Hello, since this is an active thread about the p2000 I have a question. I’m currently running an amd2700x system with an RTX 2060 and P2000. Is there any way to have plex transcode only using the p2000 without it being the primary display?
I can get it to transcode if it’s setup as the primary display. I currently have both cards hooked into 2 different hdmi inputs on my receiver outputting to a single 4K TV. Windows picks it up as a dual display.
Thanks
Thanks again for taking the time to reply with the additional information. I don’t know if you said before, but is your Plex server running on bare metal, or a VM?
You might be able to specify which GPU the program is assigned to in the nVidia control panel. I only have the one GPU, so I’m only speculating.
I’ve gone into the Nvidia control panel, 3d settings, then manage programs… from there I selected the programs tab and selected the entire plex folder. I went to Cuda and changed it to the p2000 only.
Nothing has worked for me if I’m using the RTX card as the primary display. It’ll only use the p2000 when it’s being used as the primary display. I would like to do gaming with the rtx card, but if someone uses plex while im gaming it chooses the rtx card for transcoding not my p2000.
Did you reboot and/or restart Plex after making that change?
yes, even reinstalled drivers
No worries,
I am running it on an old gaming rig so it’s a bare metal system.
I do have a dell r910 thats running esxi that I use to run plex on but moved it over when I wanted to add more storage, ive only just added the p2000 to the plex server, so its never run via a vm.
I just installed a Quadro P2000 GPU yesterday. I was hoping to have no issues with buffering, but unfortunately, I did experience buffering with 4k videos.
I then installed Plex server 1.15.0.573. This is an alpha version that is supposed to have improvements on transcoding. And it is better. The buffering is quite a bit less, however it is not perfect.
I am wondering if those who got this to work adjusted any settings. This really should on the production version of the Plex server.
Plex Server 1.15.0.573 (Alpha version)
Client: Testing on a TiVo as it requires transcoding to play (this is how I am testing)
OS: Windows Server 2016
I’m wondering the same thing. I’m on 1.15.0.659 currently. It will use hardware decode and encode. I think the buffering is a bitrate issue. I have one huge 4K hdr file, it is about 75000 kbps. It will struggle in scenes with a lot of action. The transcode speed will change within 0.8 and 1.6. Other less demanding files seems to work fine. My current plan is to change the transcoder default throttle buffer from 60 seconds to 600. This might help me power through the demanding scenes. I’d like for Plex and the P2000 to sort this out automatically, but I suspect I might have to focus on making my files lower bitrate. I’m open to other suggestions though.
try changing the transcoder settings to
prefer high speed encoding
to see if that makes any difference in buffering.
also, you may want to monitor windows task manager and see what kind of disk io utilization you are getting.
if your disk goes to 100% then you need a faster disk.
I loaded 1.15.0.659 and found the transcoding to be much worse than 1.15.0.573. I am not sure about the change they made to the transcoder. I basically cranked everything up…Changed background transcoding to “Ultra Fast”…the throttle buffer to 600 seconds. I tried “Prefer higher speed encoding” and “Make my CPU hurt”. On 4K HEVC HDR10 movies. The transcoder bounces from 0.3 to 2.0+ and everything in between. I wish there was a setting I could adjust to correct this. I am close to not buffering but I am not there.
Anything that is 1080p and below works perfectly.
The latest Jellyfin (Emby fork) 10.2.0 in the same Windows environment as my PMS easily handles multiple 4K HEVC transcodes to H624 1080p @ 20Mpbs. I can’t even get one to work without buffering in PMS.
I’m no expert, but I have to believe it is due to some kind of ffmpeg optimization which has happened for HEVC and/or nVidia GPUs with the other project. One hopes Plex can make similar optimizations to allow for this greater level of performance as well.
My GPU in Plex rarely goes north of 8% when trying my test transcode - in Jellyfin, its double that and able to transcode in greater than realtime. (really wish Tautulli was available for Jellyfin) All that to say that I had 3x 4K HEVC transcodes going and no buffering.
The problem isn’t Windows, or virtualization, or GPU passthrough inefficiency. It can work.
Hi shermantenor - I’m about to build a Plex server and was definitely about to spend less on a CPU and throw money into the P2000 card with 16GB of RAM…all possibly on a z170 board. Do you think you’d recommend against relying on that GPU at this point? The alternative is getting a better CPU, obvs.
Looking fwd to your suggestion.
Hi @pjbrooks - you only need a fast CPU and/or GPU if you are doing lots of transcoding to clients. Are you? Whenever possible, its best to avoid transcoding - certainly you should avoid that on your local network unless you have devices that don’t support the codec.
I bought a P2000 specifically as I didn’t want to mess with driver hacking to unlock more than 2 simultaneous transcodes, and I also wanted ESXi support. If you don’t mind doing some unconventional trickery, you can buy a much less costly GTX 1050/60 and unlock the driver to get unlimited transcodes, and much of the performance of a P2000. If I were doing it all over again, and wasn’t virtualizing, I’d get a GTX without hesitation. Obviously a big YMMV should nVidia close this loophole, but it should work with the matching drivers indefinitely. (https://github.com/keylase/nvidia-patch/blob/master/win/README.md / https://github.com/keylase/nvidia-patch)
Now - for H264 at any resolution, or HEVC/h265 at 1080p or below, the P2000 with Plex as-is is a fantastic card. Benchmarks (by others) show that this card should handle 20+ transcodes without breaking a sweat.
