CPU for Plex Media Server? (4k transcoding)

Scramz · 3 Sep 2017 at 02:22

jigger said:
You don't need a graphics card to run a system. The system will boot just fine without one.

As far as I know, a Ryzen mobo won't post without a gpu. Mind won't that's for sure, headless or not.

PiKe · 3 Sep 2017 at 10:08

Most (if not all) motherboards won't post without a GPU if there isn't an integrated one.

muon · 3 Sep 2017 at 12:15

DragonQ said:
Maybe but any old card will do. If you really don't have one lying around then grab a used one or get one of the el-cheapo HTPC ones for £25.

I don't think it will even POST.

Everyone is just used to Intel chips (since sandybridge) which have IGPs.

Randall8686 · 4 Sep 2017 at 08:05

Just tried my ryzen and it will not post without the GPU installed. using the X370 ITX asrock board. was interested as my HTPC case is open at the moment. although with my Xeon transcoding 4k fine i will leave it for now before i upgrade my server. Although i think when i do it will go ryzen. Forgot to mention that my xeon whilst transcoding 4k is also running 2 Full HD security cameras on surveillance station too (writing to a separate volume) given that according to its not powerfull enough not sure how its doing so well.

voidshatter · 4 Sep 2017 at 16:38

^ I contacted ASRock's tech support, and got conflicting information regarding the Fatal1ty X370 Gaming-ITX/ac motherboard.

Yes, a system with this motherboard, RAM and a compatible CPU can also boot without any GPU/iGPU.

I have done a quick test with BIOS 3.00 default settings and a Windows 10 installation. With the Windows start sound enabled I could hear the system could boot into Windows.

Not sure how that works with Debian.

The booting will take a little bit longer than usual, because the motherboard/UEFI will try to detect a graphics card.

If you connect a chassis speaker to the 4-pin speaker header on the motherboard, then you can hear 5 beeps during bootup, indicating a problem related to graphics. But it will still continue to boot.

Kind regards,

ASRock Support

FrankJH · 6 Sep 2017 at 19:15

Even today , I just dont see the point in not having a gfx / igp available

I know its possible to run a lot of OS's without one, and just use a remote system over ip but when there is an issue its 10 times easier resolving on the system itself, and SO much less bother

jigger · 6 Sep 2017 at 19:24

FrankJH said:
Even today , I just dont see the point in not having a gfx / igp available

I know its possible to run a lot of OS's without one, and just use a remote system over ip but when there is an issue its 10 times easier resolving on the system itself, and SO much less bother

You have to boot the system to fix the issue and have full access over the network anyway.

If the machine is getting used as a server then all the graphics are doing it taking up a slot and burning power.

PiKe · 6 Sep 2017 at 19:29

Will Windows play nice with remote desktop if there isn't a graphics adapter?

jigger · 6 Sep 2017 at 19:34

Should do but it might depend on the version and you might need to change some settings. I'm not sure why you'd want to use Windows though.

voidshatter · 6 Sep 2017 at 22:20

FrankJH said:
Even today , I just dont see the point in not having a gfx / igp available

I know its possible to run a lot of OS's without one, and just use a remote system over ip but when there is an issue its 10 times easier resolving on the system itself, and SO much less bother

An integrated graphics processor makes sense as long as it can be shut down without consuming power when it's not being used. It would make debugging and maintenance a lot easier when it's necessary.

A dedicated graphics card does not fit well in the server since it generates additional heat and may affect the fanless purpose. Any system with any fan would require vacuum cleaning from time to time. A fanless system can be left alone for a long period of time without cleaning. Think about a typical router running on passive cooling only.

Since I want my Plex media server to be set and forgotten, without the need of regular reboot (except critical security fixes of kernel), I would pretty much prefer to have ECC memory installed. At the moment it's either the Ryzen 1700, or wait for the low voltage version of 6-core Xeon in Coffee Lake architecture (for the advantage of having an iGPU).

DragonQ · 7 Sep 2017 at 08:56

voidshatter said:
An integrated graphics processor makes sense as long as it can be shut down without consuming power when it's not being used. It would make debugging and maintenance a lot easier when it's necessary.

A dedicated graphics card does not fit well in the server since it generates additional heat and may affect the fanless purpose. Any system with any fan would require vacuum cleaning from time to time. A fanless system can be left alone for a long period of time without cleaning. Think about a typical router running on passive cooling only.

Since I want my Plex media server to be set and forgotten, without the need of regular reboot (except critical security fixes of kernel), I would pretty much prefer to have ECC memory installed. At the moment it's either the Ryzen 1700, or wait for the low voltage version of 6-core Xeon in Coffee Lake architecture (for the advantage of having an iGPU).

