New plex server hardware requirements

[TedM]

Hi everyone, I just recently built myself a basic pc for use as a home media server with plex. I got an intel I7 12700k as the cpu since it was on sale at the time, which has worked great so far  but as more family and friends start to use my server  I want to make sure that my server has the hardware needed to do the encoding and transcoding properly for multiple streams. I am extremely new to this server stuff but wanted to know if I should be looking for a GPU to handle some of the transcoding for it or if the cpu should work fine. Also what GPU people would recommend I use that would have the best balance of low power use as well as efficient transcoding since the server is on 24/7. Thank you for any help you can provide!

[ki8aras]

6 minutes ago, TedM said:

what GPU people would recommend I use that would have the best balance of low power use as well as efficient transcoding since the server is on 24/7.

get an intel arc card

[GuiltySpark_]

You have QuickSync built into that CPU, you can just use that.

 

https://support.plex.tv/articles/115002178853-using-hardware-accelerated-streaming/

[Needfuldoer]

Note that you'll need a Plex Pass subscription to enable hardware encoding, or you'll have to switch to another media library like Jellyfin.