What GPU for plex server? (intel?)

[Psittac]

Looking to buy a gpu for my upcoming server which will have Plex on it.

 

I'm looking for power efficiency while idle and optimal performance when transcoding.

 

The A770 16gb looks attractive but wanted to check here first.

 

*my friend has an A380 that I could upgrade him to an A770

[Agall]

4 minutes ago, Psittac said:

Looking to buy a gpu for my upcoming server which will have Plex on it.

 

I'm looking for power efficiency while idle and optimal performance when transcoding.

 

The A770 16gb looks attractive but wanted to check here first.

 

*my friend has an A380 that I could upgrade him to an A770

Not sure if Plex supports Intel's Arc encode/decode yet, if you are looking at an Arc GPU, just absolutely make sure your system can do ReBAR. They say its a massive performance increase, but on a 3950x system, I experienced driver crashes and BSODs without ReBAR enabled.

 

Otherwise, the absolute GOAT for this are old GTX 1000/1600 series cards or for new cards the RTX 3050 6GB or 8GB.  There's even low profile no AUX power options for the 6GB if that's required.

[LIGISTX]

7 minutes ago, Psittac said:

Looking to buy a gpu for my upcoming server which will have Plex on it.

 

I'm looking for power efficiency while idle and optimal performance when transcoding.

 

The A770 16gb looks attractive but wanted to check here first.

 

*my friend has an A380 that I could upgrade him to an A770

Do you for sure need a GPU? You know you need to transcode? 
 

As an example, I ONLY watch content via direct play streaming with plex. I don’t transcode at all since it reduces quality… and without transcoding you can run plex on a potato and doesn’t need a GPU.  

[Psittac]

5 minutes ago, Agall said:

Not sure if Plex supports Intel's Arc encode/decode yet, if you are looking at an Arc GPU, just absolutely make sure your system can do ReBAR. They say its a massive performance increase, but on a 3950x system, I experienced driver crashes and BSODs without ReBAR enabled.

 

Otherwise, the absolute GOAT for this are old GTX 1000/1600 series cards or for new cards the RTX 3050 6GB or 8GB.  There's even low profile no AUX power options for the 6GB if that's required.

I was told in another post to look at the intel series, and a video I just watched said that the A310 is great for transcoding so I'm assuming it'll work?  I'll have to dig deeper.  It's going to be a 5950x so rebar should be able to enable.  I do have a system with a gtx1070 in it that I'm not using but it's a water cooled system.  I'm guessing I should just finish parting it out and drain the loop so I can have the 1070 from it.

 

5 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

Do you for sure need a GPU? You know you need to transcode? 
 

As an example, I ONLY watch content via direct play streaming with plex. I don’t transcode at all since it reduces quality… and without transcoding you can run plex on a potato and doesn’t need a GPU.  

When I get my server running again it'll be hosting for my family members so to save my data cap I'd prefer to transcode.

 

 

 

Out of 1070 2080s a380 a310 and a770 which would make the most sense?  The first three I have easy access to, the last two would have to be purchased

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, Agall said:

Not sure if Plex supports Intel's Arc encode/decode yet, if you are looking at an Arc GPU, just absolutely make sure your system can do ReBAR. They say its a massive performance increase, but on a 3950x system, I experienced driver crashes and BSODs without ReBAR enabled.

it can. I also haven't seen signifant differences with Rebar with transcoding workloads.

 

1 hour ago, Psittac said:

I was told in another post to look at the intel series, and a video I just watched said that the A310 is great for transcoding so I'm assuming it'll work?  I'll have to dig deeper.  It's going to be a 5950x so rebar should be able to enable.  I do have a system with a gtx1070 in it that I'm not using but it's a water cooled system.  I'm guessing I should just finish parting it out and drain the loop so I can have the 1070 from it.

to my knowledge all the arc a series chips hae the same encoding core, so a low end part is plenty here.

 

I'd guess the 5950x can handle a lot of streams alone, so are you maxing out your CPU now?

 

Do you need to use a 5950x? A iGPU will be much faster than any of these GPUs and use even less power.

[Bersella AI]

The current Arc GPU series are power-hungry even in idle, as documented in TechPowerup reviews (A380 & A750). Unless you need such massive computing power for tasks other than transcoding, it would be better to pick up an Intel processor with an integrated GPU, when power efficiency really matters.

[Needfuldoer]

I run a Quadro P2200, it works fine. (And I didn't have to jump through a bunch of hoops to work around the artificial NVENC session limit they impose on GeForce cards.)

[Retrodex Gaming]

Jumping on with a Quadro P200 I use for trasncoding. For 4 streams, all 1080p HEVC it runs great, sips power and fits in a tiny chassis.