hey guys,
So my poor Synology NAS isn’t up to being my Plex server, keep getting the error that it’s not powerful enough to play video. I’m looking for a cheap refurb PC to run as my Plex server (nothing else). I came across a refurb Dell Optiplex 9020m Mini Intel i5 4590t 2.0Ghz 8Gb Ram. Would a PC with these specs be OK to run as my server? I’ll be the only one streaming at 1080p max.
It really depends on your client and what kind of transcoding they need in order to playback the video.
Id try and focus on the client side so that it can direct stream or play the items and at that point the server doesnt matter since all its doing is uploading data.
Usually playing from the Plex app on the TV itself, or using google chromecast (in teh plex android app) from my phone to my other TV. I will still leave the media stored on the NAS, but need a server as my Synology can’t handle it.
Is everything hardwired besides the Chromecast?
Do they all native play the items you throw at them?
The NAS is hardwired to the router, the rest is WiFi.
Yes they all native play items 
Usually not powerful enough means it’s being transcoded which requires CPU which Synology isn’t very powerful enough.
Yeah correct, hence why i’m wondering if this Dell with the Intel i5 4590t processor would do the trick?
Well if they all native played your CPU would not matter… You sure they require no transcoding?
If they do require transcoding, will this PC be suitable? Worst case scenario?
According to Plex’s guidelines you should be able to transcode one or two 10Mbps H.264 1080p streams. HEVC is much more CPU intensive. Don’t count on transcoding any such video, even at 1080p.
As @nokdim says, best to not transcode at all.
i5-4590T Passmark: 5620
What kind of CPU do I need for my server?
Very roughly speaking, for a single full-transcode of a video, the following PassMark score requirements are a good guideline for the following average source file:
Thanks! I guess i’m just looking for something cheap to get me by for a year until I get an Intel NUC or something. So this thing wouldn’t transcode x265 at all?
I think this is Plex’s way of saying that your CPU is not strong enough to do software transcoding. I don’t know your NAS, it may have hardware transcoding ability. But Plex will not use it, if you have it, because you are not Plex pass. You can only do HW transcoding if you have Plex pass.
That’s not to say you can’t manually do HW transcoding outside of Plex. When ever I rip a DVD or blu-ray, I immediately do a manual HW transcode, with Xmedia Recode, some people like Handbrake. I then add it to Plex server.
So before doing any transcoding you need to know what your players can play, Also know what internet speeds you have. If a cell phone, the minimum speed of your provider. You may want to make two transcoder, one for your lan, and one for your cell phone provider. Before I had Plex, l found that my roku did not like to play some of my mp4’s with 5.1 audio. So I started transcoding everything to stereo. Been happy now that I got Plex on my devices, no real time transcoding needed.
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