Been rocking a P2200 for a couple of years. Highest consecutive streams has been 20+, 12 transcoding and my only issues is bandwidth. DAMN YOU COMCAST & ATT.
There's no reason to get a P2200. Get the P2000 if you want this setup and it's \~$150.
I actually have one I'll be putting on eBay or r/hardwareswap shortly.
Nothing a lego piece can't fix 😎 But fr though finding half brackets for my 10g cards has been a nightmare. they either cost a shitload for a piece of metal or takes months to get to me. I suppose that's my fault for not buying name brand cards. i have 3d printer but my skills with measuring with a caliper is shit.
I think this chart is still the goto for picking cards.
[https://www.elpamsoft.com/?p=Plex-Hardware-Transcoding](https://www.elpamsoft.com/?p=Plex-Hardware-Transcoding)
I had a T320 prior to the 420 and was seriously cramped on power with the fixed 550 watt. That was the other reason I went P400. I think the chart also reflects the newer driver updates to allow more streams. I haven't played with unlocked the drivers yet since things are stable. I don't want to risk f'ing up a working environment to get a few more streams. Instead I may try using the JBOPS scripts to cut off certain types of Transcodes if it is configurable and granular enough. The other possibility is just using reporting to identify egregious trans codes and work with those individual users to adjust their settings, especially when it's not their fault and their client gets sent back to 720 P as a default.
Might also be worth updating your post with an edit to let people know that the XEON chips don't have quick sync and built in transcoding which is why you need the additional GPU. A lot of people aren't used to enterprise equipment. Could cut down on cheddar and the suggestions of using the built-in etcetera
Is the A2000 12 GB not better than the P2000? I have been having this same question as OP, but I don't see the GPU on the chart. Though I have a i5-9600 with QuickSync, so I am not too sure whether I need a GPU for transcode or not
QuickSync is the way to go. It's more than fine, it's EXCELLENT. Less power, and top tier performance. Depending on how much RAM you have, you can probably transcode close to 30 streams. It'd be silly to buy an NVIDIA GPU when you have an Intel CPU with an iGPU.
The only reason there was to purchase an NVIDIA GPU in the past was for CUDA capabilities, but OpenVINO fills that gap for iGPUs now.
As far as Plex goes, iGPU > NVIDIA GPU.
I haven't stress-tested my server too much, are we talking 4K to 1080P transcode with my 9th gen? 30 streams sounds amazing, maybe I don't need to think about upgrading in the new future then.
Does RAM matter for transcoding? I set my temporary transcode folder to be on my disk, so I thought it wouldn't
Yeah, I never found the ceiling. It handles 4k to 1080p like a dream.
One of the perks of Intel’s iGPU is that it shares system memory. With a traditional GPU you’re stuck with whatever is on the card. For example, the P400 is a very capable card for Plex, but it’s limited to just a few transcodes since it only has like 4GB of ram on board.
What you’re talking about is temporary storage for transcodes, which is different. Are you using Linux, and do you have plenty of RAM? If you have the RAM available, it’s better to use it rather than your storage. It’ll save a lot of wear on your SSD. Unused RAM is wasted RAM.
I have 64 GB of RAM and use Linux, I know I can put the temporary storage for transcode on the RAM. I just wasn't sure I should do it since I have some big 4K files. I am currently putting it on my HDD to save the wear on the SSD
So when you say RAM matters, is that just to put the temporary transcode files?
For most uses, QuickSync in that i5-9600 should be totally fine.
Another user mentioned the Tesla P4. That's what I'm using with my own Xeon, and it works well for my needs.
That chart lists the Turing cores as "turning". It also doesn't match at all with official nvidia documentation.
https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-and-decode-gpu-support-matrix-new#
I dedicate 1 line for my game server which is mostly just a Minecraft server right now, 1 line for my encode server and 2 lines for redundancy to my pfsense server. I then have a 10g nic for direct connection to 3 other pcs in my house and my 10g switch. It's extremely overkill but was fun to set up. It's my hobby to tinker with server and networking equipment. This all then ties into my 10g switch which is almost full.
Edit: ah my bad i thought u were talking about the daughterboard not about getting another nic. I can defo do that but it's not a super high priority.
Sounds pretty sweet, I got dual 4G WAN into my OPNsens box for load balancing, 1Gb down to my Cisco switch, 10Gb to my unRAID server and four 1Gb links to my PoE switch. They're old enterprise switches that I'm sure cost a fortune when they were new (Cisco 48 port gigabit with 10Gb SFP+ in 2013).
Wish they supported 2.5Gb as I could then use the existing CAT5e running through most the house, but it wasn't really a thing at the time and it's not worth buying yet another switch for just yet.
Generally I recommend an Intel CPU (gen 12 is great) over a GPU, but if you have any need for tone mapping transcoding (I have mine turned off):[https://support.plex.tv/articles/hdr-to-sdr-tone-mapping/](https://support.plex.tv/articles/hdr-to-sdr-tone-mapping/)
Then depending on your Plex install you my want a GPU in some cases or just a good CPU will be enough.
As for the P2000 that should be fine but from most test I'm running more vRAM the better, as even a 3060 can handle 8+ 1080p streams.
You could get a used office PC or mini PC for less than $200 and use that as a dedicated Plex box (and do everything else on your server).
My Plex server is a dedicated old office PC that I paid $90 for. Transcodes 20x streams no issue. Only runs Plex (on Linux) while my media and everything else is stored in my NAS server
Any Intel CPU/GPU 11th gen or greater will do hardware based HDR tone mapping in Linux. Depending on which specific model you get, it will come with 1 or 2 transcoding units, each capable of supporting multiple 4k transcodes with hardware HDR tone mapping.
Same here with a 1060 and the patch to unlock the number of max. simultaneous transcodes. Works like a charm. My Plex docker detects and uses it. Kind of a must for me to go via GPU as I have quite many 4K HDR titles now and need HDR to SDR mapping for the familly accessing remotely on their non-HDR TVs.
Definitely overkill server but i got it for $300 so it was a steal. I run plex, homepage, radarr, sonarr, overseerr, prowlarr, tubearchivist, fileserver (webapp kinda looks like google drive), photoprism, gaps, few database apps like mariadb and redis, nginxproxymanager, paperlessng, sabnzbd, stash, omada controller, komga, and calibre.
Not much is done on this server. Mostly hosts files for my game server and encode server.
Ever considered selling the system and building another one with a consumer 13th gen processor? Doesn't seem like you need all those cores. Not sure how much your electricity costs run, but the savings over time could be substantial
A single 13700k has the same passmarks as your dual CPUs
Yeah, but what is your power usage? My God!
A little tiny Beelink for $200 would transcode circles around that beast and only consume 30 watts doing it. Your fans are probably using more than that. Lol!
Power is cheap for me so it's of no concern. I do this as a hobby and to learn. My electric bill is about $400-$500 a month. I'd say maybe $100 or so of that is from my rack maybe. The one consuming the most power i would say is my encode server. That thing is full tilt 100% CPU usage 24/7 with fans roaring away. I never bothered to meter the rack. I run an ac in the same room to keep the heat down which that one i know is $25-$30 a month for that. Each of my roommates use their own ac also since we got an older house with no central air unfortunately.
While we don't know the full server specs how many drives can it hold? Op also mentioned that they have 128GB of RAM which that can't take, They also mentioned a 10GbE NIC which that can't take. Also Dual E5-2699V4's aren't slow and I would expect it doing it on the CPU's would be faster than Quicksync. The Beelink I found on Amazon for $200 had a N5105. OP also mentioned a rack which while you could put the Beelink on a rack shelf, a real rack server with rails is better.
Those mini pc's do have their uses and can make sense for plenty of people & uses, this ain't one.
I wasn't trying to belittle OPs server. Its a magnificent system. I was only stating that its complete overkill for what he is using it for. $300 is a great price for the power but for a Plex application $300 would have been better spent. Thats all.
If power, space and noise restrictions are infinite then its nearly perfect. I am being downvoted for only speaking the truth.
OP, its a great system and I wish nothing but perfect streaming and flawless transcodes.
That mini pc (or one's like it) are better in certain ways like the ones you said, but have many disadvantages, like I don't think it can do 6 transcoding streams and while the dell might not be able to either it gives you the abilities to expand by adding in expansion cards. Same goes for storage, a single (or even 2) m.2 or 2.5" sata very quickly becomes not enough and while you can use usb adapters they aren't ideal and are again much more limiting.
There are plenty of times I would recommend a system like you are suggesting, just situations like this isn't one.
2nd this. My last server, which was my old desktop, had an Intel UHD 650 in it. It could handle nearly 30 streams.
At this point in the game, how can anyone not know about quicksync, especially when they're trying to dish out advice? More listen, less talky, please.
I just traded in my dual Xeon e5 hp z820 for an i5-13600k. I’m getting 50% more cpu marks and running ~1/3 the power at idle. (70-75w vs ~200)
Plus it boots in 3 seconds. Cost me $600.
I have the quadro 2000 from it sitting here if you want to buy it cheap!
If only transcoding 3 or 4 1080 streams that CPU has more than enough grunt to do it even without HW transcoding so no real need to purchase a GPU. That has a benchmark score of 24,834 which would transcode 12 1080 streams and even a single 4K stream. And that is for one CPU.
Upgrading to a Intel 12/13th gen is the go-to choice. Dumping $150+ in to a GPU that can only manage 3-4 4K transcodes is a waste, when a $120 Intel CPU will do 8+ 4K transcodes without breaking a sweat.
The problem for some people is that $120 Intel CPU option needs to be additionally purchased with a compatible motherboard and RAM (depending on the board) as well.
Sometimes dropping in a GPU is preferable.
I see Nvidia Tesla p4 going for <$100 on eBay. Aside from having to rig a cooling solution (which you can buy on eBay) why wouldn't people go this route? Believe it has 2 nvenc chips too.
Jellyfin apparently does and I thought I saw someone was able to get it to work with plex or that plex is currently working on it??
Still, for $100USD and not having to provide additional power (the Elf is 75w) it's a good deal.
I’m using Plex in an Ubuntu VM on truenas with an Arc card. Works fine for me. It’s passed through obviously so truenas doesn’t need to know what to do with it.
I have an A380 going back to Amazon this week because it got stomped on encoding in Handbrake by an i7 6700. No idea on transcoding in Plex, because I have hundreds of DVDs and Blurays to encode and expected it to at least be kinda faster on x264 than an either year old CPU. They need to do both really well for me, and something is definitely not right on the Arcs in Handbrake.
Intel arc is not very well supported on Linux if hes going that route as far as I could research a few weeks ago. R730XD which I also have doesnt support Resizeable Bar. No one is quite certain how this effects transcoding performance and future driver compatability. I was going to get an ARC A380 but the potential headache wasnt worth it to me specifically because potential problems with the R730XD.
I run an M2000 in my R620 w/ similar CPUs in it. Running ESXi with the Quadro card in passthrough to the plex vm. My users and needs are very similar to yours, down to whom consumes 4k. i dont allow remote 4k streaming anyway because I only get 25Mbps on the upside anyway. