that box now in MM.

 

[413x]

im at a loss at what to do tbh, can i get a higher performing setup that uses similar power to the n40L?

 

[cokecan]

The N40L is a pretty low power box in terms of performance and power requirements (watts). Pretty much any setup you run with a Pico PSU will draw the same kind of power or less and offer waaaaaaaaay more performance.

As I said, I was running an i3 sandy bridge setup which in current CPU terms is a low end chip but it walks all over the N40L and draws less power than it too. You could easily run an i5 if you really wanted to

 

[413x]

The N40L is a pretty low power box in terms of performance and power requirements (watts). Pretty much any setup you run with a Pico PSU will draw the same kind of power or less and offer waaaaaaaaay more performance.

As I said, I was running an i3 sandy bridge setup which in current CPU terms is a low end chip but it walks all over the N40L and draws less power than it too. You could easily run an i5 if you really wanted to

This is interesting. its hard to way up the initial cost vs long term

 

[cokecan]

To give you some figures, my i3 box consumes around 20-24watts at idle but has enough grunt to encode BD rips in a reasonable amount of time to H264 (the high profile setting in Handbrake).