Upgrading my PC/server with new CPU/MB/RAM. Looking for suggestions on processor. Use cases include transcoding (I moved all my UHD disks to my server and stream to devices/TVs in my house). Clients are either Roku TVs or my main media room which has a Shield Pro 2019.
I haven’t had many issues yet other than some bandwidth issues on Roku TVs not caused by Plex but by their poor Ethernet/WiFi capabilities. But, I feel this rig is getting long in the tooth as I have switched to serving and sometimes transcoding my UHD content. I have long run Intel and my current specs are:
Intel Core i7-8700 @ 3.2GHz
ASUS PRIME Z370-A LGA1151
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz
Nvidia GTX 1070
I was looking at AMD AMD Ryzen 9 5900X or even the 5800X. Possibly also Intel equivalents. Not upgrading GPU until that market settles a bit but will probably stay Nvidia. Any suggestions? Intel vs. AMD for transcoding concerns?
I just learned this week that, at least on Windows, the GPU cannot transcode HDR to SDR—you’re stuck with the CPU. Apparently on Linux this is not a problem.
Interesting…that changes things up a bit for me. I will have to confirm that is indeed an issue as I will have situations where I will be transcoding HDR UHD films to as low as 1080p SDR.
I tried that this week for the first time myself, with my 10700k + GTX 1070 and Windows. It was educational.
A 20 Mbps UHD HDR file could be crunched down to 1080p SDR and viewed, no problem.
A 60 Mbps file of the same sort was unwatchable. Via Tautulli I could see that the transcoding speed bounced between 0.9 and 1.2, where 1.0 is realtime and 1.3 is recommended to give you some headroom. The film froze for buffering every few seconds… no good. During this my GPU load was about 6%, but for whatever reason, the GPU doesn’t help you here.
Check out this reference… I had no idea tone mapping was this complicated.
Now here’s another interesting thing you might not have known… I sure didn’t until a few days ago. While the Windows clients cannot do their own tone mapping, the Nvidia Shield client can. So, from any crummy server you can direct play that UHD HDR stream to your Shield client and it will just handle it.
Maybe this is stuff you knew but I have been using Plex (lazily) for many years and learned all this stuff very recently, once I started asking more of Plex… and having problems.
So, my current setup with the 8700 passes my UHD content (most over 100mbps) to my Shield just fine but any transcoding down to 1080p is no bueno or stuttering. I gave up on my Rokus because of bandwidth issues.
Are you using Nvidia for your hardware acceleration or Intel?
I’ve only barely started to need transcoding so I am still figuring this out. Most of my viewing is 1080p SDR files which any server and client can handle. In fact my server now is a Shield. Clients are the same Shield and a Windows gaming box.
It was only when I started to experiment with 4k HDR files that I discovered I can’t transcode them reliably with the Shield or Windows gaming rig w/ 10700k.
So, I am trying to figure out what to do, too.
Honestly I might just buy another Shield for the main viewing area and stop trying to make do with a Windows client. That would prevent the need for transcoding, and buy me time to figure out what kind of dedicated server I might want to make. Hopefully a good Intel CPU will be all I need, because GPU prices are stupid and will be for a while.
(If I make a server, it will definitely be Linux, too. I am using Windows for transcode tests now simply because the machine was already set up for games.)
You and I have almost the same use case and issues. I am running Plex on my windows server as my antenna tuner also hits that for DVR. It serves the rest of the house which is mostly Roku TVs, phones or my main media room which is the Shield Pro (over Ethernet). The shield is fine and my LAN is fast enough to serve HEVC fully even when the stream is over 100mbps without stuttering. The issue is when I transcode those 100GB movie files to lower res for phones or Rokus. (or, god forbid, if I want to stream while outside of my house!).
I like the idea of Shields to replace the Rokus but I am less concerned about that. The thing that really sucks is that AMD Ryzen processors are awesome and cheaper than Intel at the moment and crush for gaming. I would only get the Intel to satisfy Plex and apparently even then it may not be enough, even an i9-11900K.
Yep, we’re after the same thing… Store one fat file, and play it anywhere.
I would only get the Intel to satisfy Plex and apparently even then it may not be enough, even an i9-11900K.
PMS on Linux may save the day, though. According to that document, there are substantial performance improvements compared to Windows. I’m hopeful that a less than top-of-the-line CPU on Linux would suffice for serving high bitrate HDR to weak clients.
Someone here certainly knows the answer, I hope they stop by!
That is an option for me, for sure. The only issue was that I wanted to avoid a secondary dedicated Plex server. I am trying to simplify and streamline my life. lol.
I hear ya… I already have too many computers. While making a new Plex server would be kind of fun I would prefer not to spend the dough or have another machine to maintain. First world problems!
Learned something else about CPUs and transcoding…
Intel Quick Sync requires a CPU with a GPU! I had assumed Quick Sync was NOT in the GPU… like, the CPU would decode video and hand it off to whatever frame buffer was in use. But that is not the case.
So, my poor high bitrate 4k tone mapping is probably due to my having a 10700kf CPU. I didn’t have any hardware assistance at all! (The “f” stands for “f— me! There’s no GPU!”)
So, I am again optimistic that a Windows PMS box with a good (but not top of the line) Intel CPU can handle high bit rate 4k transcoding/tone mapping like we are looking for. That would allow use an existing gaming/HTPC machine instead of adding yet another PC.
I do this via QuickSync an an I5-10400 without issue with 4K HDR remuxes.
It’s not something that happens often as mostly my users have clients/speeds to allow direct play. But it does happen.
Just home from work and haven’t read the whole topic so don’t know if you’re looking for multiple transcodes.
Windows 10.
4K in itself is kinda meh… Many 4K clients and TV’s can do their own upscaling from 1080p.
I do like my HDR though. Come the time when you have a HDR capable TV there is a lot of stuff available in 1080p with HDR nowadays. Factor in the upscaling and decide if 10GB 1080p HDR, 25GB 4K HDR or a full blown 4K Remux HDR at around 50-80GB fits your storage needs.
I agree that HDR is a much more apparent impact than 4k (don’t get me started on the stupidity of 8k!).
In my case, I have almost all 4k HDR TVs in the house and my Shield handles pretty much anything I throw at it. It even upscales 1080p content better than any TV.
My main use case for transcoding is when I am remote or in an area with limited bandwidth. If I am at, say, my sister’s house and want to stream one of my 100gb UHD movies but transcode it to a manageable stream like 1080p SDR at 25mbps. That’s when I really stutter. Any shifting from 4k HDR content to lower bit rate SDR.
I am targeting an Intel “K” processor which appears to be the best consumer grade option available for Plex.
So, I have been doing comparisons of the Intel i9 10900k and 11900k as well as AMD Ryzen 5950x and 5900x.
From what I am seeing, the AMD chips are much more powerful for the cost compared to the Intel chips. BUT, Plex does not care. I am assuming for Plex what matters is the integrated Intel GPU.
I use Windows as I also use this system for gaming, work and the wife does as well. I do have a dual boot setup for Ubuntu but not practical for Plex.
For storage, I currently just have an 8TB Western Digital black drive which works great. I have a mirrored array but not for that storage disk. I do backup to cloud storage though (Backblaze).
I am wondering how much of a gain in Plex transcoding I would see with one of the newer Intel chips over the 8700.
