# Plex Server



## ddbtkd456 (Jun 3, 2018)

So I have an idea where to begin and I was hoping this awesome community would be able to help. So I want something that is decently low powered but still packs a serious punch on the passmark score. Basically when its all said and done I need it to stream 1080p movies to 4 tv's within my network and 2 outside my network. That should put a passmark of about 12,000 roughly, correct? It will also be used for daily backups and centralizing all the files and photos for computer within my network. I plan on doing a raid 1 or raid 10 depending on the hardware required for that. Cases, processors, ram, coolers, hard drives, power supply recommendations would be great. I have thought about doing xeon since its lower powered. Thanks in advance. Software recommendations are welcome as well.


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## hat (Jun 3, 2018)

I'm not sure if this works for anything _outside_ your local network, but at least inside your local network, Plex will direct stream to any device that supports it. It only transcodes as a backup, in case the target device doesn't natively support whatever codecs the file you're streaming are. It also transcodes if you have to burn in subtitles, sometimes soft subtitles don't work properly for some reason so they have to be burned in.

That said, making sure your content is natively compatible with all your devices typically can't happen. I try to transcode all my stuff to HEVC because of the smaller file size, and only the Roku supports it. I don't really stream to anything else, but you've got a lot of devices to cover, so transcoding is probably gonna happen anyway. The good news Plex supports NVENC and Quicksync (not sure if AMD transcoding is supported, doesn't seem to be).

Not sure if you have any hardware laying around, but if you're buying all new, I suggest the i3 8100, 2x4GB of the cheapest DDR4 you can find, any H370 board, or even H310 board if you're okay with software RAID... this power supply is pretty good... The graphics chip on that i3 8100 is the newest available from Intel with the latest version of Quicksync. It even works for transcoding HEVC, but I'm not sure how many streams it can handle simultaneously... 

Most onboard RAID supports RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10. Raid 0 is terrible for this case, if one drive goes, you lose everything. Raid 1 is a mirror, so if you RAID 1 two 4TB drives, you still have 4TB. RAID 1 4 4TB drives, you get 8TB. RAID 10 is a RAID 1 of RAID 0 arrays... not really useful unless you need serious _write_ speed. _Read_ speed will still go up with RAID 1. RAID 5 will deduct one drive from your total storage space for parity and thus allow you to sustain one drive failure, but it's not recommended anymore with the size of today's hard drives. Hard drives are getting so large these days you run the risk of running into a URE (Unrecoverable Read Error) in the event one of your drives does die and you replace it and rebuild the array... if that happens, your data is toast. RAID 6 solves that problem for now, until hard drives get too big for even RAID 6, but it's not really available outside of hardware RAID cards, which are expensive. In short, your best bet would be to stick with RAID 1. However much storage you need, buy two of that drive.


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## ddbtkd456 (Jun 3, 2018)

hat said:


> I'm not sure if this works for anything _outside_ your local network, but at least inside your local network, Plex will direct stream to any device that supports it. It only transcodes as a backup, in case the target device doesn't natively support whatever codecs the file you're streaming are. It also transcodes if you have to burn in subtitles, sometimes soft subtitles don't work properly for some reason so they have to be burned in.
> 
> That said, making sure your content is natively compatible with all your devices typically can't happen. I try to transcode all my stuff to HEVC because of the smaller file size, and only the Roku supports it. I don't really stream to anything else, but you've got a lot of devices to cover, so transcoding is probably gonna happen anyway. The good news Plex supports NVENC and Quicksync (not sure if AMD transcoding is supported, doesn't seem to be).
> 
> ...



Thanks for the information so if I am understanding this correctly, AMD isn't very good when transcoding? I was going to stick a Ryzen 5 in there since it has a 14,000 passmark. I could always eat the price and do an i5/i7. Your thoughts?


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## hat (Jun 3, 2018)

Not at all. A ryzen 5 is a pretty beefy chip for transcoding. What I was suggesting was encoding by GPU, with the i3 8100. The integrated graphics supports Quicksync, and it's come a long way since its debut on Sandy Bridge. The i3 8100 is a cheap chip too, cheaper than the r5 1600 anyway. My only hangup on this is I don't know how many streams that could handle at once.

