Setting up my first plex… I wanted a physical sever running CentOs with NAS for media storage. Looking to support 8 to 10 simultaneous streaming, to include 1 or 2 on the WAN for sharing with my family.
Looking to run Plex, couchpotato, sickbeard, headphones, lazy librarian, Sabnzbd on media server
My proposed set up:
Server:
Dell 2019 PowerEdge T30 Mini Tower Server Desktop Computer, Intel Xeon Quad-Core E3-1225v5 Up to 3.7GHz, 12GB RAM
NAS:
QnapTVS-473e-8G-US
Current Media file types:
Video types: avi, mp4, mkv
Books: pdf
Music: mp3
The reason for separating the storage is I believe I will need a lot of trans-coding for streaming to mobile devices and the WAN I don’t think the NAS can handle it. I know server grade hardware will give the best performance.
The other option is to beef up the NAS to QNAP TVS-882BR-i5-16G-US with Intel i-5 processor. The my thought it is the with one device doing everything do I shorten my NAS lifetime?
Am I overthinking this? Can everything run just fine on the TVS-882BR ?
I don’t think you are over thinking at all. Keep in mind when it comes to transcoding that cores and clock are the most important resources. I’ve been running on an quad core i7 for about 7 years now and it has handled everything thrown at it.
You would be better served with a Kaby Lake or later model CPU that has a more advanced QSV ASIC to handled HEVC10 bit decoding if that matters to you long term. Otherwise it will choke using SW decoding with the forementioned CPU.
Thanks for the reply. So do you think I would be better off on a dell xps tower with dedicated video card? Will Plex utilize the graphics processor for streaming from the server to clients?
Tech specs:
8th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-8700 Processor (6-Core, 12M Cache, up to 4.6 GHz)
16GB DDR4 at 2666MHz
1TB 7200RPM 3.5" SATA HDD
I run a Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS on a NUC8i7HVK using QSV and can easily transcode 10x1080p/12Mbps streams. I can also transcode 4K HEVC HDR10 to 1080p H.264 12Mbps using just QSV (sans tone-mapping). I don’t see a reason why you would want to use a Nvidia GPU when you are using that CPU.
I do not have to get the nvidia. the build comes with standard intel graphics on the motherboard. I was thinking hardware to match supported dedicated graphics cards when Intel Quick Sync Video becomes unavailable.
But I defer to your expertise. With your build is your storage local or on NAS?
So with your advice i would get xps tower with integrated graphics, and install ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS instead of CentOS 7.
QSV is not likely to be going away. My storage is mounted from the network and not local drives in the NUC. Your order change should work out great for you. If you need help, I will be around.
My suggestion is get the biggest Intel CPU you can get. It WILL save u money by avoiding the upgrade trail.
I have run Plex servers on Synology DS215play, 415+, 1815+, 1817+, Drobo 5D, I3 PC, I7 PC, Celeron NUC, i3 NUC, I5 NUC , I7 Skull NUC, Shield 2015 16gb, Shield 2015 Pro, Shield 2017 Pro.
While not all were bought exclusively for Plex and some have been sold the $$$ still add up.
I now have a Qnap TVS 1282 that does it all. If I had bought the big NAS earlier I would have saved plenty.
The 1817+ is my backup server and data storage. The I7 NUC is another I can use if required.
2 of the shields are players as is an ATV4 , an Xbox one, a Roku4 and Roku 3 .
So i can pretty much say i have some experience !!
Frankly: Given where Intel’s chips have matured, the next gain between -7xxx (7th Gen) and -8xxxx (8th Gen) is not worth the extra.
I got the TVS-1282 i7-7700 just as it launched. It is, by far, the most stable thing I have seen.
I have compared against the -8xxx processors. I see nothing. The -9xxx , imho, isn’t worth it. There is no visible gain unless you’re a gamer and use it for gaming.
I have the same NAS and stable is not a word i have used in the 10 months I have had mine.
If you are talking hardware then maybe but I have problem after problem with firmware and software. It has been a very frustrating time and I can not recommend Qnap over Synology.
If Synology had an i7 or equivalent CPU I would go back to synology…
