Hey Plex fellas, My girlfriend and I been using Plex Media Server in private for 2years, just running on my gaming PC.
But now we wanna make a shared server for family members. So wanna be able to do up to 7 steams mixed 720p/1080p if possible.
Gonna buy a lifetime Plex Premium for 119.99€
Most of these streams will be over the internet, maximum 2 of these streams will be on LAN.
There seems to be multiple options after doing some research, they all seem to have pros and cons so i honestly can’t decide.
CPU(s)
Ryzen 1700 build (powerful multiple thread)
i7 7700k (Heard about Quick Sync, but honestly not much information about this subject)
Dual Xeon used build (high power consumption, not really suitable for regular use if/when this server project ends)
RAM
2x8GB RAM DDR4 3000MHz for AM4 and 1151
Storage
Random 120GB SSD for OS and possible cache if possible.
5x 3TB WD RED (Able to get these used for 200$)
What CPU is optimal?
Quick Sync, need some info, because i had made my mind doing a ryzen 1700 build at first, but then i heard about hardware decoding.
Is 16GB RAM enough?
Should i Raid or pool, software or raid controller. which and why?
I suggest a 250gb SSD - The cost difference going from 120gb is not much .
I have a 250gb C drive on a Win10 NUC and basically has very little on it other than plex and the OS.
Currently of the 250GB I have 85Gb free .
No thumbnails or video previews but 3000 movies and 30k tv episodes of metadata
My plex folder = 103gb !
I’d go Ryzen for max number of transcoded streams per $ (you’ll find you won’t need to transcode them all though)
Any RAM will do as long as it’s stable, 16GB is heaps for this, especially if you used linux, but should also be fine on Windows
Depending on how much content you have / expect to have RAID 1 or RAID 5 will maintain your data if a drive fails, but not a lot else. That’s a happy medium though.
As for where the RAID is, Linux does fantastic software RAID, however it’s not going to be as easy as Windows, so I’d look into that depending on your capability. You may be better to get a NAS second hand or otherwise - or at least plan to migrate to one later.
@spikemixture said:
I suggest a 250gb SSD - The cost difference going from 120gb is not much .
I have a 250gb C drive on a Win10 NUC and basically has very little on it other than plex and the OS.
Currently of the 250GB I have 85Gb free .
No thumbnails or video previews but 3000 movies and 30k tv episodes of metadata
My plex folder = 103gb !
Thanks, I will diff upgrade to a 240-275GB SSD.
@marshalleq said:
I’d go Ryzen for max number of transcoded streams per $ (you’ll find you won’t need to transcode them all though)
Any RAM will do as long as it’s stable, 16GB is heaps for this, especially if you used linux, but should also be fine on Windows
Depending on how much content you have / expect to have RAID 1 or RAID 5 will maintain your data if a drive fails, but not a lot else. That’s a happy medium though.
As for where the RAID is, Linux does fantastic software RAID, however it’s not going to be as easy as Windows, so I’d look into that depending on your capability. You may be better to get a NAS second hand or otherwise - or at least plan to migrate to one later.
Hope that helps,
What about the Quick Sync intel vs Ryzen.
Raid 1 and 10 seems pretty expensive since 50% goes to redundancy. Raid 5 seems to be kinda unsafe anyways. there is only a 30% chance the rebuild would be successful with 5x 3TB with 1 per 10^14 bits. So either it’s going to be pooling or maybe Raid 6. RAID 5 and Uncorrectable Read Errors
Thanks for the advice.
Well raid 5 recovery works for me and believe me I have enough space where you’d quest It. But again do your research… raid 6 rebuild is pretty slow I believe unless you get a big processor not typical in a nas. Also do your research on quicksync as I understand it only supports 2 streams for most processors… I’m not bothering with it and I understand you can’t have both at present.
@roneye said:
Should I forget about Intel Quick Sync?
I gave up on quicksync a few months ago (for now). It may have been a problem with my particular CPU, but it didn’t work all that well. I’m not ruling it out long term, but I think most procs only support 2 simultaneous streams with quicksync. Additionally I think you still need to run an older version of plex to use it. I regularly have 5 concurrent transcodes with an older i5 so you should be able to support 7 with a newer proc just fine with regular transcoding.
@jondhoughton said:
only support 2 simultaneous streams with quicksync. Additionally I think you still need to run an older version of plex to use it.
I think it is the Nvidia cards you are thinking about re 2 transcodes (and that is the consumer grade cards). The current beta of hardware transcoding is actually on par with current Plex pass release, but is not yet merged with main branch (so it could happen again).
Remember that running a server, providing a service 24/7 to your users, is vastly different from running a gaming setup where as you have short bursts of maximum effort and then the PC can cool down (and a mishap won’t affect much, besides that HS in CS). With Plex, during the night, a lot of intensive maintenance takes place so there is rarely place to cool down and the CPU intensive transcoding pushes all of the buttons (including yours if the users start complaining). Remember that when you max it in terms of OC’s and so forth. I’ve seen several threads on this very forum where people have reported instability (BSOD etc) which has been due to OC and/or the heat factor etc.
