Plex Media Server

wpirobotbuilder · January 21, 2013

I'm looking to build a new PC as my main work computer, but I would also like to be able to stream media to other devices on my network. My roommate recently got a Roku and it's got impressive 1080p streaming abilities. I would like the ability to use my computer for stuff like gaming while streams are going on, or the ability to have multiple HD streams, so I was thinking about building something with a 3770K and a 660/760 Ti from Nvidia. Can anyone recommend other hardware that would support multiple HD streams?

zahlio · January 21, 2013

To make sure the bandwidth of a normal gigabit connection is not the bottleneck, i would make sure to eather get a network card or a motherboard with more then one gigabit connection.

This is though only if you plan on streaming high quality content or streaming to multiply sources.

What i personally would build was a 3770k, with a 660 Ti and a "normal" motherboard (only with only one gigabit port.) and then get my self a fine network card, maybe something like: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006HX1V/ref=asc_df_B00006HX1V2358502?smid=A2UCK9QOI400BS&tag=nextagusmp0359840-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395105&creativeASIN=B00006HX1V

or even with more ports then 2, really depends on how much you wish to stream and how high the quality is of the videos.

wpirobotbuilder · January 21, 2013

To make sure the bandwidth of a normal gigabit connection is not the bottleneck, i would make sure to eather get a network card or a motherboard with more then one gigabit connection.
This is though only if you plan on streaming high quality content or streaming to multiply sources.

What i personally would build was a 3770k, with a 660 Ti and a "normal" motherboard (only with only one gigabit port.) and then get my self a fine network card, maybe something like: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006HX1V/ref=asc_df_B00006HX1V2358502?smid=A2UCK9QOI400BS&tag=nextagusmp0359840-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395105&creativeASIN=B00006HX1V

or even with more ports then 2, really depends on how much you wish to stream and how high the quality is of the videos.

Even the highest quality the Roku can stream is 20 Mbps, which is very high quality video. I could probably run five streams at that quality over gigabit and not notice much of a difference. I'm more concerned about the computer it's all running on being able to transmit the data fast enough (for instance, going with a raid 0 config so the hardware can serve up data fast enough. An SSD isn't an option because I need capacities in the terabytes, but a multi-drive raid 0 with backup seems like a fine configuration

zahlio · January 22, 2013

To make sure the bandwidth of a normal gigabit connection is not the bottleneck, i would make sure to eather get a network card or a motherboard with more then one gigabit connection.
This is though only if you plan on streaming high quality content or streaming to multiply sources.

What i personally would build was a 3770k, with a 660 Ti and a "normal" motherboard (only with only one gigabit port.) and then get my self a fine network card, maybe something like: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006HX1V/ref=asc_df_B00006HX1V2358502?smid=A2UCK9QOI400BS&tag=nextagusmp0359840-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395105&creativeASIN=B00006HX1V

or even with more ports then 2, really depends on how much you wish to stream and how high the quality is of the videos.

Even the highest quality the Roku can stream is 20 Mbps' date=' which is very high quality video. I could probably run five streams at that quality over gigabit and not notice much of a difference. I'm more concerned about the computer it's all running on being able to transmit the data fast enough (for instance, going with a raid 0 config so the hardware can serve up data fast enough. An SSD isn't an option because I need capacities in the terabytes, but a multi-drive raid 0 with backup seems like a fine configuration[/quote']
Well didnt even think about the storage. Get a raid 0 of some 2 tb drives and i think it should be more then fine. Or else you could just stream every video from a different HDD :P thats just a little ghetto :)