I mentioned AMD because while they do have a GPU encoding solution, Plex doesn't seem to support it. That doesn't make it bad, it just makes it not supported by this particular application. Typically this would be done with a Radeon card, though there are some AMD chips with integrated GPU, the "big" CPUs, such as the r5 1600, don't have it. All standard Intel chips do, though, until you get into HEDT territory (x299).

I'm unsure if the HD 630 can support that many streams though. If you do end up going with software encoding by CPU (not using GPU encoding like Quicksync or NVENC), then I'd steer you towards Ryzen. The latest AMD chips won't beat Intel in gaming, but heavy multithreaded workloads, like this, is where they really shine. They still won't beat Intel when comparing chips with the same amount of cores, but nobody can argue they're not the best bang for the buck... a Ryzen 1700 costs $50 less than the i7 8700 and will blow it out of the water in threaded applications.

What we really need to determine is if the graphics chip in the i3 8100 is good enough to do 6 1080p streams at once. If so, you can get that. If not, I'd recommend the Ryzen 1700. It's a really beefy 8 core chip that would eat this kind of wordload for breakfast, but pricier than the 8100, and (slightly) more power hungry.


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Jun 3, 2018)

hat said:


> I'm not sure if this works for anything _outside_ your local network, but at least inside your local network


It will. You can watch it on your phone or any device that can get internet outside your local network. You just have to forward some ports and junk. Plex has a guide on their website on how to do this.

I have a Synology nas that supports plex and run it straight off of that and have my tv shows, movies, and file backups located on that. So long as someone has an account setup to access your Plex server, they can watch it wherever they want.

Check out my guide linked in my sig for RAID and what their best use is/are. May be of some help. Id recommend RAID 5.


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## hat (Jun 3, 2018)

CrAsHnBuRnXp said:


> It will. You can watch it on your phone or any device that can get internet outside your local network. You just have to forward some ports and junk. Plex has a guide on their website on how to do this.
> 
> I have a Synology nas that supports plex and run it straight off of that and have my tv shows, movies, and file backups located on that. So long as someone has an account setup to access your Plex server, they can watch it wherever they want.
> 
> Check out my guide linked in my sig for RAID and what their best use is/are. May be of some help. Id recommend RAID 5.


I feel I must re-affirm here that I *would not* recommend RAID 5 for this application. When dealing with large drives, and the more of them you have, the risk of hitting a URE (unrecoverable read error) in the event a drive fails and you have to rebuild the array increases. Today we have very large drives... should one of his drives fail, I'm afraid he runs a real risk of hitting that URE, thus losing all his data.

RAID 6 mitigates this issue, for now, because it has two parity drives instead of just one. That means it should be able to survive one URE during a rebuild and keep going, because the data that failed to be read can still be found elsewhere. If you hit _two_ URE's though, you're toast, even in a RAID 6 array. That's why even RAID 6 will be only so good for so long, as drive capacities continue to increase and the risk of hitting a URE is even greater.

However, this isn't an issue with RAID 1, because it works differently. In the event of a drive failure, the data doesn't have to be reconstructed, simply remirrored. A URE can happen here and it's not the end of the world. You might lose _that file_, but the entire process isn't halted and your entire data isn't lost.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I understand at the moment. Maybe @newtekie1 can chime in?


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## silkstone (Jun 4, 2018)

hat said:


> Not at all. A ryzen 5 is a pretty beefy chip for transcoding. What I was suggesting was encoding by GPU, with the i3 8100. The integrated graphics supports Quicksync, and it's come a long way since its debut on Sandy Bridge. The i3 8100 is a cheap chip too, cheaper than the r5 1600 anyway. My only hangup on this is I don't know how many streams that could handle at once.
> 
> I mentioned AMD because while they do have a GPU encoding solution, Plex doesn't seem to support it. That doesn't make it bad, it just makes it not supported by this particular application. Typically this would be done with a Radeon card, though there are some AMD chips with integrated GPU, the "big" CPUs, such as the r5 1600, don't have it. All standard Intel chips do, though, until you get into HEDT territory (x299).
> 
> ...



