Transcoding without GPU (e5 2650L v2)

[michal_h]

Hello,
I have a question about transcoding without HW acceleration. I would like to build server based on Xeon E5 2650L v2 (or 2648L v2). Does someone have this CPU without GPU on PLEX? How does it perform on transcoding with 4k (or 1080p) video? I have all media encoded with h265.
Right now I have core i7 3770 (4x4GB RAM). I know that 2650 v2 is not really an upgrade but I struggle with RAM capacity and I have some DDR3 ECC registered RAM (8x8GB) modules from old rack servers.
This server in not only for PLEX but also other stuff like game servers, controllers, and some other more services.

What do you think and if you have same CPU how does your server working?

[OttoKerner]

@michal_h

I have a question about transcoding without HW acceleration. I would like to build server based on Xeon E5 2650L v2 (or 2648L v2).

Nope. This may have been a good file server or database server Cpu (back in the day) but it was never a suitable Plex server CPU.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E5-2650L+v2+%40+1.70GHz&id=2989
Your maximum quality source file should be lower-bandwidth AVC/H.264, max 1080p, without many subtitles.

@michal_h

I know that 2650 v2 is not really an upgrade but I struggle with RAM capacity

You don’t need that much RAM for Plex.

@michal_h

Right now I have core i7 3770 (4x4GB RAM).

That is better than the Xeon: PassMark - Intel Core i7-3770 @ 3.40GHz - Price performance comparison
particularly when you look at the single-thread performance (which is still very important for Plex).

[michal_h]

@OttoKerner

This may have been a good file server or database server Cpu (back in the day) but it was never a suitable Plex server CPU.

I thought that but this PC also hold all Plex media files (fileserver) and some other stuff

@OttoKerner

You don’t need that much RAM for Plex.

I know that PLEX dont need lots of RAM. I need more RAM for other services like game servers etc.

@OttoKerner

Your maximum quality source file should be lower-bandwidth AVC/H.264, max 1080p, without many subtitles.

This is recomendation or for this CPU only? All my files is h265 1080p 6Mbps and h265 4k 10Mbps. My i7 3770 cant handle 4k transcoding anyway.

@OttoKerner

That is better than the Xeon: PassMark - Intel Core i7-3770 @ 3.40GHz - Price performance comparison
particularly when you look at the single-thread performance (which is still very important for Plex).

I notice that this CPU have worse single core performance but have better performace overall and have more physical cores (3770 - 4, 2650l v2 - 10).

My question is do you think that this CPU can handle 1080p (or maybe even 4k) transcoding from h265 file?

[OttoKerner]

@michal_h

handle 1080p (or maybe even 4k) transcoding from h265 file?

I strongly suspect that it cannot.

With Plex you need to prefer CPUs with better single thread performance. Those 10 cores will perform worse with Plex than the 4 cores of the i7.
This will be a downgrade for your Plex experience.