What kind of hardware do i need for a plex server with 10 users

[Keanan92]

Hi guys. So i have a 6 core i5-10400f in a server. I currently use it as a NAS and a plex server. but with only 2 users at the moment. I have been getting many requests from family and friends to let them join. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what kind of hardware i would need to scale up to that point. Does any one know if nvidia still limits the transcoding to 2 at a time?

[Dedayog]

1 minute ago, Keanan92 said:

Hi guys. So i have a 6 core i5-10400f in a server. I currently use it as a NAS and a plex server. but with only 2 users at the moment. I have been getting many requests from family and friends to let them join. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what kind of hardware i would need to scale up to that point. Does any one know if nvidia still limits the transcoding to 2 at a time?

With the specs in my sig, I've done 4 simultaneous streams at the same time (even without a GPU even).  Very little impact on CPU or RAM usage, Plex is ridiculously light.

 

I think you're fine with what you to start.  I'd try that and then see if you need more, but I doubt you would.

[Keanan92]

13 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

With the specs in my sig, I've done 4 simultaneous streams at the same time (even without a GPU even).  Very little impact on CPU or RAM usage, Plex is ridiculously light.

 

I think you're fine with what you to start.  I'd try that and then see if you need more, but I doubt you would.

Thanks man. Currently with the CPU transcoding with 2 streams we hit 85%. but it jumps up and then falls often when transcoding.  

[Dedayog]

6 minutes ago, Keanan92 said:

Thanks man. Currently with the CPU transcoding with 2 streams we hit 85%. but it jumps up and then falls often when transcoding.  

Really?  With my Ryzen 1600 I was sub 20% usage, and RAM usage was like under 1GB. 

 

Check your settings.  IMO, I let my TV do the upscaling rather than try to push all that.  Especially if your users are not on your network, they'll run into download issues on their end trying to pull fat streams.  It's not like Netflix or Amazon Prime, Plex isnt optimized THAT well yet.

 

 

[tikker]

59 minutes ago, Keanan92 said:

Thanks man. Currently with the CPU transcoding with 2 streams we hit 85%. but it jumps up and then falls often when transcoding.  

Depending on the content you intend to serve it may also be worth looking into "Optimizing" as Plex calls it. Store everything in a format and codec that the devices understand natively (like h264, mp4, stereo, bitrate suitable for your upload speed) so that it can Direct Play or Direct Stream (only transcoding audio / changing container format) at least if that's possible over remote access. CPU usage will drop to nearly 0 if you can do that.

[Blue4130]

@Keanan92 if after doing what everyone else suggests, slothTV on YouTube did a benchmark video with cpu vs low end quadro card (I don't recall the specific card, but it was in the $100 to 200 range, not the $2000 range) he was able to get north of 20 concurrent streams with the quadro. 

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Servers and NAS

[Pixel5]

if you got a plex pass the obvious solution would be to simply swap to a CPU that has an iGPU like the 10400 or even just an 10100

 

both will transcode over 20 1080p streams at the same time easily.