In the a past few months I’ve been running a small home server on a Raspberry Pi 4 4GB.
I’m in the point of thinking maybe I should invest in better hardware to host my server.
My current main goals for the server are as such:
Use Proxmox to create VM's.
run Openmediavault to maintain the NAS.
run Docker and Portainer to run apps separately.
run Nginx to better protect ports.
run OpenHAB to control my smart home.
self-host NextCloudPi to backup and sync files, and on occasions host group video calls.
self-host an RSS server.
self-host a Wordpress website.
run Plex/Jellyfin server to stream my video files in 4K and 1080p.
What would be a good AMD CPU to run such a server? And how much RAM should I use?
Will I get any benefit from buying one of the 5xxx cpu chips or will a 4xxx chip be equally good for my needs?
Will an AMD U processor (4800U, 5800U) be “strong” enough to properly process Plex transcoding, or should I get a processor with a higher TDP?
I really like the x400T chips from Intel. They are low power and always have an iGPU for transcoding, if it is needed. Right now, the 11400T (over the standard 11400) would be fabulous as they have sorted out the transcoding issues. You lose clock speed (1.3/3.7ghz vs 2.6/4.4ghz), but use significantly less power (35w vs 64w). Coming from a Pi, it will be a very, very noticeable upgrade.
If you want transcoding then Intel is the clear winner. Although AMD wins if you’ll add a dGPU for transcoding.
Generally a U CPU will be fine for your needs but that all goes out of the window when s/w transcoding.
Personally I’m waiting for the i3-12100T to upgrade my server.
Thank you for your comments @TheEmrys@zplosion@ChuckPa
I appreciate your help and knowledge.
Is the problem with AMD CPU’s that Plex doesn’t fully support these systems for H/W accelerated transcoding?
Because from what I understand small Mini PC’s also comes with AMD Radeon graphics chips.
Couldn’t those AMD Radeon GPU’s be used to run H/W transcoding?
I suppose my balance is a little different to most in that I won’t usually have loads of clients simultaneously but will be transcoding 4k which pushes GPU way above CPU for me.
But also my current i5-3330S has pushed over 5 TrueHD/DTS-HD MA to E-AC3 transcodes before and must have had some headroom left. If the i3-12100T doesn’t bench way over double the i5-3330S, Intel screwed up big time.
AMD transcoding should be straightforward on Windows if you pick the Media Foundation transcoder option. I remember reading more issues about it on Linux - that’s a bit more hacky to get it to work as I believe there is 0 official support there.
AMD’s h264 transcoding is just not as good quality as QuickSync and especially NVENC. It’s also slower.
It is true, there is no support for AMD. Getting the Engineering time for both the libraries and then core PMS decision logic has always been a battle.
Nvidia support was the choice at that time. I don’t understand the logic but – that’s what we got.
Avoid AMD. I am a big AMD fan, and my next build will probably be a Zen 4 AMD build. The power:performance is just so much better than Intel’s 12xxx’s who have about a 30% increase in performance over Zen 3, but at significantly higher power use. In some cases, double.
As for support, Intel and Nvidia have really focused on supporting gpu compute for transcoding. AMD does offer some excellent options in many tasks, but transcoding in anything but software (think in terms of using Handbrake for highest quality transcoding). For software transcodes, AMD has been the way to go but the 12x00’s are taking the crown. But this really doesn’t affect using Plex. For a plex server, unless you know you are going to throw a GPU in it, Intel is the way to go. If you KNOW you are going to use an Nvidia GPU, an AMD processor is great.
Greetings everyone,
My old PC, Windows 10 plex server died after 7+ long years of service… and I think it’s just the MOBO (have upgraded drives over the years). I intend to start by replacing mobo/cpu/cooler/ram, and I wanted to ensure that I get a “good” plex server machine. Not top of the line, but decent performance. I don’t worry too much about 4k yet (but I’d like to as it becomes easier). I’m not cutting edge at all, I recognize that, so just looking for any obvious input and/or any mistakes I may be missing.
Reviewing the forum posts, seems like I’m better off with Intel. The i5 seems to be a good middle-ground, although I’m not sure if it’s better to get the 10600K (with built-in GPU). I do have an old Nvidia 1GB card which I think still works well, and I don’t mind replacing it when the time comes if that’ll get me better performance.
In other words, should I get the 10600K or another i5 without graphics? Is there advantage to having the integrated Intel graphics in addition to a GPU? I seem to think so, but moving quickly I may have overlooked some things.
Here’s the basic hardware list I have planned currently, again appreciate any input/correction/guidance. Thank you very much!
Intel Core i5-10600K 4.1 GHz 6-Core Processor $298.13
ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 120 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler $74.67
Asus PRIME B560M-A Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard $99.99
G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory $109.99
Unless you plan to serve up many simultaneous transcodes, the integrated graphics will cover your video transcoding needs (The HD4000 graphics in my 4790K can handle six+ 1080p H264 transcodes. The graphics in the 10600K will be loads better).
Also, when running Windows, Plex has no support for HDR → SDR tonemapping when using Nvidia graphics.
I absolutely agree with @FordGuy61 to get something with Intel Quicksync. I do think however that you may be able to find an 11600K for the same price or even less (Microcenter has the 11600K for $200, and the 12600K for $250) and I have heard that those 11th and 12th Gen Intel chips are absolute transcoding monsters. Might be something worth looking into.
I do believe you are correct. It doesn’t really change the fact though that AMD’s hardware acceleration is no where near the level of Nvidia or Intel and probably not worth using a more barebones platform like Jellyfin to gain access to. Just my personal opinion. For context I am absolutely an AMD fan, I personally have ran AMD hardware in my gaming PC for the last 10-15 years, all the way back to an AMD Phenom II. I currently have an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X in my machine. I would still though much rather have an Intel chip for my media deployment which is why I use an Intel equipped NAS for my server.
