Hello All.
I have a PlexPass and use an HP Proliant microserver running unRAID to hold my photos. music and video media. It’s only a Celeron so won’t stream media via Plex (or VM well) but I use the DVR function to record Freeview on it via my HDHomerun.
I want to setup another PC (probably Ubuntu) just to run Plex server and use that to share the media held on my unRAID NAS. So it needs a fast processor and a SSD to hold the thumbnails etc. Not too fussed about graphics/sound etc here.
Has anyone setup such a system and willing to share advice. I’m under the assumption that a processor, SSD and maybe dual NIC is all i really need.
I do have a spare i5-2600 (8000 passmark) but its old tech using LGA1155 slot and i cant find a motherboard i can use an SSD with.
Hope that makes sense.
W
PS I will probably use the new PC to record to a NAS share and will look into that.
That’s the issue i have. I’ve an LGA1155 socket processor and the motherboards im finding for it only have SATA 1, or 150 Sata. Putting an SSD on, surely i will only get a lower speed.
Do i even bother with an SSD, whats the real world benifit?
I boot unRAID off a USB (as you have to) and im fine with that for storage - its the processor for transcoding i want to set up. You can pick up loads of Xeon E5 chips on ebay pretty cheap and i could go that route too. Server stuff is more robust and i dont have an issue buying 2nd hand.
W
So as far as I’m aware: i5 quad core and i7 is quad core but supports Hyperthreading, so 8 core.
They also do X-series processors with more cores (and you can overclock) so that’s just a general rule.
Xeons have more cores, the E5-2650 v3 im looking at has 10 cores and supports Hyperthreading. It also has 25Mb Cache. However each Thread has a slower clock speed.
So whats better for Plex, more threads or higher clock speed?
A Xeon E5-2650 v3 2.1Ghz 10 core. Average CPU benchmark of 14951, single thread 1691 or
An i7-7800X @3.5Ghz 6 core. Average CPU benchmark of 14586 (so similar), single thread 2228
Might be worth mentioning that the Xeon is currently £140 vs £380 for the i7.
Maybe i should start a new Thread on this.
@trumpy81 said:
The Xeon’s also lack QuickSync, so Plex Hardware Acceleration will not work on them, but will work on most i5/i7.
That of course does not mean that Xeon’s cannot transcode, but you wont get the same performance as an equivalent i5/i7
I have a Xeon with QuickSync, and I am not sure I agree with that whole ‘Xeons are made for moving small files around’.
@Peter_W You’re right. Mostly E3’s mind. I was looking at an E5. I’ll have to check out the specs/prices for E3’s
https://ark.intel.com/Search/FeatureFilter?productType=processors&QuickSyncVideo=true&FamilyText=Intel®%20Xeon®%20Processors
@trumpy81 said:
I thought you wanted to use the CPU you had on hand?
I did. But the cost of an LGA1155 motherboard, PSU, SSD and case is working out expensive compared to what I can get a Xeon setup for with many more cores for VM etc. Just exploring my options.
@trumpy81 said:
The area you should be looking at is your Plex client/s. The more capable your client is, the less need you have to transcode. Also, you won’t have to worry as much about formats.
That is a very good point. I hadn’t thought of that. Obviously doesn’t cover tablets and phones but those Odroids look brilliant. Thanks for the heads up.
Thanks again Trumpy.
I’m just going to buy a bit of future proofing as I may want to VM a steam machine or suchlike. An E5 with 20 threads would be very useful.
For the moment I may get an old Dell i5 complete box on eBay for like $60. As long as it has Ethernet and a bit of Ram, I’m away. I will put an SSD and Ubuntu on it.
All my data is on an HP Proliant server running unRAID with parity and i back up my photos to the cloud.
Manual backup for everything else. Cheers though.
Have a good day, ill keep you posted.
