I currently have Plex running on an old rusty laptop and I am looking on eBay through the mini PCSs to be a new replacement server, and I guess I am just looking for a little bit of confirmation and guidance. I have been looking at the i3 and i5 T Series and I think that is the direction that I want to go. What is more important? The Benchmark value for the CPU or GHz number? For example, if there is a 3.1ghz with a Benchmark of 4382, and a 2.9ghz with a Benchmark of 4816, which would be more ideal? And how much does HDD RPM make a difference? Is the cost increase of a 7200rpm drive worth it over a 5400? I only expect to run a single stream most of the time… maybe two every great once in a while. And one last thing… For wifi technology, does A/G/B/N matter?
Stick with 5400 rpm hdd. We will need more details on your server usage. Is this only for inside your home or for remote as well? Of course the stronger the wifi the better. But prefer is always hardline.
As I understand it, the higher the Passmark score for the CPU, the better. Also cross check the CPU to make sure it supports Intel QuickSync. This will open up Hardware Acceleration which takes some of the load off the processor.
If it doesn’t have QuickSync you can still use an Nvidia gpu but you’re limited to 2 streams of hardware acceleration.
@teabag1701, thanks, that’ll be easier on my wallet. It’s primarily for use inside the home, usually only one stream. It might get used by one person remotely, but that would be an uncommon occurrence. I can’t imagine a situation where I’d need to have three streams at the same time. And yeah, hardline is better. I expect that I’ll be doing that when the server is good and has VNC and all that fun stuff on it.
@AmazingRando24, thanks for the info. I would think a higher benchmark would be better than a higher GHz, but just wasn’t sure. And I’ll research this QuickSync thing, never heard of it.
@teabag1701 again, you reference the Nvidia GPU if no QuickSync. As stated above, I’ll research the QuickSync thing, but I think you hit on something I was unaware of. I guess I didn’t expect that the server would need a graphics card (or some equivalent). I assumed this was only needed for the player, not the server that is doing the outbound streaming. I suppose this shows how little I understand the inner workings of media servers.
Also, as many aren’t aware but when it comes to buying a nvidia gpu for plex I would go for the GTX 1050 (non ti) for $120 new. It’s the cheapest pascal version, meaning that it’s new and it has the same muscle to operate the streams as a gtx 1080 ti $800.
I would recommend an i7 laptop with the highest passmark you can afford.
They are available sub $600 if you look around.
USB HDDs work great.
Actually the best bang for your buck.
Quicksync is the Intel video chipset.
Check the Plex documentation on HW transcoding to see what other GPUs they support. It’s getting new adds all the time.
@teabag1701 said:
Stick with 5400 rpm hdd. We will need more details on your server usage. Is this only for inside your home or for remote as well? Of course the stronger the wifi the better. But prefer is always hardline.
I partially agree with regards to your question regarding 5400rpm drive vs. 7200rpm.
The difference between these two speeds will not make a huge difference in Plex Media Server’s performance playing back one video/program being streamed.
However, where a faster disk drive will make a difference is with a larger collection OR a collection (TV, Movies, Videos) that have the option selected for “Enable video preview thumbnails.” With a larger collection, a slower drive can dramatically slow down how quickly PMS can access it’s “database” – which is really just thousands of little images in hundreds of folders.
The larger these folders become and the monumental number of tiny image files WILL slow your PMS’s ability to feed those images to your Client Plex Players. This will also lead to slower times loading TV Series main page which loads the Seasons and associated images. It also can dramatically impact how quickly the Similar / Related sub-menus load.
So yes, I would not pay extra for a 7200rpm drive for Windows, but I would spend $40-60 for a dedicated SSD drive that only stores your Plex Media Server data folders. You “can” technically do this after your have your system setup a year down the road, but since PMS doesn’t store all these related files in a single database and instead stores them as individual files, the transfer to faster storage usually fails – resulting in a clean install of PMS.
You don’t need the largest, or the fastest or the newest! I would look at Newegg (or similar) for refurb/open box SSDs and get one of them.
This is where you will feel the performance difference.
C:\Users\USER_NAME\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server
Then map that folder to your SSD.
There are many 120GB to 128GB SSD’s can be found on Newegg.com today for between $40-50.
The slower 5400rpm drives are perfectly OK for your video collections.
Really would be nice if he did mention his budget because it looks like many of us do have great info on how to have a really good optimize Plex server like @jfreiman mentioned.
To solve the issue of database performance, it works great if your server uses a SSD for the main system drive.
Also it speeds up transcoding as the temp transcode files will be on an SSD.
First, I really do appreciate the feedback in this thread! Have already learned valuable things from you guys.
@jfreiman , thanks for the info about and SSD/HDD combo system. I might go that direction. The last time I built a server, DDR memory just came out and was all the rage… I do have a question about mapping though. I understand what you mean about having the database on the SSD, but I don’t see the purpose or usefulness of mapping (in this context). If I have an SSD as my main drive where Winders and Plex are installed, and all my media is on the HDD, does that not accomplish what you talk about regarding the database files being on the faster access SSD?
@teabag1701 , I thought I did mention my budget, but on looking back, I see I didn’t. My target is $250ish. Since what I have works (just not optimally, of course), I’m not in the market to upgrade because I need to, but only because I want to. I have some 2.5" HDDs lying around, and a couple SSDs, so I am most likely looking at something that is mostly bare bones.