Quicksync and GPU transcoding are only supported if you have a Plex pass. A Ryzen would be a really good choice for the server as it should be able to handle some 4K streams for future use.


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## hat (Jun 4, 2018)

Really? Man, that's lame... :/


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## ddbtkd456 (Jun 4, 2018)

silkstone said:


> Quicksync and GPU transcoding are only supported if you have a Plex pass. A Ryzen would be a really good choice for the server as it should be able to handle some 4K streams for future use.



I do plan on buying the lifetime plex pass when I set this all up. Thanks for the help guys I really appreciate it.


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## insane 360 (Jun 4, 2018)

i got a deal on plex pass through email and couldn't pass it up.  i use an old dell precision t7500 with dual xeon (it serves up a lot of function at the house) and an hdhomerun dual for ota tv.  so far its been great.

even with two streams needing to be transcoded for testing it barely broke a sweat.  i don't worry with gpu transcoding because i've read about it might not be the best quality...that and i don't have a gpu that can do it  

plex is great, lots of updates and active reddit/forum community.  really the only a few things i want, the guide to be a grid for my tv, better commercial detection, and support for audiobooks...otherwise its been a great addition and slowly replacing netflix as our go to streaming, just lots of time ripping all my dvd's and blurays


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## hat (Jun 4, 2018)

I wouldn't use quicksync to permanently transcode a file from one format to another (like a dvdrip, or shrinking a bluray) because the quality is a little lower, but also because the resulting file size is also larger. Software encoding has it beat. But for transcoding a steam, it's fine for me. I also recommend anyone with an Intel system who streams to twitch or something to try it, because it takes the load from the stream encoding away from the rest of the system.


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## silkstone (Jun 4, 2018)

hat said:


> I wouldn't use quicksync to permanently transcode a file from one format to another (like a dvdrip, or shrinking a bluray) because the quality is a little lower, but also because the resulting file size is also larger. Software encoding has it beat. But for transcoding a steam, it's fine for me. I also recommend anyone with an Intel system who streams to twitch or something to try it, because it takes the load from the stream encoding away from the rest of the system.



Agreed. I'd only use it for transcoding too. My house isn't set up for 4k yet and all of my devices support h.264 natively so I just ensure that's what all my media is in. My old 2500k doesn't break a sweat with numerous streams as it is basically just acting as a file server.
You only really need a beefy setup if your media isn't in h.264 or you are going for some 4k streams. I'd get a plex pass anyway to support the project, but I'm waiting to see if I ever get one of those special e-mails.


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## ddbtkd456 (Jun 4, 2018)

hat said:


> I wouldn't use quicksync to permanently transcode a file from one format to another (like a dvdrip, or shrinking a bluray) because the quality is a little lower, but also because the resulting file size is also larger. Software encoding has it beat. But for transcoding a steam, it's fine for me. I also recommend anyone with an Intel system who streams to twitch or something to try it, because it takes the load from the stream encoding away from the rest of the system.



This is what I've come up with. Please note that this is a dual system, so one will primarily be my personal computer, gaming, school, ect. and the other will literally be my plex server/backups for the house, and mass storage. I will be using a dedicated Raid setup for my server running Raid 6 (hopefully). I will also be using a dedicated usb 2.0 switch for the keyboard and mouse so I can switch them back and forth between systems, and I will be switching inputs on the monitor manually. Suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance.

