CPU & ram suggestions for new build using Quadro P2000

General Discussions
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I am putting together a new server build that will be exclusively used for Plex. Initially I will only be using Direct Stream in my home and streaming to 3-5 remote devices (Apple TV, Roku, and mobile). However this may increase in the near future. Direct Stream outside of my home is not really feasible since much of my library are Bluray rips that are 30 - 80 Gb in size and I don’t want to optimize my entire library or have 2 collections.

Here is what I have so far:

I chose this case solely to maximize storage capacity down the road.

I chose the P2000 after seeing all the great things about its performance with HW transcoding. My priority is multiple simultaneous streams and 4k transcoding. I know, I know, don’t transcode 4k. Plus there’s currently no HDR mapping. To be honest, I’m basically looking for a solution I don’t really have to worry about. I can throw just about anything at it and it will be able to handle it (minus HDR mapping of course).

However, if anyone has some reasons why I should choose an i7 with Quick Sync (or some other solution) over the P2000 then I’m definitely all ears. And I’m already aware of the cost difference.

  • Storage: 2x 8 TB WD Red drives (shucked) & 2x 4 TB WD Blue drives

I already had the Blue drives and I picked up the Easystore enclosures on Black Friday to shuck them. Obviously, I plan on expanding storage down the road.

  • OS: Windows Server 2016 with mirroring for drives using Storage Spaces

My understanding is the P2000 is best supported by Windows. Plus, I’m looking for simplicity since this server is only going to be used for Plex and I’m already familiar with Windows.

These are the parts I’m looking for suggestions on:

  • CPU: I was originally thinking a Coffee Lake i7 until I saw all of the great things about the P2000. So now my question is what do I need to complement the P2000? I know the CPU still handles the sound transcoding and subtitles but I can’t imagine that’s very processor intensive. I typically rip my own blurays so I can remove the Atmos stream since I don’t have 7.1 surround. Will a Coffee Lake i3 suffice? Should I even bother with Xeon processors since I’m only using the server for Plex?

  • Ram: This is where I’m most lacking in knowledge. Is a lot of ram required for large streams (e.g. 30Mbps or more)? Also, should I worry about large amounts of storage (e.g. 140 TB with mirroring so 70 TB usable) in Storage Spaces affecting ram?

I haven’t calculated my power supply yet, but that should be straightforward. I appreciate any feedback, especially concerning any limitations with the P2000 as that is the crux of the build currently.

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Check out this video if you haven’t already. He mentions hitting CPU & RAM limits when transcoding audio. Granted, he’s using an i5-2xxx, with a lower passmark score than current CPUs, but will give you some idea of scalability of an i3 vs i5 vs i7.

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Hey ouuxnyvyrr - what did you end up doing? I face the same dilemma, and was also thinking of Coffee Lake.

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I didn’t end up getting the P2000. But I was going to get the Ryzen 5 1600 processor due to having more cores. This thread I made on Reddit has the discussion regarding that.

Due to financial issues, I actually ended up putting together a basic server using parts I already had. So Plex has been running on Ubuntu Server using a Pentium G3258, which has a Passmark of 3881. So yeah…not great. I will say, I don’t recommend Storage Spaces. I kept having problems with it saying my drives had failed or something. Switched to Ubuntu Server, use mdadm raid 1 (mirroring), and have had no issues. It’s a pain to setup for sure, but runs much smoother after that.

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Hi there - thanks for the reddit link as it was useful to read how many people have considered a build similar to the ones you and I have planned.

The abilities of the p2000 has allowed me to pull backnthe amount I was going to spend on a processor so I’m going with an AMD Ryzen 5 2600, with 16gb of ram on a b450 aorus ultra board and an NVME M2 for the OS and Plex database. I’ll throw in 4x 8tb WD Reds and probably install windows 10 pro. I don’t love the idea of Windows but if it’s only running Plex, and an anti-virus/firewall program, surely it won’t bog down. There’s a YouTube collection that compares OS abilities with specific regard to Plex and Windows was the best except for Unraid.

I’ll probably use Snapraid to run RAID5 on my 4 HDDs that store the media.

Do you foresee any issues with my proposed build? I think I’ll do it over the next few weekends.

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