Would these be good specs for running PMS?

Plex Media Server
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Server Version#: 1.20.3.3437-f1f08d65b_amd64

I currently am running PMS on an old HTPC with a AMD A6-6400K APU and 4 GB of DDR3 1600 RAM. I was able to run 3 simultaneous users watching the same 720p video (me using direct play and the other 2 indirectly with transcoding), and the stream went pretty well. However I’d like to be able to support around 10 streams with transcoding for a 1080p source (might even have 4k sources in the future so if possible being able to prep for that would be great). I was thinking of getting an i5-9400 CPU and 16 GB of DDR4 3600 RAM as an upgrade, but after reading more about Plex is more RAM not really necessary (or is 16 good)? I was thinking of also getting an Nvidia GPU for hardware transcoding but I’m not sure which one would be good, could someone help point me in the right direction? I’m trying to spend under $750 in upgrades (or is that not realistic for 10 streams of 1080p+ transcoding?).

Also in terms of storage is the speed of an SSD worth it? I’m currently using a small SSD as the boot drive and an old 5400 RPM HDD as the library drive, which I was considering replacing with a large SSD. Does having faster load times make a noticeable improvement to Plex performance? (I might end up getting SSDs regardless as my case is mini-itx so the more storage I can cram in the better).

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I would expect that to be plenty good.

The minimum recommended would be a 7th gen intel cpu (ie 7xxx) + 6th gen integrated gpu (ie 6xx igpu), this should easily handle 10+ 1080 streams, and several 4k streams.

16 gig ram should be fine for plex, but depends on what else may be running on your system.

if you have an intel gpu/igpu above or newer, you should not need any nvidia gpu, so you can save money there.

If for whatever reason you insist on an nvidia gpu, look for a 1050 or newer.

for best performance you want to use a ssd for the plex data, since plex uses a sqlite3 database, and stores a lot of metadata in the plex data, the faster the system can read/write the plex data, the smoother overall experience you will have.

How large an ssd you need, will depend on entirely on how large your media library is, and if you have enabled video preview thumbs (these can take a lot of space).

Minimum ssd I would recommend would be 500g.

Personally, I have a dedicated 1tb ssd just for plex data (a lot of media + thumbs), but choose according to your budget.

edit: REMINDER: gpu transcoding requires plex pass, if you don’t want or can’t afford plex pass, then the gpu does not matter at all, and you should get the fastest/most powerful cpu you can afford.

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Thanks for all the tips! I do have plex pass, but if a powerful processor is all that’s needed to run 10+ 1080p streams, I figure I’ll just spend the rest of the budget on a better CPU and more SSD storage.

Some followup questions if you don’t mind:

  1. Does Plex make use of the extra RAM (can it be configured to use more?), or does it only need X amount and I can allocate the rest to other programs I might run on this server?
  2. Is there a point where having a GPU for transcoding becomes necessary? (like X number of streams etc?)
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if you have plex pass, there is no reason to spend extra money on the cpu alone, the gpu is much better suited for transcoding. GPU will transcoding will keep that transcode load off the cpu, so it can better perform other tasks.

  1. ram: plex does not directly use extra ram, but your OS will utilize extra ram for disk caching. The more cache the less time the system spends waiting on reading media files to stream them. A few streams don’t need so much caching, but if you have 10+ streams all reading from different files, then more cache = more cushion to avoid disk (or network if your storing media on a nas or something) bottlenecks.

so, extra ram is a luxury, not a necessity.

  1. well, for 1080 and below using x264 content, most cpu can handle several transcodes (this is what plex has been doing for years). Newer content and 4k especially often comes in x265, which is a much more difficult beast to transcode. gpu transcoding, takes that crazy x265 processing load off the cpu, otherwise many cpu have difficulty keeping up.

So again, see my initial post, your i5-9400+16g ram should be plenty, use any extra on a quality ssd of decent size. or maybe 2 (OS ssd and plex ssd).

besides, its much easier to upgrade ram later if it something that you may need.

and you can always add a gpu later too.

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Thank you so much for the tips! I’ll factor in a GPU then into my build, or at least plan one out for the future. One final question since you mentioned “OS ssd and plex ssd”. Does Plex store its database on the drive PMS is installed on, or alongside the media? As in, should I move my plex installation to the same drive as media (my boot drive is only 32 GB as it was intended for just the OS + critical programs)?

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32gig for os is pretty small, especially if you intend to run windows. windows alone will gobble that up and leave you nothing. linux may use less space, but still 32g is cramped.

64, or 128g would be a better, safer, system disk.

plex stores files in 2 places, the binaries/executables are typically stored on the system disk, on windows you set the install location for these files, but on linux there isn’t a supported way to change install location.

plex data is stored in a different set of folders (separate from the executables).
the plex data is more easily moved to alternate locations.

generally the program files is maybe a couple hundred megs, but the data folders can be several gigs to hundreds of gigs in size.

there are more details on where plex stores the files in the support docs @ https://support.plex.tv/articles/?s=Data+directory+&search=support_articles

these threads may also be of use:

all about 4k transcoding @ Plex, 4k, transcoding, and you

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