Plex Media Server... what is still required for this set-up?

[jeffersonmouze]

Hi,

 

I am new to this forum and I already like it. I have been watching the youtube channel for a while now but I have never considered using the forum.

 

I have a question about a server that I want to build. I have been running Plex Media Server for a while on a thin client now. And surprisingly enough, it runs out pretty good.
It is not the best set-up but, as long as it works, you do not hear me complaining.

 

However, I now want to stream UHD content but unfortunately this system can not handle that.

I have upgraded my PC and therefore I have parts that I want to use in my new server.

 

Motherboard - M5A97 R2.0 (without onboard graphics)
CPU - AMD FX-6300 Six-Core (3.5Ghz)
DRAM - Vengeance LP Memory 16GB 1866MHz CL10 DDR3
PSU - Cooler Master MasterWatt Lite 500

 

I would like to know if a video card is required for a headless PMS. And if so, which one?

If necessary, I was thinking of a cheap card like the MSI GT 710 2GD3H H2D. Is this good enough besides the CPU to transcode UHD?

[Tsuki]

you can actually run plex server on a raspberry pi, as long as you dont need it to do any encoding.

 

follow these guidelines

https://support.plex.tv/articles/200375666-plex-media-server-requirements/
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201774043-what-kind-of-cpu-do-i-need-for-my-server/

[LahryMusic]

Very roughly speaking, for a single full-transcode of a video, the following PassMark score requirements are a good guideline for the following average source file:

• 4K HDR (50Mbps, 10-bit HEVC) file: 17000 PassMark score (being transcoded to 10Mbps 1080p)
• 4K SDR (40Mbps, 8-bit HEVC) file: 12000 PassMark score (being transcoded to 10Mbps 1080p)
• 1080p (10Mbps, H.264) file: 2000 PassMark score
• 720p (4Mbps, H.264) file: 1500 PassMark score

The CPU Benchmark website is a good resource to see what sort of PassMark score a particular processor received.

 

This is what I based my Plex build off of. I dont do any 4k transcoding in my environment yet thought.

[jeffersonmouze]

Thanks for the quick replie guys,

I just do not really understand if a video card is mandatory as my motherboard does not support graphics.

A raspberry, for example, has a video output. So images are generated somewhere right?

And what about hardware acceleration? can I add the passmark of a GPU to the CPU to still meet the requirement?

[WereCatf]

34 minutes ago, jeffersonmouze said:

If necessary, I was thinking of a cheap card like the MSI GT 710 2GD3H H2D. Is this good enough besides the CPU to transcode UHD?

The GT710 is entirely useless wrt. Plex, since it doesn't have the hardware to do encoding of video. You need a GTX-card for that, not GT.

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, jeffersonmouze said:

can I add the passmark of a GPU to the CPU

No, it doesn't work like that.

[jeffersonmouze]

1 minute ago, WereCatf said:

The GT710 is entirely useless wrt. Plex, since it doesn't have the hardware to do encoding of video. You need a GTX-card for that, not GT.

 

haha ok... That sounds fair

Do you think a GTX 760 will do the trick?

[WereCatf]

3 minutes ago, jeffersonmouze said:

Do you think a GTX 760 will do the trick?

Well, it'll work for 1080p and less, but, as far as I know, it can't do 4K.

[jeffersonmouze]

Ok this was very helpful. Thanks. I think the only solution for me is to use direct play as much as possible to avoid transcoding.

Thanks again everyone.

[Tsuki]

20 hours ago, jeffersonmouze said:

Ok this was very helpful. Thanks. I think the only solution for me is to use direct play as much as possible to avoid transcoding.

Thanks again everyone.

just check the compatibilty of your devices for the type of media.  i wanted to do direct play only, but found out, that my TV doesnt support the same encoding as my Roku. which would mean that i need multiple copies of each movie/show in order for direct play to work all the time. too much hassle to preencode multiples of everything so i just do live transcoding(which works in my case since i have the hardware to do it)