Plex Build Suggestions (Headless PC)

[lieder1987]

Hey Yall,

 

Building a headless Plex Server. I will need it to transcode .mkv 1080p files to an apple TV and xbox one. I know that I need a CPU that has a passmark of 2000 or more so I think I have made a decent choice. Does anyone have any tweaks?

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8zk6sZ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8zk6sZ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i5-2400 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($90.04 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock - H61M-PS4 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard  ($53.35 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($62.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($124.89 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($124.89 @ OutletPC) 
Case: Cooler Master - HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($33.00 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($44.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $534.05
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-26 16:42 EDT-0400

[factorialandha]

24 minutes ago, lieder1987 said:

Hey Yall,

 

Building a headless Plex Server. I will need it to transcode .mkv 1080p files to an apple TV and xbox one. I know that I need a CPU that has a passmark of 2000 or more so I think I have made a decent choice. Does anyone have any tweaks?

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8zk6sZ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8zk6sZ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i5-2400 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($90.04 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock - H61M-PS4 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard  ($53.35 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($62.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($124.89 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($124.89 @ OutletPC) 
Case: Cooler Master - HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($33.00 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($44.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $534.05
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-26 16:42 EDT-0400

This looks good, im not sure how transcoding decides to work, eg does it generate a new file somewhere, or is it purely in memory, it might be worth adding another 8gb of memory just to have a bigger buffer in memory for large files that need transcoding? monitoring my memory usage while transcoding a large 4k file, i get around a 5% jump in memory usage (i have 16gb and im running at 50% right now, with it still climbing. so id definitely recommend 16gb of memory based of my basic test, and a small SSD might help for your OS, if you plan to purely use it as a plex server, you could get away with a 128 SSD also keeps your OS seperate from your Data (incase of failure and need to reformat / reinstall)

 

oh and bare in mind, im running unraid, running a windows OS will have a higher OS memory footprint most likely. 

[Ramaddil]

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nGFGGG
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nGFGGG/by_merchant/

 

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($142.86 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  ($81.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($44.94 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($124.89 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($124.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GT 710 1GB PCIE x1 Video Card  ($39.99 @ B&H) 
Case: Cooler Master - HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($33.00 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($23.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $676.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-26 19:03 EDT-0400

 

This Build is a little more but Is a newer generation processor with more cores/threads and also a SSD added in there.  The video card is a PCIe X1 just to use for setup and access to Bios.

[79wjd]

5 minutes ago, Ramaddil said:

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nGFGGG
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nGFGGG/by_merchant/

 

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($142.86 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  ($81.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($44.94 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($124.89 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($124.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GT 710 1GB PCIE x1 Video Card  ($39.99 @ B&H) 
Case: Cooler Master - HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($33.00 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($23.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $676.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-26 19:03 EDT-0400

 

This Build is a little more but Is a newer generation processor with more cores/threads and also a SSD added in there.  The video card is a PCIe X1 just to use for setup and access to Bios.

The SSD is completely irrelevant since he can use an OS like FreeNAS or some other light OS that can be ran equally well on a flash drive. 

 

2 hours ago, factorialandha said:

This looks good, im not sure how transcoding decides to work, eg does it generate a new file somewhere, or is it purely in memory, it might be worth adding another 8gb of memory just to have a bigger buffer in memory for large files that need transcoding? monitoring my memory usage while transcoding a large 4k file, i get around a 5% jump in memory usage (i have 16gb and im running at 50% right now, with it still climbing. so id definitely recommend 16gb of memory based of my basic test, and a small SSD might help for your OS, if you plan to purely use it as a plex server, you could get away with a 128 SSD also keeps your OS seperate from your Data (incase of failure and need to reformat / reinstall)

 

oh and bare in mind, im running unraid, running a windows OS will have a higher OS memory footprint most likely. 

8GB is enough for transcoding. I ran my FreeNAS Plex server on a G3250 and 8gb of ram for almost a year. See above in regards to an SSD (FreeNAS for example runs entirely in memory -- it just loads the OS from the flash drive and then just occasionally writes log files). Even if running Windows, or something that can be ran on a flash drive, an SSD still isn't likely worth the cost considering that it should rarely be off being that it's a server (and even in Windows 8gb of RAM should be more than sufficient).

[Ramaddil]

11 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

The SSD is completely irrelevant since he can use an OS like FreeNAS or some other light OS that can be ran equally well on a flash drive. 

 

8GB is enough for transcoding. I ran my FreeNAS Plex server on a G3250 and 8gb of ram for almost a year. See above in regards to an SSD (FreeNAS for example runs entirely in memory -- it just loads the OS from the flash drive and then just occasionally writes log files). Even if running Windows, or something that can be ran on a flash drive, an SSD still isn't likely worth the cost considering that it should rarely be off being that it's a server (and even in Windows 8gb of RAM should be more than sufficient).

This is true it just depends on what os he uses. I use Windows 10 for my plex/home server.  Running Windows 10 on a Flash drive is painfully slow and crazy.  For 40 for a SSD it is worth it.  But yes if he goes with Freenas a Jumpdrive will work.

[lieder1987]

Thanks yall. I plan on running windows 10. I will probably had a cheap 60gb SSD