My server runs Ubuntu on an AM2+ dinosaur machine, and I’m finally ready to upgrade.
Currently it’s only 1-2 local users and one remote user, but I’d like to expand to include 2 additional remote users. All of my content is H.264, mostly 1080p.
I had been thinking of getting a Pentium G4560 and then becoming a Plex Pass member to unlock hardware acceleration. My understanding is that video quality suffers a bit versus software transcoding, but I’m okay with that, as content I play at home usually direct plays anyway.
Are there any drawbacks to hardware acceleration besides video quality? The remote users are not tech savvy, so hopefully it’ll be something I can set to be automatic?
Ubuntu 16 and above are about to become the new minimum OS requirements.
64-bit operation is strongly advised. Due to the nature of transcoding, the longevity of 32-bit support for desktop systems (now 15+ years old) is not guaranteed due to glibc version requirements.
If someone wants to make an argument for software transcoding and/or a higher-end CPU, that would be one thing, but popping in and telling me to “get Nvidia” isn’t really helpful.
What are you talking about? Plex works just fine currently, just my CPU can only transcode one stream at a time. I’m just trying to get some upgrade advice.
Hey, thank you for the response. Yes, I’ve opted for the Kaby Lake Pentium for this very reason. I’m just not familiar with hardware decoding in Plex, and how many streams I should expect it to handle simultaneously.
Keep in mind, the cpu will still be used for audio transcoding, disk IO and all the various other processes for the OS and for plex.
Like for example how fast the server can search and process and display while browsing.
GPU doesn’t help with any of that.
edit: also as far as quality, it doesn’t really matter when doing on the fly transcoding, for mobile or remote users, it’s not changing the original, and if your direct playing locally then the gpu doesn’t matter at all anyway.
From Googling, it sounds like the G4560 should be able to handle 3 simultaneous streams with hardware acceleration enabled, but that’s for H.264 1080p content. I’ve been considering switching to H.265 going forward, so sounds like the Pentium might be a little anemic.
It is a KabyLake, so should be able to handle one, maybe two, HEVC HDR to H264 1080p or lower easily, provided (just like NAS boxes) subtitles don’t choke you down.
