Since I have a spare and unused AMD Radeon RX6900XT and that I am not prepared to undersell it on eBay. I came up to build my own PLEX & NAS Server, including the AMD Graphics card and a solid CPU. I just found out that it could be a waste of AMD as it may not improve the transcoding of 4K Movies and I also thought that the AMD is 8K ready. Am I wrong in thinking that such a setup will be unnecessary if AMD Radeon is not supported by Plex? Thanks for any advice given, Trevor.
We have not done extensive testing on AMD cards with hardware transcoding and your mileage may vary. Since you have a Plex Pass and have the card already I would just try it if you already build it with parts you have. Using Hardware-Accelerated Streaming | Plex Support
Thanks, perhaps I should sell it and buy the best Xeon CPU instead? The AMD is new and never used, other than for testing twice. it still makes little sense to me since the Card will be connected via HDMI directly to the TV so I assumed the quality could be much better than just relying on the CPU via the LAN port?
To my knowledge, there is no Plex client in existence, which could run directly on a Synology NAS and put out a picture directly over HDMI.
If you can get the GPU running at all, it will be purely for transcoding. Not for playing back.
NO! Correction. I get rid of the Synology NAS. And instead build my own Plex & NAS Server. And thought of using the AMD Radeon, including the 20Gb RAM and the 60TB Disks into a new Server Enclosure. Then sell the Synology NAS. The reason I talk about the AMD Radeon is that I made a mistake when I bought it to be used as an eGPU, but the driver is not compatible with macOS unless it is a Reference Graphics Card. I had since I bought this AMD Radeon had a hard time selling it on eBay. So that is why I decided of keeping it and building a Plex & NAS Server with the Card. Now. I seem to understand that with Plex, the AMD Is almost unnecessary and that all happens with the Intel CPU. If that is the case, I will then undersell the AMD Radeon and buy the best Intel CPU, which I hope will be enough for 8K… The AMD Radeon is suited for both 4 & 8 K Gaming hence thinking about Plex.
I just realised, unless you guys think differently.
I have a MacBook Pro 2019 with an Intel i9-9980HK CPU & UHD Graphics 630.
In addition, it has a discreet AMD Pro 5500M.
Since the MacBook Pro is plugged into an eGPU with AMD RX6900XT via Thunderbolt.
Both Intel iGPU 630 & AMD Pro 5500M are not used at all.
Therefore, I was probably thinking to install the Plex Server on an external pair of 500Gb NVme in RAID0.
How do I make sure Plex Server uses the Intel GPU for the transcoding?
This way I won’t need to purchase an additional machine, especially that my Intel CPU has got 8 Cores/16Threads and 64GB RAM.
Any good advice please?
Many thanks, Trevor.
Hi Plex Friends,
Okay, I am back.
I changed my mind and instead of using the AMD; I have a Mac Mini 2012 I7/4Core/8Threads.
16Gb RAM and 2 x 2TB SSD.
The Mac Mini is generally dedicated to the Newsgroups’ downloads.
However, I could attach an eGPU but in this case I am happy to buy one that is compatible with Plex Server and of course tested and I am guessing the answer will be a Nvidia GPU and which one please based on your professional experience?
Of course, you realise it will not be one of the latest generation of Graphics Cards but at least one that has worked great with Plex Server for transcoding.
As for the storage space, the Mac Mini is networked to the Synology NAS with 80TB of Storage space in RAID5.
It is just that I have this machine dated of 2012 that once combined with a compatible GPU and the i7 CPU, both should be perfect for transcoding the movies when outside Home?
I truly cherish the Mini so best to keep using it since its value on eBay is worthless compared to what I could do with it with the right added technology?
Any advice will be appreciated,
Many thanks and kind regards, Trevor
Just keep in mind you’re dealing with a 10-year-old system. So don’t expect any wonders from the CPU (i7 or not).
For reference… the i7-3720QM has a passmark score of 5666 – that should do for 2 transcodes of a 1080p source. Also, while the iGPU supports Intel QSV, it won’t deal with any 4K media (for that you should have a Kaby Lake or newer CPU).
I’m not sure/familiar if / what kind of eGPUs that system will support and how well they integrate for Plex.
I have a large library that’s streaming content ~12hrs a day.
I have a Ryzen 7 5700G and use the CPU for all encoders and the APU for decodes.
My processor can easily handle multiple 1080p transcodes without having to use the GPU.
I have used the integrated VEGA to perform encoding and it works just fine - that said, in waiting for the official launch of the new discreet Intel ARC graphics cards, for Plex.
The cards are under $200 and great, efficient, transcoders.
So I’d say use what you have and just replace the GPU when Intel starts doing then here.
