The best computer for a plex server?

General Discussions
1

Hello everyone.

I’m looking for the best computer to change my current computer (Laptop Asus G750JX).

I’m looking for something that the Plex server will be able to use to the maximum (Encoding with the CPU and GPU).

I thought about the Mac Pro.
3.0GHz 8-core with 25MB of L3 cache
16GB (4 x 4GB) of 1866MHz DDR3 ECC
512GB PCIe-based SSD
Dual AMD FirePro D700 GPUs with 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM each

If you have ideas, they will be welcome. Aesthetics is also important.

Thank you.

2

I would start by looking at CPU performance as the primary attribute when shopping. Passmark benchmarks are a good way to rank CPUs by performance. The general rule of thumb is that each simultaneous 1080p transcode in Plex requires an additional 2000 Passmark score. (so 2x transcodes requires 4000 score or higher).

3

Thank you. If I understood correctly. It is not necessary to buy a computer with a powerful GPU?

4

Not now, but likely will be in the future since there is an Alpha release with hardware transcoding - http://forums.plex.tv/discussion/250946/plex-media-server-hardware-transcoding-preview-3-1-6-0-3720#latest

5

The Trash-80. Good, solid computer