*Playground:*

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

*CPU:* Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor  ($347.00 @ SuperBiiz) 
*CPU Cooler:* Corsair - H60 (2018) 57.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
*Thermal Compound:* Arctic Silver - 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste  ($5.95 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
*Motherboard:* Asus - ROG STRIX Z370-G GAMING (WI-FI AC) Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($178.78 @ Newegg) 
*Memory:* G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($200.98 @ Newegg) 
*Storage:* Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($147.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
*Video Card:* EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB SC Black Edition Video Card  ($829.99 @ Amazon) 
*Case:* Phanteks - Mini XL MicroATX Desktop Case  ($179.05 @ Newegg) 
*Power Supply:* Corsair - Professional 1200W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($209.50 @ Newegg) 
*Optical Drive:* LG - WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer  ($56.89 @ OutletPC) 
*Optical Drive:* LG - WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer  ($56.89 @ OutletPC) 
*Operating System:* Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro Full - USB 32/64-bit  ($188.89 @ OutletPC) 
*Monitor:* Samsung - C32HG70 31.5" 2560x1440 144Hz Monitor  ($597.89 @ OutletPC) 
*Keyboard:* Corsair - K70 RGB RAPIDFIRE Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($119.99 @ Amazon) 
*Mouse:* Corsair - M65 PRO RGB FPS Wired Optical Mouse  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 
*Speakers:* Logitech - Z906 500W 5.1ch Speakers  ($272.40 @ Amazon) 
*Other:* Phanteks SSD Bracket for Single SSD Enthoo Series Cases (PH-SDBKT_01)  ($7.99 @ Amazon) 
*Other:* Ugreen 2 Ports USB 2.0 Teilen Switch 2 In 1 Out Umschalter für Drucker Scanner Schwarz  ($13.99 @ Amazon) 
*Other:* EagleTec HUB3639 USB 2.0, 4 Port Hub (Black Color, Ultra Slim Size 9mm)  ($6.69 @ Amazon) 
*Total:* $3530.84
_Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-04 12:30 EDT-0400_

*Plex Server:*

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

*CPU:* Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor  ($347.00 @ SuperBiiz) 
*CPU Cooler:* Corsair - H115i PRO 55.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($139.99 @ Amazon) 
*Motherboard:* Asus - ROG Strix Z370-I Gaming Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($178.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
*Memory:* G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($200.98 @ Newegg) 
*Storage:* Samsung - 860 Evo 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($79.99 @ Amazon) 
*Storage:* Samsung - 860 Evo 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($249.99 @ Amazon) 
*Storage:* Western Digital - Red 8TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($247.89 @ OutletPC) 
*Storage:* Western Digital - Red 8TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($247.89 @ OutletPC) 
*Storage:* Western Digital - Red 8TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($247.89 @ OutletPC) 
*Storage:* Western Digital - Red 8TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($247.89 @ OutletPC) 
*Storage:* Western Digital - Red 8TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($247.89 @ OutletPC) 
*Storage:* Western Digital - Red 8TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($247.89 @ OutletPC) 
*Case:* Phanteks - Mini XL MicroATX Desktop Case  ($0.00) 
*Operating System:* Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro Full - USB 32/64-bit  ($188.89 @ OutletPC) 
*Other:* LSI LOGIC MegaRAID SAS 9266-8i Storage Controller LSI00295  ($227.84 @ Amazon) 
*Other:* CableCreation Mini SAS 36Pin (SFF-8087) Male to 4 SATA 7Pin female Cable, Mini SAS Host/Controller to 4 SATA Target/Backplane, 1.0M  ($14.66 @ Amazon) 
*Other:* CableCreation Mini SAS 36Pin (SFF-8087) Male to 4 SATA 7Pin female Cable, Mini SAS Host/Controller to 4 SATA Target/Backplane, 1.0M  ($14.66 @ Amazon) 
*Total:* $3130.33
_Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-04 12:35 EDT-0400_


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## Papahyooie (Jun 4, 2018)

Holy overkill on the Plex server...


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## ddbtkd456 (Jun 4, 2018)

Papahyooie said:


> Holy overkill on the Plex server...



Would rather be safe the sorry, besides I need something with at least 12000 passmark, and integrated graphics so I don't have to run a separate graphics card as well.


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Jun 4, 2018)

For the price of that plex server you built, you might as well buy a really nice synology NAS, put it in RAID 6 and install the plex plug in.

https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/DS1618+
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CR8RZYY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M1BUBSO/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 (x6)
https://www.synology.com/en-us/support/RAID_calculator?hdds=8 TB|8 TB|8 TB|8 TB|8 TB|8 TB

You can upgrade the ram up to 32GB, has a quad core CPU in it, and you have the option to have 1-2 m.2 drives for caching.

This would be your best option and probably save you a lot more.


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## Toothless (Jun 4, 2018)

1200w PSU for a system that won't pull even 600w. Man you are spending way too much money on this. 

