• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Cpu for plex server

If you look over on the plex forums it says a ruff way to pick a cpu is to use the passmark cup scores. They say you need a 1500points for a stable stream +500 for ever extra stream you want to run. This is at 1080..

I use an i3 2340 with just over 4000 points I have never managed to make the thing go over 40% usage.

The is 4 people pulling off the server at 1080.
This includes direct play and transcoding
 
ariprotheroe said:
What 1050ti have you got in the microserver?
Click to expand...

It's a dual slot low profile Msi one. I had to dremel the motherboard tray to cut a space out and also cut the bracket on the gpu in half and it fits in perfect. Tbh a hacksaw would have been easier in hindsight... Also because in lazy i covered the board in masking tape doubled over to catch all the metal deposits from cutting and filing lol
 
Andygully said:
Thanks for the replies guys so if i get say a ryzen 3 2200g it'll be perfect? :D
Click to expand...

for plex it would be overkill, but thats not always bad. ;)

personally i would go with a low power CPU like i3 6100t would be perfect(half the power of ryzen), i think there will be some cheaper options out there too.
Cheap B150 board
4gb of ram (plex dosent need lots of ram)(single stick low power ram)
 
MaXxBoulton said:
If you look over on the plex forums it says a ruff way to pick a cpu is to use the passmark cup scores. They say you need a 1500points for a stable stream +500 for ever extra stream you want to run. This is at 1080..

I use an i3 2340 with just over 4000 points I have never managed to make the thing go over 40% usage.

The is 4 people pulling off the server at 1080.
This includes direct play and transcoding
Click to expand...

https://support.plex.tv/articles/201774043-what-kind-of-cpu-do-i-need-for-my-server/

Very roughly speaking, for a single full-transcode of a video, the following PassMark score requirements are a good guideline for the following average source file:

  • 4K HDR (50Mbps, 10-bit HEVC) file: 17000 PassMark score (being transcoded to 10Mbps 1080p)
  • 4K SDR (40Mbps, 8-bit HEVC) file: 12000 PassMarkscore (being transcoded to 10Mbps 1080p)
  • 1080p (10Mbps, H.264) file: 2000 PassMark score
  • 720p (4Mbps, H.264) file: 1500 PassMark score
As above Plex provide a figure of 2K for a 1080p H264 @ 10Mbit, the figure is slightly high in my experience, but it’s the accepted metric. This is why G1840 users need to qualify the context of statements they make or stop posting bad advice.

Op, the 2200g should work perfectly for your needs, depending what else the box is going to do. For example if it’s going to be running TV (and possibly transcoding it)/Tautulli/Lidarr/Sonarr/Radarr/NZBGet etc. then you may want to go a little higher.
 
MaXxBoulton said:
it used to be 1500 for 1080p, they have added more thing to plex lately so the figure must have moved a little.
Click to expand...

It was revised up at the end of Feb, I can’t remember what bit-rate the 1500 figure was based on, so that may be partially relevant, realistically because of the way Plex transcodes (maximum CPU usage till predefined buffer is full, then stop), it’s possible to get away with a less powerful CPU than indicated past a certain point. Also iGPU makes a massive difference if used (requires a PlexPass), the 8th gen i3 is a decent shout for some situations, with a suitable GPU the CPU is largely irrelevant, the key is knowing what other factors are involved. We’re now at the stage where the server should be the last step of the process, not the first.
 
Trying to transcode 4K HDR is pointless, unless Plex incorporates tone mapping, which I guess they might at some point? I'm using a 2700X paired with a Vega 56, using hardware acceleration and the GPU literally uses a few % to transcode 1080p, the CPU is barely touched. I don't transcode any 4K content, it's all direct play. If you are just focusing on 1080p, I'd get a low end Ryzen/ i3 and just offload the work to the iGPU.
 
MG42Maniac said:
Trying to transcode 4K HDR is pointless, unless Plex incorporates tone mapping, which I guess they might at some point? I'm using a 2700X paired with a Vega 56, using hardware acceleration and the GPU literally uses a few % to transcode 1080p, the CPU is barely touched. I don't transcode any 4K content, it's all direct play. If you are just focusing on 1080p, I'd get a low end Ryzen/ i3 and just offload the work to the iGPU.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression (as seemingly is the rest of the world apart from you) from reading various test reports that AMD GPU’s sucked really, really badly for transcoding. I agree 4K transcoding is stupid, but that has nothing to do with HDR, as soon as you transcode, Plex outputs H264 1080p, tone mapping being broken doesn’t alter the obvious issue that if you want to play 1080, you have a separate library (and use Tautulli to lock down 4K transcoding).

lnoton said:
My CPU posted earlier was £30. Invest more in a supermicro board built for 24x 7 operation. And more ram.