As I’ve said above, 4K HEVC seems to be a different beast. I know the card is capable of at least 4 simultaneous 4K HEVC -> 1080p transcodes based on what others have done, but I have struggled to match that in my environment with Plex. WIth the latest Jellyfin though, I did manage 3 simultaneous transcodes, and probably could have done a 4th if I had another client to test with.
If you aren’t planning on 4K HEVC, there is no need to hesitate. (many will say you shouldn’t be transcoding this material anyway as most of it is HDR, and Plex can’t tone map (yet))
At any rate - the card is definately a beast. If all you are planning to do with the computer is Plex, you might go with an older motherboard so you can use cheaper DDR3, and get more of it. You might also get a better bang for your buck in terms of the CPU.
Consider power consumption as well - that is where newer kit will be better (usually).
Hope this helps - reply back when you decide what you are going to do.
Thanks for responding so quickly. I’m not too price sensitive, but don’t want to spend money just for the sake of it. My goal is to play a stream on my local network and have the ability to play up to four remotely, simultaneously. Given that, I’ll go for the P2000 as I can’t be arsed with the “hacking” of GPUs, and it seems well reputed as an excellent graphics card for specifically what I have in mind.
On to the other equipment therefore. Given a P2000 will be in this case I purchase, along with fans and a few nice big HDDs, what’s the CPU, motherboard and RAM recommendations? I really can’t find an answer presumably because there are so many variations on the use of Plex, and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer.
My options:
I currently have a 6850k, with 16GB of ram, on an x99 and a couple of M2 NVME SSDs that I could repurpose and use in the above scenario. This is from my main machine, and I’d opt to replace those components with something newer, but not HEDT - probably a 9700k on a Z390, and then move on. This I consider to be the “expensive” option.
Buy a P2000, a cheap case, PSU and…what? Old i5 with DDR3 ram? I mean I could probably find someone on Ebay - like that link you described earlier - selling an i5 machine with everything, and I just drop the P2000 in there (assuming the power is sufficient, otherwise also replace the PSU). This is the “cheap” option.
But then that’s the question really…based on my usage, with maybe a little room to grow when Plex fully supports (with HDR) 4K, is it option 1 or 2? If 2, what would you recommend?
I REALLY appreciate your time here, mate.
if you have fully decided to go with p2000, I would simply pop it in your existing system and make a test plex server with your existing components without buying anything else yet.
then you should be able to determine how many streams that current system can handle, and that will tell you if you can do with more or less system power.
don’t forget also, that for 4k DECODING you need windows currently.
p2k on linux isn’t going to help decoding 4k until they finish updating the decoder.
also keep in mind, if you are direct playing, you don’t need a huge expensive server at all.
I might suggest a 3rd option as well. You could use a more current Intel processor and its built in quicksync for hardware accelerated transcoding.
This guy (see link below) has done considerable benchmarking, and the numbers for a current-gen Intel NUC look compelling. It would be very power (and space) efficient as well, assuming of course you don’t need your media to be local to the PMS. It isn’t exactly cheap, and also isn’t easy to upgrade either. Looks like in Canada at least you could get one for around $1k with the i7-8559U and 16GB of RAM, plus a 1TB storage disk.
The P2000 is about $550 in Canada for comparison.
http://slothtechtv.com/2018/12/using-the-nuc8i7beh-bean-canyon-nuc-as-a-plex-server
Check out the rest of his blog - he also has a YouTube channel with lots of thoughts on re-purposing old kit for PMS. I like that he considers power consumption as over time, that is a significant cost factor as well.
I’m a big value guy, so when it all comes down to it, I tend to pick whatever gives me the biggest bang for the buck.
Earlier on I considered a NUC but you’re right that’s just more expensive AND I don’t get an upgrade to my home PC (as I would under option 1 which all in would cost about a grand depending on available sales prices).
So it sounds as though we’d both prefer option 2 
Given the strength of the p2000 what do you think? Old i5? With 16gb ddr3?
Just to chime in a bit. I’ve been running the P2000 on an old HP Microserver N54L for about 2 months now. First on Windows Server 2019 and now on Windows 10 (1809), and since i’ve been on Windows 10 everything is running like a charm.
On the specs side:
AMD Turion II Processor Model Neo N54L (2.20 GHz, 15W, 2MB)
8 GB DDR3 PC3-10600E RAM
Samsung EVO 850 256GB SSD for OS
4x 4TB WD RED in Windows Storage Space (simple setup, so no redundancy)
Another 4x 8TB Iron Wolf in a Q-Nap TS-453A NAS for extra storage
Plex Server 1.15.0.659
I have 18 external users using this box. i do limit the remote stream to a max bitrate of 8 Mpbs (1080p), but that’s more to bw limitations then anything else.
Currently i’ve maxed out on 5 external transcodes and 1 internal direct play and it works great.
So if you want to go for the biggest bang for your buck i’d definetly go with the P2000.
Can you clarify the the content of those transcode…
are those standard x264 to x264 transcodes, or is that 4k hdr x265 to x264 ??
