I am looking for build options for a plex server build. I am looking to get the max amount of streams possible…
I was able to get my hands on a HP DL380 G7 Dual Quad Core Intel Xeon 5600 series Processor, at-least 500GB Memory (May add more) to play with.
How should I install/run plex? VM or install OS directly on system?
How much resource does plex really need?
Can/should I run it with other applications on the same machine? (goal is the get the fastest plex server possible)
Transcoding? Whats the best way to get the best transcoding (GPU, RAMdisk, Unicontrancode and all)?
Setting up cache?
Best way to track shows I already watch? (Plan to transfer my old server and will like to keep my current status)?
Any suggestion on plug ins to make plex faster and more robust?
Any other suggestions?
Speed 1gb dn / 600 up on a good day.
I am looking to build a beast of a server… I am currently running a plex server with about 30TB of data. I will like to have 10+ streams Remotely and 5+ locally. I do not do stream alot of 4k or 1080p movies, 95% of my shows are v256 and of low quality for storage purposes. Handbrake is your friend…
That’s a pretty old processor (2010?) so you may need to adjust your expectations a bit. I don’t think that you’re going to be able to get 15 transcoded streams (10+ remote, 5+ local) from that machine. If you can avoid transcoding and use Direct play streams, it may work. If you need 15 transcoded streams, you’ll be better off with a newer processor that supports GPU transcoding.
I run my Plex server on Linux as a VM on a dual Xeon server with e5-2630LV2 processors. The VM has 16 CPU’s and 8GB allocated to it. If I remember correctly, I was able to get 6-8 transcoded streams running concurrently. This is more than enough for my needs.
It’s still a good setup, especially with a dual CPU setup, though I’m not familiar with how it scales exactly. He could buy something like a GTX 1050 (or wait for the Turing equivalent) and use NVENC with it, along with patched drivers for unlimited streams. Though, I’ve heard of some issues with Plex on Linux w/ Nvidia cards but I’m not sure, so that is assuming HW encoding works properly with that setup.
OP did mention that he uses HEVC encoding for a lot of his content, which can be quite demanding to transcode to H264, especially with 4K where many CPUs that handle well with quite a few 1080p transcode streams aren’t able to transcode in real time with 1 4K stream. In this situation, a cheap GPU with up-to-date NVENC encoding would likely work just as good, if not better, while burning a much smaller hole in your wallet compared to a modern powerful Intel chip w/ iGPU that has all the encode/decode goodies.
Hi, I got the same server as you, but with some other cpu’s. google your specific cpu name and look up the passmark score, Plex uses about 2000 points per transcode for 1080p. This works as a good guide. More practical information: What kind of CPU do I need for my Server? | Plex Support
My server did 11 transcodes at the same time, and it ran smooth(dual Intel Xeon X5650). I could not make it fail because I did not have anything left to start up a stream
I installed windows 10 directly, becayse I had an unused licence, and because I am familiar with the setup. It works fine and seldom gives med issues. If I were to do it again, I would start out with esxi to reduce the time it takes to reboot. Recomodation: use what you feel comfertable with, but make sure to check out different OS, I know many has had good experinces with Linux, freeNas, unraid etc.
depends on what you are planning to run, and what kind of use you expect on your plex.
cpu transcode is best, you can use hw acceleration with gpu, but the transcodes will be of lesser quality. The absolute best option is to not transcode at all, but direct stream. This depends on local/remote stream and the source material you are streaming.
I have a OS disk(C:), a plex installation disk (D:) and a separate disk for cache(E:). This works for me, maybe it is not the most efficient way, but it works. Having RAID on where the metadata is stored is not adviced.
There are severall ways to track tv shows. For instance something like: TrackSeries
I use tautalli to keep a better statistics to my views and stream information, it does not make plex run better, I have not heard of plugins that can do that. However my experience with plex (on win10) is that it is stable and very fast(depending on hardware ofcourse)
Do some testing before you decide what to do, earlier experience, what OS you like etc, etc should be taken into concideration.