This is the board I bought in 2013. Not been turned off since then.

Supermicro MBD-X9SCM-F-O Retail Motherboard (Intel C204 PCH Chipset, SATA, LAN, IPMI, Single Socket) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004WKRDA4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_QkmSCb568VPQK
Click to expand...

Supermicro are no better than any other reputable OEM, where they excel in the server market is the documentation and design - it’s very easy to spec up a custom server from the various references provided and the chassis design tends to be quite efficient/easy to get parts for. Other than IPMI and possibly ECC in some cases, it’s no different than the consumer
MSI/Gigabyte/ASRock stuff in my rack, I prefer Supermicro over Dell and pretty much anything over HP. Having run 24/7 for at least two decades, the only brand I refuse to use (other than some ex-review kit that comes my way) is ASUS.
 
Sure. But if you're building a Nas/server why not buy something focussed on the server environment. IPMI and ECC are worth it alone. Plus I don't need a load of crap on my server board you get with the rest.

Reliability may be similar, but mines been running almost 6 years non stop. I feel that is sufficient for me to recommend it for such an environment.
 
I repurposed my old gaming pc from 10 years ago which is a phenom II x4 955 in a gigabyte 790fx motherboard. It’s been running 24/7 for 5 years without an issue. I dropped the clock speed and the voltage to help reduce the cost of running it. Spent 5 years clocked to the limit as my main pc and now 5 years solid as a server in the loft.

Even underclocked, it has handled transcoding of 1080 streams ok, though I think two streams is right at the limit. I avoid the need to transcode anything on the fly as my tv doesn’t handle playback of transcoded clips properly. It can’t pause, rewind or skip as it’ll jump back to the start.

New hardware certainly would be a lot more efficient and capable of significantly improved performance, but then it would have defeated the aim I had when I built my server. I wanted to repurpose hardware I already own so the only costs to cover would be drives and running it.
 
Avalon said:
I was under the impression (as seemingly is the rest of the world apart from you) from reading various test reports that AMD GPU’s sucked really, really badly for transcoding. I agree 4K transcoding is stupid, but that has nothing to do with HDR, as soon as you transcode, Plex outputs H264 1080p, tone mapping being broken doesn’t alter the obvious issue that if you want to play 1080, you have a separate library (and use Tautulli to lock down 4K transcoding).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm aware they are deemed crap for transcoding Vs NVIDIA but from my usage, they seem perfectly fine. I don't notice any weird artifacts or imperfections on the output (10mbps 1080p) and it uses a lot less power then my CPU does so all seems okay?
 
lnoton said:
Sure. But if you're building a Nas/server why not buy something focussed on the server environment. IPMI and ECC are worth it alone. Plus I don't need a load of crap on my server board you get with the rest.

Reliability may be similar, but mines been running almost 6 years non stop. I feel that is sufficient for me to recommend it for such an environment.
Click to expand...

The definition of a server in this context is barely distinguishable from a PC. ECC just because it runs Plex? Well i’ve run/set-up hundreds of servers at different hosts, Hetzner, Myloc, OVH/SYS/Kimsufi, OP/Online, even had some exotic stuff elsewhere, ECC or the lack of has yet to cause me an issue. Like most people in a business environment where downtime affects turnover, I specify it on critical systems or where it’s possible it could be useful, more often than not, it comes as part of the deal. Truth be told, it’s not something that anyone who wants to provide a home Plex server for 3-4 users is ever likely to benefit from. Even the often misquoted ZFS justification doesn’t *need* ECC, it’s merely a nice to have.

Remote management via IPMI (or iLO/iDRAC) on my remote servers for obvious reasons, locally other than updating it and setting it up, I can’t actually recall it being used in anger at any point, though in theory the remote virtual media side would be useful and if you didn’t do the job properly at initial set-up it could be useful to make BIOS changes. Unfortunately IPMI and similar come at a price: No iGPU support. It’s the reason why my R210-II is a bare metal router and the X10SLL-F I have is destined for the bay, it makes more sense to go x99+Xeon or Ryzen (64GB limit) depending on your specific needs.

MG42Maniac said:
Yeah, I'm aware they are deemed crap for transcoding Vs NVIDIA but from my usage, they seem perfectly fine. I don't notice any weird artifacts or imperfections on the output (10mbps 1080p) and it uses a lot less power then my CPU does so all seems okay?
Click to expand...

AMD’s issue was simply it’s ‘unrestricted’ number of streams turns out to be the kind of number you can normally keep one hand in your pocket and all your shoes and socks on to count. At least Nvidia artificially limit you to two streams and let you patch your way out, if you want to. Or just buy a P2000 and go wild - I know someone with 4 on the go who swears by them (must ask how he got 4 to play in one Plex instance, perhaps 4 VM’s, ...he obviously has a lot of friends).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom