Plex server upgrade options

[Sicko65]

Hello all! with current world events and am now letting more people(roughly 6-8) get on my plex server. I'm currently running a very basic setup which is an "atomic pi" with Atom x5- Z8350 and 8tb external desktop hdd. I have a dell 9010 with i7 3770 w/ rtx 2060 I was planning to sell however I'm not sure if It would be a good option for plex or just build a r5 1600af with more drive bays. Selling the 2060 and running the Dell is an option as well. I'm just tossing around ideas. The little atomic pi seems to do fairly well but I'm running out of space and it only has 1 usb 3.0 port and I'm afraid of the potential issues if I have to use a USB hub. 

 

Thanks in advance

-Logan

[johnny5c]

For the last 5 years I was using a desktop with a i7 2600 for a Plex server but recently moved to a QNAP NAS and honestly I wish I would've done it sooner.  Besides using less than half the power it's a lot more stable and easy to setup plus can handle some transcoding.  I'm running a TS-451+ with 4X 8GB WD Reds and have around 22TB usable space in RAID 5.

 

https://www.amazon.com/QNAP-TS-451-2G-US-Quad-Core-Transcoding/dp/B015VNLGF8/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&imprToken=l6f1QhTCmNCC0j1VDay08Q&keywords=Plex+NAS&linkCode=w61&linkId=e52b8bb948cf9b580fc2b11b078828f7&qid=1586065373&slotNum=9&sr=8-10

[Sicko65]

2 hours ago, johnny5c said:

For the last 5 years I was using a desktop with a i7 2600 for a Plex server but recently moved to a QNAP NAS and honestly I wish I would've done it sooner.  Besides using less than half the power it's a lot more stable and easy to setup plus can handle some transcoding.  I'm running a TS-451+ with 4X 8GB WD Reds and have around 22TB usable space in RAID 5.

 

https://www.amazon.com/QNAP-TS-451-2G-US-Quad-Core-Transcoding/dp/B015VNLGF8/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&imprToken=l6f1QhTCmNCC0j1VDay08Q&keywords=Plex+NAS&linkCode=w61&linkId=e52b8bb948cf9b580fc2b11b078828f7&qid=1586065373&slotNum=9&sr=8-1

That seems like a viable option however wouldn't something like an Asrock J4005 or j4105 in a fractal core 500 perform better at potentially lower cost and similar power draw? Realistically I direct play most content and with my upstream internet speed is 300-360Mbps so I would struggle to saturate that I would think.

[johnny5c]

19 hours ago, Sicko65 said:

That seems like a viable option however wouldn't something like an Asrock J4005 or j4105 in a fractal core 500 perform better at potentially lower cost and similar power draw? Realistically I direct play most content and with my upstream internet speed is 300-360Mbps so I would struggle to saturate that I would think.

That's something I did look into because I always prefer building over buying but the issue I was seeing is that a lot of people have trouble with SATA/RAID cards on the embedded motherboards and with most only having 2x SATA it was a deal breaker for me.  The main reason I recommend the QNAP is the software, Plex runs flawlessly on their QTS OS and is painless to setup and update from their app store plus the remote management app is really convenient for when you're not near a PC.

 

The cheapest option and probably most efficient would be a NVIDIA Shield Pro and a second external drive, my brother has one and it makes a great Plex server.

[Jarsky]

You could do hardware transcoding of h264 & h265 using a 7th Gen Intel or later, or a Ryzen with Vega graphics (e.g 3400g). You could also use an Nvidia GTX1050Ti or higher GPU using a Driver workaround for unlimited transcodes (theyre limited to 2 by default).

 

Hardware transcoding takes most of the stress off the CPU, so you can literally run a dozen transcodes simultaneously off something as low as an i3. 

[dnmynatt]

Where to start... I am designing my new system (having given my old one to my son).  On my old one I had Plex Server installed on Windows 10, but was streaming from a EX4100 and a EX2 Ultra (I gave those to my son also).  What I want to do in my new system is stream from an HDD RAID (up to 8x HDD), maybe in RAID 10, with Plex installed on my Windows 10. I'm going to build this in a Fractal Design Define R7 case. 

So, what HDD would be best suited for this? I was thinking WD RED.

[Jarsky]

RAID10 is a waste of space for Plex. I'd go with a RAID6 setup. If using Windows 10, since high port RAID cards get expensive i'd use Storage Spaces. 

As far as disks, I find Ironwolf's are generally better value, theyre about ~$40 cheaper which adds up over 10 disks. 

[dnmynatt]

Thanks!