Which CPU out of the three I have would be best for a Plex Server?

[Just Another Tech Guy]

I’m getting ready to build a Plex server with some components I have at my disposal. I’m just not sure what would best the best CPU out of the three I have.

I have an i7 7820x / X299 mobo, an Xeon W-2140b / c422 mobo or an i7 8700k / Z370 mobo to choose from.

I have more RAM for the c422 motherboard. 64GB as opposed to 32GB for the other two motherboards, if that matters.

Video cards to choose from are either an NVIDIA GTX 1060 3GB or GTX 1070.

From the research I’ve done so far I’m leaning towards the 8700k with no NVIDIA card due to Intel quick sync but I’m not sure if that is the best combo.

Any suggestions on which combination would be best?

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

6 minutes ago, Just Another Tech Guy said:

From the research I’ve done so far I’m leaning towards the 8700k with no NVIDIA card

That's what I'd do. Lower energy usage this way, and the streams should all be identical.

[jaslion]

How many people/streams would be done on the system at a time? That is the major thing that decides which one is good for use. If it's just you then the 8700k is fine but if it's you and 3-4 friends then the higher core count cpu's would be nicer.

[Dedayog]

I use a Ryzen 1600 for Plex and it can do 6+ streams concurrently without any load issues.

 

8700K is overkill, over 8GB RAM is overkill, ANY video card is overkill.

 

Plex runs on a calculator from 1965.   

[NelizMastr]

If you're looking to leverage hardware accelerated transcoding, the i7 is the way to go as it has Quicksync.

You'll need a Plex pass for it to work, but it relieves a good bit of strain from your CPU.

 

I have a Quadro P600 for transcoding in a VM with 2 CPU cores on VMware ESXi. The P1000 will give you unlimited transcodes (until 100% GPU usage of course),

whereas the P600/P620 can do 2 streams up to 4K.

[Donut417]

On 9/16/2020 at 10:33 AM, Dedayog said:

Plex runs on a calculator from 1965.   

Not if your transcoding. Intel iGPUs work perfect for this. 

[Dedayog]

11 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Not if your transcoding. Intel iGPUs work perfect for this. 

Who really transcodes?  Download movies from *censored*, watch them.

 

Is life really all that hard?

[Donut417]

2 hours ago, Dedayog said:

Who really transcodes? 

Transcoding happens when the file is not in a correct format for the device your streaming to. A great example, here in the US OTA TV is broadcasted in MPEG2, Roku sticks, dont do MPEG2. So every time my parents want to use Plex to watch Live TV via our antenna, the server has to transcode it. While your CPU can do the job, Intel's iGPU uses quick sync tech that suppose to do it better, as in you can buy a lower CPU and use the GPU for your transcoding. While transcoding is not ideal, Plex does it on the fly which means It can and will be done by many. 

 

2 hours ago, Dedayog said:

Download movies from *censored*, watch them.

Well firstly thats Illegal. Secondly some of us use our Plex servers for Whole Home DVR's. 

[Jarsky]

4 hours ago, Dedayog said:

Who really transcodes?  Download movies from *censored*, watch them.

 

Is life really all that hard?

I do plenty of transcoding for the half dozen people that use my Plex Server...