I am not sure about power usage of discrete GPUs vs IGPs when near-idle, but there are plenty of budget fanless GPUs out there. I have one in my HTPC.

jigger · 7 Sep 2017 at 14:23

You just don't need to spend money on a GPU for a server.

voidshatter · 7 Sep 2017 at 21:45

DragonQ said:
I am not sure about power usage of discrete GPUs vs IGPs when near-idle, but there are plenty of budget fanless GPUs out there. I have one in my HTPC.

It blocks one side of ventilation of the Lian-Li Q34 case, if this is an excuse at all... I prefer to keep things as simple as possible to minimise uncertainty. Besides, who knows whether the PCI-E slot will be used for something else or not (though I prefer to keep it empty)

FrankJH · 10 Sep 2017 at 05:26

jigger said:
You have to boot the system to fix the issue and have full access over the network anyway.

If the machine is getting used as a server then all the graphics are doing it taking up a slot and burning power.

depends what the issue is, so no you dont have to fully boot to fix all issues

2ndly compared to how many hdd most people have in servers, a basic gfx card burns very little power - and so be it if you want to leave a slot open and never use it (the liklihood of using all the slots for raid cards etc before you have filled the chassis with drives is highly unlikely unless you got the mobo spec completely wrong in the first place)

jigger said:
You just don't need to spend money on a GPU for a server.

Who ever suggested spending money

either an inbuilt igp or a spare card laying about /mobo with inbuilt graphics

voidshatter said:
A dedicated graphics card does not fit well in the server since it generates additional heat and may affect the fanless purpose. Any system with any fan would require vacuum cleaning from time to time. A fanless system can be left alone for a long period of time without cleaning. Think about a typical router running on passive cooling only.
.

You are obviously not planning on very much internal storage going forward....personally still think the server is best suited to have the nas funcionality built in, otherwise why are you worrying about power in the first place when you are running two boxes instead of one?

somewhatdamaged · 10 Sep 2017 at 11:06

Surely it's cheaper to just stream directly and use an Nvdia Shield TV as your media player? This will handle 10bit 4k HEVC streams with ease

I can't see the need for transcoding unless you're sending movies to a mobile device

jigger · 10 Sep 2017 at 18:08

FrankJH said:
depends what the issue is, so no you dont have to fully boot to fix all issues

2ndly compared to how many hdd most people have in servers, a basic gfx card burns very little power - and so be it if you want to leave a slot open and never use it (the liklihood of using all the slots for raid cards etc before you have filled the chassis with drives is highly unlikely unless you got the mobo spec completely wrong in the first place)

Who ever suggested spending money

either an inbuilt igp or a spare card laying about /mobo with inbuilt graphics

You are obviously not planning on very much internal storage going forward....personally still think the server is best suited to have the nas funcionality built in, otherwise why are you worrying about power in the first place when you are running two boxes instead of one?

If you want one.

MG42Maniac · 9 Nov 2017 at 19:55

I've inherited a workstation with 2 x E5-2670, 64GB ECC and a few drives. I am going to do a few 4K transcoding tests with it. At the moment I am running a 4670K @ 4.2GHz which just falls over. I will just point the Plex server V2 to the network share (current physical server)and see how it fairs. If it does well, I will migrate the drives over and sell off the old kit and just have one uber server

Randall8686 · 9 Nov 2017 at 22:30

MG42Maniac said:
I've inherited a workstation with 2 x E5-2670, 64GB ECC and a few drives. I am going to do a few 4K transcoding tests with it. At the moment I am running a 4670K @ 4.2GHz which just falls over. I will just point the Plex server V2 to the network share (current physical server)and see how it fairs. If it does well, I will migrate the drives over and sell off the old kit and just have one uber server

at 115Watts per CPU be prepared to pay for it in electricity. It will transcode 4k i have no doubt it will also transcode your electric bill and come out with an extra 0 on the end

MG42Maniac · 9 Nov 2017 at 23:38

Randall8686 said:
at 115Watts per CPU be prepared to pay for it in electricity. It will transcode 4k i have no doubt it will also transcode your electric bill and come out with an extra 0 on the end

haha

I was hoping that at idle they wouldn't be too bad. I can stomach an extra £15/£20 a month in electricity. I've not had to pay a penny for it :cool:

DragonQ · 9 Nov 2017 at 23:49

MG42Maniac said:
haha I was hoping that at idle they wouldn't be too bad. I can stomach an extra £15/£20 a month in electricity. I've not had to pay a penny for it

I worked out a few months back that replacing my X58 system with a Ryzen setup would pay for itself in 3-4 years if left on 24/7. Really not worth keeping such power sapping kit running in situations like that.