The precise question I am trying to answer is: should I buy a NVMe or standard SATA III drive for my new Plex Server? As I am looking for a 128GB OS Drive, the cost difference is only around 15$. (50$ vs 65$)
Either way, I will configure Plex to use the boot drive for caching metadata.
Is the performance benefit of the NVMe drive noticeable on a Plex server?
Thanks,
—tom
Additional Build Details…
My goal is to build a pretty high performance server with low power consumption, reasonable cost. The server has two responsibilities: File Server & Plex Server. I already own an Windows Server 2016 Essentials, and will be using the Storage Pool technology to achieve redundancy.
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) - 60$
OS Drive: Intel SSD 600p Series (128GB, M.2 2280 80mm NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4, 3D1, TLC) - 65$
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 - Already purchased, around 60$
PSU: TBD 450w Bronze or higher. - Already purchased, around 50$
Storage: 3x 8tb RED’s - Already purchased, around 570$
For a total of just under 1000$
I already own the Case, Red Drives, and PSU, and just got a screaming deal on the i3 CPU (I was planning to buy a pentium g4600). I will be purchasing everything else this weekend.
P.S. Beyond answering the main question about NVMe drives, I welcome any suggestions to lower server cost without sacrificing performance, or tips to get a much better server for a few extra bucks?
Plex database benefits from being on an SSD, but be aware of the small storage space though. If you have the intent to enable BIF creation, then you will probably run out of space.
@Peter_W - Thanks for raising the issue of .BIF file size to my attention. I don’t currently have Video Preview Thumbnails created, but might want to create them in the future.
If I decide to enable Video Preview Thumbnails, I don’t have a ton of videos so I would probably be okay. (If storage space on the boot drive becomes an problem, I can always move the folder containing BIF files to a spinning drive.)
That’s a good looking build. An SSD for the OS and Plex just seems like the right thing to do.
That said, I’ve run Plex on both and can only assume there was difference. I found the media storage configuration to be more important for performance, especially with multiple, concurrent, streams.
M2 form factor is nice. It makes for a cleaner installation with less cables & brackets. And the NVMe SSDs have a nice performance boost over SATA SSDs.
Two suggestions (for PC in general, not specific to Plex):
Consider a 256GB NVMe SSD. The larger the SSD, the faster the read speed. The sequential read speed of the 128GB 600p is 770 MB/s, not terribly faster than a good SATA3 SSD (530 - 540 MB/s). The sequential read speed of a 256GB 600p is 1570 MB/s.
Also, reviews of the 600p have been so-so at best. The price point is nice, but the performance is at the bottom of the pack. For a small amount of additional money you might find a much better SSD. Tom’s Hardware and Anandtech both have good product reviews. Might scan them before pulling the trigger on the 600p.
@FordGuy61 Very helpful, thanks. I hadn’t realized that the speed difference between 128 and 256gb units was so significant.
In my case, I really don’t need 256gb, so I will probably stick with the 128gb model. (If I were to spend another 70$ to make the server faster, I suspect upgrading to an i5 would be a better value.)
I also looked into alternate 120 / 128gb modules with faster read/write times, and found that you need to spend about 30$ more to get a model with significantly faster read/write times. (The Intel 128gb module is just 58$ on Newegg with current promo code.)
@talph@hotmail.com said:
If I decide to enable Video Preview Thumbnails, I don’t have a ton of videos so I would probably be okay. (If storage space on the boot drive becomes an problem, I can always move the folder containing BIF files to a spinning drive.)
Not as easy as you would think. If you look in the meta info directories of any item you will see a Contents directory and then under this:
Art
Chapters
Indexes
Subtitle Contributions
Subtitles
Thumbnails
The Indexes directory above is where you would find the bif file. So they are all not in a simple directory you can just move to a different location. There will be one Indexes directory for every video on your system that has a bif file.
I have moved them on my system to the same spot my media lives but it’s a process not for the faint of heart and requires sym linking. I had to do this on my system as I was running out of space on my 1TB SSD that hosted the meta data.
I’d go with SSD but more for the increased reliability over mechanical drives. While I’m sure it has a bit of a speed boost here and there, if your OS drive is the main bottleneck in your overall PMS performance you’re doing something very weird/wrong.
@talph@hotmail.com said:
I also looked into alternate 120 / 128gb modules with faster read/write times, and found that you need to spend about 30$ more to get a model with significantly faster read/write times. (The Intel 128gb module is just 58$ on Newegg with current promo code.)
I’ll get to start building it on Friday!
Dang. That’s a good price. I was looking at pcpartpicker.com, which had the 600p at $72. They didn’t list prices from Newegg for some reason (they normally have Newegg pricing). Definitely understand going with Intel at that price point.
I had to do this on my system as I was running out of space on my 1TB SSD that hosted the meta data.