Low profile GPU for transcoding

Plex Media Server
1

hello,
i started that discussion here … Gpu issue / xeon 3 but without end…

Regarding the power it seems this old card 1050 can handle transcoding but why there are no lowprofile cards like that? https://www.qnap.com/en/qutube/video/EePJbhyf9w0

I am completely lost what card to use … and also i need low profile similar as photo here. ..

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thanks!

2

what are you trying to put it in?

Define “Low profile” ?

1-2U slot?

Finding that profile in consumer-space products will be tough / not cheap

3

@ChuckPa
just to occupy 1 slot? from the back of the Case; and not waste other pcie on the board.

the card u shared is like that? but it costs fortune ie 1000eur+

4

Nvidia P2200 ?

This is the Amazon price $549 USD == 531 Euro

Here you can see the P2200 in my machine. It’s slightly wider than 1 slot.
On this board, the next PCIE slot is where you see the SSD QNAP (Purple) card.

Glockner-final
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5

@ChuckPa still pricy ;-( here cards is double …
i was wondering can i use something like that and put card somewhere inside the case?

6

Concerns are power and mechanical stability (2 mount points minimum preferred ).

If you can achieve that and keep the card where it gets ample air supply for cooling then yes that should work.

7

@ChuckPa
what do you mean by power? and regarding the mechincal stability - yes i can somehow fix it with 2 screws/mount points to case.

yes i have many fans in case; so i assume cooling wont be issue;
So this cable is okay then ?

appreciate your help!

8

Remember that GPUs draw a lot of power.

As long as the cable will work with GPU cards and the extra power they need over other PCIE 3.0 cards.

That is my only concern.

9

@ChuckPa
dont get it … so do u mean that power delivered directly via socket vs cable can be different, better to say… the cable can reduce “power” and cause issue?

edit2
they also sold a box for a gpu card as holder with that cable… so its made for gpu mainly.

thanks

10

If they made a box — You’re good!

That’s what I needed to know. ( They had already confirmed everything would be OK )

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I have one word for that… Prima! :slight_smile:

Yes.

That bracket provides all the mechanical stability you need.

  1. It mounts to the case rails.
  2. The card is secured in 3 places. (edge connector, screw, tongue)
13

why is that “Secure stuff” 2-3places important?

14

Yes. Mounting a card, suspended by one screw, is mechanically dangerous.
The card can warp easily. The screw can come out from long term vibration and the weight of the card.

While this sounds dumb, would you like your automobile engine mounted with 2 bolts?

In geometry, we all learned, 3 points determine a plane.

It’s for this reason the card is secured 3 ways. It won’t move.

15

@ChuckPa got your point, thanks! i am wondering why i cant sent you PM.

16

@ChuckPa hello,
so in case i dont need low profile card… i am just seeking for a technical help… i am running plex and have max 2 users streaming (watching movies simultaneously). Also i need to encode/? stream from my hik camera inside frigate;
i can see that camera is producing stream in

image
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or h265

So basically i want to run one ubuntu inside VM where i passthrought GPU and plex/frigate will use it.

there is some spec what codecs are supported https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-and-decode-gpu-support-matrix-new

but i have no idea what gpu is recommended for plex?

could u please advise?

thanks!

17

Encoding the decoded stream to H.264 is a significant burden offloaded to the card so Yes, you want to hardware Decode and hardware Encode (e.g. HEVC → H.264)

  1. VM vs Native.
    Why in a VM? Unless you’re using ESXi, you’re going to lose a tremendous amount of throughput / performance? (hardware acceleration yet in a VM? – conflicting)
    Are you using a Linux VM on Windows?

  2. If Nvidia supports encode & decode for the card you want to use -AND-
    You have the Nvidia drivers and encoder+decoder installed. Plex will use it.
    – I use 510.85.02
    – Well above the min required for Plex and demonstrated stable Nvidia driver.

When it comes to the specific card -

  1. GT 1050 and above works
  2. P2200 also works (what I have)
18

not sure i get it, camera is producing h.264 i believe; so u need to go from h.264->to what is supported by frigate?
I think frigate needs to ffmpeg?

edit2: so i was told frigate needs GPU to be able to decode h264 and h265 streams.

"It is recommended to update your configuration to enable hardware accelerated decoding in ffmpeg. "

Well by VM i meant yes Guest os - ubuntu running on host - ESXi. So i passthrought gpu via esxi into the guest os ubuntu and it should work?

well not sure; encode & decode of what codec? the driver u mentioned is windows or linux version?

i mean what codec has to be supported by GPU for a plex transcoding?

i wanted something around 100euro ; p2200 is so expensive for my budget,
thats why i was asking how much power is required for max 2 simultaneous streams.

Also i am not clear; the transcode on plex will happen all the time? Its not possible to stream raw video that is stored in plex library?

edit3 and ideally card that consumes the less W during the idle :slight_smile:

thanks

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@staknhalo thanks, is it possible to say how many simultaneous plex streams that card can handle?

thanks