First of all if you think of saving your games on your "plex server" to run on your primary, you'll going to be sorry for loading times IF they load at all. Follow the post above me and put some real storage in your primary.  A friend of mine runs his plex off his desktop and has all his stuff on a NAS that's connected to his router. 

*https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LJQzP3*

On board storage because you're going to shoot yourself in the foot with just a 500GB SSD. Follow @CrAsHnBuRnXp 's advice and just get a plug in NAS. You're way overthinking this and overspending for no reason at all.


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Jun 4, 2018)

Im not going to lie, this thread is making me think what i would do technology wise in a new house I would build and my storage solutions.


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## silkstone (Jun 5, 2018)

ddbtkd456 said:


> This is what I've come up with. Please note that this is a dual system, so one will primarily be my personal computer, gaming, school, ect. and the other will literally be my plex server/backups for the house, and mass storage. I will be using a dedicated Raid setup for my server running Raid 6 (hopefully). I will also be using a dedicated usb 2.0 switch for the keyboard and mouse so I can switch them back and forth between systems, and I will be switching inputs on the monitor manually. Suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance.
> 
> *Plex Server:*
> 
> ...



You can put the Plex server anywhere you want and just remote connect into it. If you really want a project, then I'd recommend going the ubuntu server route. There's no need to spend on Windows 10 for a NAS. Plex does not take much RAM. If you stick to windows 10, then 8gb is plenty, with ubuntu, 4gb is fine. Use some of the money you save and buy a plex pass to get quicksync and you can go with a lesser CPU.


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## ddbtkd456 (Jun 5, 2018)

Toothless said:


> 1200w PSU for a system that won't pull even 600w. Man you are spending way too much money on this.
> 
> First of all if you think of saving your games on your "plex server" to run on your primary, you'll going to be sorry for loading times IF they load at all. Follow the post above me and put some real storage in your primary.  A friend of mine runs his plex off his desktop and has all his stuff on a NAS that's connected to his router.
> 
> ...



So use the NAS for storage of movies, pictures, backups, and file centralization? Main computer for ripping, encoding, gaming, ect?



CrAsHnBuRnXp said:


> Im not going to lie, this thread is making me think what i would do technology wise in a new house I would build and my storage solutions.



What would you do?


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Jun 5, 2018)

ddbtkd456 said:


> So use the NAS for storage of movies, pictures, backups, and file centralization? Main computer for ripping, encoding, gaming, ect?


Yes.



ddbtkd456 said:


> What would you do?


Id probably build a server rack and route all my networking gear inside of it including  a rackmountable NAS from synology and max it out with 12TB hdds for an ungodly amount of storage space. Put in a dedicated server running ubuntu and have it running BOINC 24/7. Have everything in the server rack hooked up to a UPS in the rack for proper power management. Install a ubiquity network. Just to name a few things.


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## ddbtkd456 (Jun 5, 2018)

CrAsHnBuRnXp said:


> Yes.
> 
> 
> Id probably build a server rack and route all my networking gear inside of it including  a rackmountable NAS from synology and max it out with 12TB hdds for an ungodly amount of storage space. Put in a dedicated server running ubuntu and have it running BOINC 24/7. Have everything in the server rack hooked up to a UPS in the rack for proper power management. Install a ubiquity network. Just to name a few things.



I'm afraid, mines not that elaborate. Sounds nice tho.


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## ddbtkd456 (Jun 12, 2018)

Did some editing let me know what you think. Thank you.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

*CPU:* Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor  ($347.00 @ SuperBiiz) 
*CPU Cooler:* Noctua - NH-L9i 33.8 CFM CPU Cooler  ($38.79 @ SuperBiiz) 
*Motherboard:* ASRock - Z370 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($153.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
*Memory:* G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($191.99 @ Newegg Business) 
*Storage:* Western Digital - Red 10TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($324.90 @ Amazon) 
*Storage:* Western Digital - Red 10TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($324.90 @ Amazon) 
*Storage:* Western Digital - Red 10TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($324.90 @ Amazon) 
*Power Supply:* Corsair - 750W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($163.44 @ Amazon) 
*Other:* iStarUSA WN1510 15U 1000mm Depth Rack-mount Server Cabinet  ($822.99 @ Newegg) 
*Other:* iStarUSA D-380HN Black 3U Rackmount Compact 8x 3.5" Bay Trayless  ($365.99 @ Newegg) 
*Other:* TRENDnet TEG-S24G Unmanaged 24-Port Gigabit GREENnet Switch. Limited  ($109.79 @ Amazon) 
*Other:* Unraid Software (Pro) ($129.00)
*Total:* $3297.68
_Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-12 09:26 EDT-0400_


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## las (Jun 12, 2018)

I'd go Ryzen 2700/2700X instead. Faster for transcoding and cooler than 8700K for sure.
You will also be able to slap a 7nm 12-16C/24-32T CPU in the same socket in a year or two, if needed.
If you plan on transcoding several 4K/UHD in the future, this is a nice option to have. I even think 4x 1080p high bitrate streams would make 8700K choke even today. Especially with subs. Plex transcoding with subs takes waaay more CPU power. Especially high quality subs (non-SRT).


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## ddbtkd456 (Jun 12, 2018)

las said:


> I'd go Ryzen 2700/2700X instead. Faster for transcoding and cooler than 8700K for sure.
> You will also be able to slap a 7nm 12-16C/24-32T CPU in the same socket in a year or two, if needed.
> If you plan on transcoding several 4K/UHD in the future, this is a nice option to have.



Really that's really surprising. Thanks for the heads up. Do you think dual xeons or system still?


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## las (Jun 12, 2018)

ddbtkd456 said:


> Really that's really surprising. Thanks for the heads up. Do you think dual xeons or system still?



It all depends on your needs and video bitrate. Plex can be brutal on CPU. Especially with multiple transcodes + subs.
1151 is pretty much a dead end. Maybe the 8C/16T CFL will fit but I would not be suprised if it requires Z390... And 2C/4T more is not groundbreaking. Zen 2-3 should come with up to 16C/32T for AM4. There's also Threadripper if you want more than 8C/16T today (Intel HEDT is too expensive IMO but also an option)

I'd go all out and build a SERVER + Tier 1 Hypervisor.


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## ddbtkd456 (Jun 12, 2018)

las said:


> It all depends on your needs and video bitrate. Plex can be brutal on CPU. Especially with multiple transcodes + subs.
> 1151 is pretty much a dead end. Maybe the 8C/16T CFL will fit but I would not be suprised if it requires Z390... And 2C/4T more is not groundbreaking. Zen 2-3 should come with up to 16C/32T for AM4. There's also Threadripper if you want more than 8C/16T today (Intel HEDT is too expensive IMO but also an option)
> 
> I'd go all out and build a SERVER + Tier 1 Hypervisor.



Thanks for all your input. The goal of this little project is to be a plex server for my household along with friends and family, and to be able to centralize everything in my house and also have a dedicated drive for backups of all electronics in my house. I was aiming for a raid setup at first, but after doing research I found out that unraid might be the way to go (I would go Freenas but I don't get along to much with linux). I want upgradability which is why the 8xhotswap bays are there. I could do threadripper but in a server style case it would be really hard to cool. My main pc is going to have a threadripper in it, however I could downgrade that build and pit the threadripper 1950x in my plex build or a i9 I suppose. And what is a hyoervisor?


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## Jetster (Jun 12, 2018)

If you can set up Unraid you can do FreeNAS  its just as easy. FreeNAS is not Linux. Its based on FreeBSD and ZFS
I have a freeNAS with an i3 and 16 Gb RAM and 5 - 6 Tb drives in a RAIDZ2 (RAID6). Its fast and streams the whole house. Plus a Plex server and multiple VMs
You don't need 6 + cores. But ECC ram would be nice
Plex for outside your network is easy. You dont have to do anything. Its all CPU transcoding as far as I know.
The plex pass gets you multiple accounts and Hardware-Accelerated Streaming, not GPU.  Otherwise its just you that can log in
https://support.plex.tv/articles/115002178853-using-hardware-accelerated-streaming/
I will point out I don't use Plex in the house. Kodi works better for local and does not mess with the quality


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