Micro Server Case?

easyrider · 31 Oct 2016 at 12:07

Is there a case that's similar to the HP micro server?

With HDD bays in the front etc...

Thanks

easyrider · 31 Oct 2016 at 13:10

Armageus said:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk-professional-4-bay-nas-bundle-bu-10k-op.html

Cheers

Do you know if I can use a stock intel cooler with it?

easyrider · 31 Oct 2016 at 13:19

HEADRAT said:
For an extra £25 you can get a Gen8 Microserver!

Its not fast enough

Currently have 3 HP N54L and the main media server is struggling to transcode DTS audio for my Amazon Fire TV

The Celeron in the Gen 8 is not much better than the Turion by all accounts...?

easyrider · 31 Oct 2016 at 13:54

I'm wondering if the i3 3240 will be quick enough?

easyrider · 31 Oct 2016 at 14:07

HEADRAT said:
Now that's harder to answer, Plex forums might be your best bet there.

I would just be tempted to "overkill" and go for a i5-3470T (nearly twice as fast as the stock Celeron), not a powerful than a Xeon but less TDP and cheaper/easier to find.

Yeah,

The i5 3470T is still only dual core and only marginally faster than the i3 3420...

easyrider · 31 Oct 2016 at 14:13

HEADRAT said:
I have a 1230v2 Xeon in my Gen8 and I've never had any issues, that said most of my clients "Direct Play" everything.

How much was that?

69TDP and the stock passive Heatsink cools ok?

easyrider · 31 Oct 2016 at 14:29

HEADRAT said:
Why not create VM on your i7 and see how it copes with trans-coding DTS if you only give it dual cores etc? (to mimic a i3 3420)

That takes effort !

The I7 solution is just a stopgap as this gaming PC is not all the time...

I'll probs just get the intel xeon e3-1220 v2 and be done with it...

easyrider · 31 Oct 2016 at 15:18

Cheers guys

easyrider · 31 Oct 2016 at 21:07

Can't source a Xeon 1230 v2 in UK?

easyrider · 1 Nov 2016 at 00:44

Interestingly.

I tried the same MKV from my i7 Plex library pointing to the N54 Storage pool over Gigabit lan.

Transcoding from the N54L directly used 100 % cpu and the movie stutters on my amazon fire TV.

Now the Plex Library had finished building on my i7 4790K Pointing to the N54l Storage pool guess what percent the cpu is running at transcoding the DTS audio to my amazon Fire TV?

easyrider · 1 Nov 2016 at 07:15

Its not a fire Stick...Its the Fire 4k...It just won't passthrough DTS...But I don't want another Media player.

I like having Prime and Netflix and Plex all in one place.I like the GIU its quick...

I could install KODI on the fire TV but I just CBA with XMBC..been there done that.

easyrider · 1 Nov 2016 at 07:34

Update,

The issue is not with DTS audio...Having tested it last night It seems to be the fact the MKV I am trying to stream contains a SRT subtitle file.

I played another MKV with DTS and it was fine....The N54L transcoded it fine and cpu was around 10% usage. In fact come to think of it its only been the last few subtitle MKV's that have caused issues...!

The stutter was coming for the fact that the 54L was transcoding the Video and Audio at the same time due to the SRT file contained within the MKV. And just couldn't handle it.

DOH!

The I7 could handle both with ease and cpu was around 35% doing a Full trascode real time burn in of Subtitles and Audio...Pretty impressive!

But there seems to be life in the old 54L still! I don;t watch that many Subtitle films so its not an issue for me to use the I7 for just this task.

https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200250387-Streaming-Media-Direct-Play-and-Direct-Stream

I'm not convinced your Samsung is passing DTS directly aswell...You sure?

The Amazon Fire TV direct plays everything aprt from DTS audio streams...Thats it. If I file has a DTS audio stream it will transcode to AC3 on the fly and leave the video as Direct play.

easyrider · 1 Nov 2016 at 07:48

HEADRAT said:
Excellent, I just couldn't see how transcoding just the audio could be causing such a massive CPU hit, I was going to do some testing but you've obviously sorted it yourself.

Yep pretty sure, I can see from plex it's not transcoding the audio track and both the server and client app state "direct play".

Cool..You using an Home theater amp? Or just the TV?

On a side note...I don't think I will upgrade my main Media server...I might just down the line build a mini ITX system and have that for Transcoding duties if needed and point it to the 54L storage pool...

easyrider · 1 Nov 2016 at 10:04

D3K said:
I have a 2013 sammy that direct plays everything bar h.265.
h.265 is a total pita as the n54l cant keep up with the transcode. Haven't tried a file of that type since buying a T20 in it's place (but that's been rebooting every 10mins for the past week after only 3months of use, wheras the n54l gave me zero hassle. Waiting on Dell to swap the mobo).

I was looking at the Dell T20 and seems tasty for the price.

Dell PowerEdge T20-3708 Xeon E3-1225V3 3.2 GHz 4GB RAM 1TB HDD Tower Server

But this puts me off somewhat...

I think my plan to have a powerful mini ITX system for transcoding etc...is the way forward for me down the line when I need it....All three of my HP N54l have been on for 3 years and been solid as a rock. They are great machines. It can stay as the main Plex server for now and then i'll just keep using it for storage of my media...