I’ve been running my PMS on a circa-2006 Dell Precision 490 workstation for years. It’s been great, but I’d like to move to something more energy efficient. My first thought was a NAS, but those are more expensive than I’d like, and most don’t have a lot of computing power for transcoding. Someone suggested an Intel NUC to me, and that seems like a good idea, but I specced out a 7th-gen i5-powered NUC with memory and a hard drive and it came out to around $800. That’s no cheaper than a good NAS. Would I be happy with an older and/or slower NUC? Are there other options I should consider?
Also, with a NUC hooked up to my TV, Steam gaming becomes tempting. Is anyone gaming on a NUC while PMS is running? Is that a satisfying experience? If gaming isn’t in the picture, I’d probably run a NUC on Linux.
The funny thing is the more powerful the processor, the more energy you will be using. So a high-end NAS that can transcode and basically act like a server… will not be close to the efficiency of a lower-end NAS. What I do is a compromise: I run an energy-hog server only when I need the horsepower. I sync all the files to a NAS which is on 24/7 (but has very limited processing power). Because my movies are created/coded in a universal MP4 format… there is never a need for transcoding when on the same network - I can watch on any device with no alterations necessary. For remote viewing, like if I go on vacation or something… I leave the server on and use it instead as it can transcode as needed. So I never really worry about burning 500+ watts all the time with a server… I think my Ready-NAS only uses 100 watts at most when in use, and 5 watts when not lol. Your mileage may vary…
It’s not a given. My NAS has more than enough horsepower to transcode multiple streams at once and only draws 35W idle despite having 6 hard drives. It’s on 24/7.
If you depend on transcoding, you shouldn’t be using the computer for anything else, especially something low-end like a NUC.
@TheMovieContinuum said:
The funny thing is the more powerful the processor, the more energy you will be using. So a high-end NAS that can transcode and basically act like a server… will not be close to the efficiency of a lower-end NAS. What I do is a compromise: I run an energy-hog server only when I need the horsepower. I sync all the files to a NAS which is on 24/7 (but has very limited processing power). Because my movies are created/coded in a universal MP4 format… there is never a need for transcoding when on the same network - I can watch on any device with no alterations necessary. For remote viewing, like if I go on vacation or something… I leave the server on and use it instead as it can transcode as needed. So I never really worry about burning 500+ watts all the time with a server… I think my Ready-NAS only uses 100 watts at most when in use, and 5 watts when not lol. Your mileage may vary…
I have an 8 drive QNAP with an i7 CPU even when transcoding 4 or 5 streams I don’t see the power usage go over 100W by much and most of the time it idles much lower (it runs more than just Plex).
500w+ 24/7 is more than my entire house usage by over 100 Watts. That’s crazily inefficient so I can see why you don’t run that 24/7.
That’s crazily inefficient so I can see why you don’t run that 24/7.