Plex/NAS/NVR/script runner low power consumption media server

[GoldDragon007]

Hello,

I've looking for a low power consumtion server that can host several things together. First of all, I need to run an NVR software, namely Blue Iris, that requires this:

Intel core i7 with QuickSync for hardware decoding
8GB or more RAM
Microsoft Windows 10 64 bit
nVIDIA graphics adaptor for efficient screen display

 

This wouldn't be hard, i.e. with an intel nuc machine. However I can't put enought storage into the nuc machine to be able to serve as NVR and media server, so I would need a bigger machine or a NAS.

For the media server I would like to be able to serve out 3 devices even with hardware encoding. (4k down to FHD) + I want 10Gbe connection so other files can be moved fast.

 

What is makes it more bad, that I want to run some scripts that triggered by some event, like I send a command with a youtube url to the machine and it downloads the youtune video. Here the problem is that these scripts usually written to Linux, so I may need to run a virtual machine or rewrite the scripts.

 

What I've thinked for is a NAS and a nuc machine, but... Their price in total... Is like for that I may be able to put together a PC... Just I'm affraid the consumtion for a PC will be much higher then the NUC + NAS combo.

Is there a small form factor low consumption PC that can contain around 8 drives for the above purpose? Or my only one choise is this NUC + NAS combo and live with the knowladge that at least doesn't consume that much power? I'm looking for a solution that won't cost a lot in long term.

[Electronics Wizardy]

How many tb do you need?
 

Id probalby get something like a 3600 ryzen chip nd a case like. node 304. That with drives should idle under 50w, and sub 100w when under moderatae load. THen get a gpu to handle some transcoding.

 

  

[GoldDragon007]

The realitiy is this: Idle 62W Single thread load: 99 Multi thread load: 132 (source: https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/amd-ryzen-5-3600-review,7.html) But be honest, it will be never idle because of the NVR functionality.

I've thinked on this AMD + nVidea solution, but... a graphics card can consume 100W just by doing nothing or light work. To operate an around 150-250W machine 24/7, that can double my electricity.

 

I don't want to define TBs. I define 8 slotes (but maybe 10 would be better to be more compareable the two solution), because nowdays you can put in it 2TB and 16TB drives too.

[GoldDragon007]

In the past few weeks I've looked a couple options, and maybe I'm blind or it's hidden or it's really there's no too much choice here.

I've looked also such a configuration like:

Silverstone CS381 as case to keep hotswap
A2SDi-H-TF Motherboard + CPU (I don't think I will opt into A2SDi-H-TP4F)

With this also the video decoding seems to be questionable, however I don't see any info about raid support. However it costs less then the DiskStation DS1817. Also I have no clue what does this DiskStation DS1817 do and what kind of performance it can do with Raid 5, because as far as I see there's no anything about it. I'm assuming that will be also software raid, then my choice is better and probably it doesn't have also video decode support.

 

[Donut417]

On 7/30/2020 at 4:35 AM, GoldDragon007 said:

a graphics card can consume 100W just by doing nothing or light work.

 

On 7/29/2020 at 6:27 PM, GoldDragon007 said:

4k down to FHD)

One thing I want to point out, Transcoding 4K content requires a lot of horse power. So a GPU might not be a bad idea if you want to do that. Otherwise if you running Direct Streams, then each stream shouldn't take much. My i5 3570K handles two 1080i transcodes and a 1080I direct stream at about 20-30% CPU usage, as Im doing software transcoding instead of hardware transcoding. 

 

My Plex server is an i5 3570K, 16 Gigs DDR3, HD7950, and an SSD with the OS on it. My data is stored on a NAS. I think my Plex server idle draws about 120 watts or so. The HD7950 is only in there because this is an old gaming machine and I never took it out. 

[GoldDragon007]

On 8/1/2020 at 1:08 AM, Donut417 said:

My Plex server is an i5 3570K, 16 Gigs DDR3, HD7950, and an SSD with the OS on it. My data is stored on a NAS

Wait, you have a separate PC for Plex? Most of the NASes has addons, why you run a separate PC for this? Is the build-in Plex bad?

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, GoldDragon007 said:

Wait, you have a separate PC for Plex? Most of the NASes has addons, why you run a separate PC for this? Is the build-in Plex bad?

Most of the NAS run on low end hardware. While some can do transcodes I wouldn't expect them to do many. Most can barely do 4K. The only reason I have a NAS is because my first Plex server was on a Laptop and didn't have enough storage. Now I use my old gaming desktop, which does a good job. When I rebuilt my server Ill move my storage to the server directly and finally use my NAS for backups of my systems.