Transcoding: does CPU's integrated Processor Graphics matter?

General Discussions
1

Hi!

Server motherboards generally does not have powerful integrated video cards.

By having a CPU with an integrated “Processor Graphics” like the “Intel® HD Graphics 2500” (it’s just an example) is any good for transcoding?

Thanks.
Regards.

3

Hi!

Thanks for reply.

I was looking at several Xeon CPUs, but, by what you said, I think that this CPU (Intel® Core™ i3-6300 Processor) would be fine for transcoding, eventually.

Is the “4K support” of any value?

Thanks.
Regards.

4

It’s certainly dependent on your use case, such as how many simultaneous transcodes do you expect or want to support? Also your source material format and what kind of transcodes matter…a 4mbps H.264 -> 2mbps H.264 transcode is a lot less taxing than H.265 -> H.264 for example.

Also generally speaking, hardware accelerated transcoding will produce lower-quality output than a software transcode. This may or may not matter for you depending on what kind of quality your clients are playing back at.

I’d be a tiny bit hesitant about going with an i3 if I was already spending the $$ on the rest of the hardware…depending on the specific models it can be less than $100 to step up to an i5 class. Especially pre-8000 series when you’re only getting two physical cores in the i3 vs. four in the i5.

5

Hi!

Thanks for reply. In fact, there’s a lot going on right now…

In the first 2 weeks of June I’ll be in the USA, in vacation, and I decided to upgrade my very humble NAS/File/Media Server to the next level. I’m planning to buy some “server grade” motherboard, cpu and memory.

The motherboard is defined and the memory (32GB, ECC) will be compatible.

Now I’m struggling to find a CPU that don’t be so expensive, that don’t be so powerful for the purpose of a file/media server, but also not so weak that let me angry (or at the same level that I’m now). Streaming of 4K movies inside my local network is painfull as hell.

My current CPU is this, and here is the list of all the CPUs that I’m considering right now, all of them compatible with my motherboard/memory choice until now (but of course there’s time to change).

Would you mind to take a look and tell me what you think?

By the way, I’m the only and lonely user of my Plex server. No need for simutaneous transcoding or even simultaneous streaming.

Thanks.
Regards.

7

If I may, do you have a specific requirement beyond Plex for a server-class motherboard and ECC RAM? If this box will primarily just be the Plex server (and only for yourself), then quite honestly that’s a pretty extreme amount of overkill especially in terms of cost.

If that’s the kind of budget you’re working with, you’d probably be better served by going with a standard desktop motherboard and putting extra money into the CPU. Honestly even 32GB of non-ECC RAM is overkill; my Plex server routinely does 2-3 simultaneous transcoded streams (and a ton of other stuff besides Plex) on 16GB without breaking a sweat.

I’m assuming you don’t actually have any of your parts yet and still need to buy everything. Myself and I’m sure others would be happy to suggest some options for parts that would save you a bunch of money, and probably deliver a better end result for you.