So I’m going to be building a new pc here soon or upgrading my current setup. I’m wondering if any of you guys have tried playing any True 4K content (2160p at 80mbps) with decent computer specs. My current setup that I’m going to list below simply cannot handle 4K movies at all (All 4 threads are 99% maxed)… definitely not really viewable anyways, because it constantly buffers and lags. So my question for you all is should I upgrade to a AMD FX8350 and overclock it (Passmark 9,000-10,000) or go ahead and get an entire new chipset which would be the Intel LGA 2011-v3 socket with a Core i7-5820K (Passmark 13,000-16,000 Depending on the overclock). I would like to just get the FX8350 and call it a day, but I don’t know if it would be able to handle upcoming 4K movies. I heard that Bluray RIPs for the new 4K UHD Movies are more than likely going to be around 100-150gb per movie. I’m also sure that it’ll be a little while before they launch new Bluray drives for our PCs that will be capable of ripping the newer Bluray Discs and by the time that those are our Intel might have already released newer 14nm LGA 2011-v3 processors…
Current Setup
AMD FX-4100 Overclock @ 4.70Ghz
AsRock 970 Extreme AM3+
2x4Gb Corsair 1600mhz
250Gb SSD Samsung
2x4Tb WD Black HDD
2x2Tb WD Black HDD
LG 14x Bluray Burner
Fractal Design R5 Blackout
I just got some holiday videos my brother brought back from his last vecation laying arround on our PMS. They are at a Bitrate of about 50-60 Mbps (3840x2160). For now the i5-6600K is handeling them just fine. I did a little Test, he maxed out for about 1 minute transcoding a 2 min. clip.
PMS recommends a CPU with a passmark score of 2000 for a 10 Mbps video so an 80 Mbps video would need a score of 16,000. This is also assuming you are referring to H264 video. H265 takes a lot more power, so consider at least double the score needed if it is H265.
PMS when transcoding runs at 100% cpu load for the first minute to build up a buffer, so looking at the first minute is not a good indicator of the cpu usage needed. Either look later or check the server log itself for the “speed=” value.
Recently built a Media Server PC just for plex. here is the parts list. It can handle several 1080 transcodes at the same time and can handle a 4K transcode pretty easily as well.
the only thing not listed is the “IO Crest 4 Port SATA III PCIe 2.0 x 2 HyperDuo Raid Controller Card Components SI-PEX40057” used to raid all the hard drives together (Raid 0) as I have another backup solution. (don’t do onboard raid… it’s horrible)
the M.2 SSD for the OS drive is a bit overkill but… i like it
I have a lenovo M73 tiny with an Intel Core i3-4130T.
i’m having problems transcoding 4K movies … there’s anything i can do? or should i just upgrade my CPU?
what is the minimum required for a CPU with 4K transcoding ?
I would have to concur with jjrjr1. Unless you’re willing to invest heavily into a high end CPU and setup. I have an I7 980X (Hex core CPU Mark 15,200 ) with a Samsung 250GB SSD for PMS on my server and 4k transcoding for movies starts to buffer horribly within 15 seconds on my HTPC. I instead went and got a HEVC decoding capable video card (GTX 1050 for $100) to put into my HTPC, checked the Hardware Decoding box in PMP so that PMS isn’t trying to do the decoding and that works wonderfully.
I’m in the process of building an HTPC/NAS for my home theater… I’m gonna go with an i5-7500 which has a passmark of about 8000. Now, I’ve laid hands on a few 4K, 10 bits movies and it brought my old i7-2600K to its knees, which has a passmark of about 8400. It has me worried as my setup is 4K and all I’m waiting on is my HTPC. Does it mean a simple GTX1050 will fix my problem? I really don’t feel like investing 500 bucks on a CPU…
If you’re asking will the GTX 1050 decode 4k material, yes. That way your PMS won’t have to do the heavy lifting by trying to transcode it. When I play 4k material, my PMS runs around 5% CPU utilization and the GTX 1050 in my HTPC does the decoding.
the GTX will only transcode it the movie is going over its output, right? or does the OS utilize the graphics cards hardware to transcode the video that is then sent over the Ethernet Port?
Correct, the GTX only decodes H.265/HEVC content and then outputs it to the display it’s hooked to. This would not go in your PMS server unless your PMS is also your HTPC and hooked to your TV or whatever device you intend on watching your 4K content on.
@McGillUSAF
Since you are not a Plex pass user you can’t know that there is a Hardware Transcoder Preview out for PLEX pass users.
This should decrease stress from the CPU (if you have a CPU that has certain hardware transcoding capabilities or a dedicated GPU).
Obviously this would also decrease video quality. You shouldn’t transcode on your local network anyway and for remote users it should be fine.
It’s still a preview, so If we look at the development of PMP, you shouldn’t hold your breath. It’s probably not coming out very soon, especially through the public release. (I dont know I’m just guessing) But since one usually doesn’t upgrade the server very often, it’s something you should definitely keep an eye out for.
@jjrjr1 said:
Best recommendation is encode your 4K media to a format that can direct play the content.
I run an i7 with 256gig ssd (9k Passmark) and 4K maxes out the CPU and buffers terribly.
I really do not think there is much you can do to get 4K to transcode yet.
BTW. Why do you have 4K media to play on an iPhone, or a Browser when that will transcode always???
Keep your 4K media where only your 4K devices can play them directly and maintain a 1080p or less copy for all other devices not 4K capable.
basically i need to use subtitles in my movies, so it automatically needs to transcode…
and is only to see the movies on my TV…
anyway, with DLNA it works good (with another multimedia server)… pitty that with DLNA plex doesn’t provide subtitles …
@londawg314 said:
Adding to this topic. I have an i7-6800k and x265 transcoding buffers every minute or two.
as a player or a server? if you are Playing something on that you should know that its a 6th Gen Sky Lake Processor, which does not have hardware support for x265
@londawg314 said:
Adding to this topic. I have an i7-6800k and x265 transcoding buffers every minute or two.
as a player or a server? if you are Playing something on that you should know that its a 6th Gen Sky Lake Processor, which does not have hardware support for x265
It’s my plex server. I use assorted devices as players. None of them can direct play at the moment but I have an nvidia shied arriving tomorrow. Regardless when I am out of town it will always transcode remotely.
The comment was just confirming the high requirements of 4k x265 plex server transcoding.
I have a dell laptop i5 windows 10 running the plex server. I use Roku 3 as the only player. Everything is local and physically connected. Playing x264 has been flawless all long with direct play at the original quality. But now with x265, plex transcoding is maxing up the CPU and rendering plex useless for me. When I play x264, transcoding doesn’t run at all. It only runs when I play x265. What from my setup is lacking direct play support for x265? What are my options?
@londawg314 said:
It’s my plex server. I use assorted devices as players. None of them can direct play at the moment but I have an nvidia shied arriving tomorrow. Regardless when I am out of town it will always transcode remotely.
That shouldn’t be. If the device can handle 4K H265, it shouldn’t matter if it is local or remote. Maybe you have the remote quality setting too low.
@nknknknk said:
I use Roku 3 as the only player. What from my setup is lacking direct play support for x265? What are my options?
