What Hardware to Purchase

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
21

@plexoid011 said:
@SteveFP
What model Synology do you currently have? How many transcodes are you able to handle at a time?

I have a DS718+, which is a two drive NAS. I upgraded the memory from 2 gig to 8 gig, which is the big change and allows the DS718+ to handle transcoding duties. I am doing 2 at the same time right now. I will keep an eye on it as the transcode load potentially grows, but for now this is perfect for me!

22

@apok1980 said:
Hey guys, Iā€™ve been using Plex for 5+ years now, I think. Itā€™s the primary way I consume most of my content. I really like where the live tv dvr has been going with Plex. Itā€™s been getting better and better over time. Anyways, Iā€™ve been running windows server on (I7 920 with 20GB RAM) the last couple of years. I also have a QNAP TS-451+. Itā€™s all been working great, I allow friends and family to stream and usually never notice if everybody is streaming.

Iā€™m thinking of building a new server, and am thinking that if money wasnā€™t a concern (within reason), what would be the best hardware to go with? Specifically, Iā€™m thinking about transcoding, and how my CPU will consistently stay above 90% utilization. Iā€™m also wondering about hardware acceleration? Are we talking about building something with a good GPU? I want to be able to play 4K without missing a beat. Or rather, I want to be able to watch live tv while transcoding content for other users. I built a new gaming system for myself about 1 to 2 years ago and used M.2 2280 SSD and witnessed astonishing performance. So if Iā€™m building a new Plex server, then maybe my thoughts should be around cpu, gpu, and local storage? Appreciate feedback or links to good resources on this topic.

If money is no concern here is how I would build it:

  1. Intel i7 8800K
  2. 16 Gig RAM
  3. Simple SSD drive for OS and apps (256 gig)
  4. NVMe drive for transcode duties (depending on how much you transcode I would do 256 gig at minimum)
  5. Simple SATA drive for content archive

Since you have a QNAP I would use the QNAP to serve up your content.

Steve

23

Thanks for that. So what about a gpu and hardware acceleration? I wonder if thereā€™s any whitepaper or articles that explains how that piece works? I say that of course before searching support.plex

24

@apok1980 said:
Thanks for that. So what about a gpu and hardware acceleration? I wonder if thereā€™s any whitepaper or articles that explains how that piece works? I say that of course before searching support.plex

If you can afford a GPU I would do the Nvidia 1080.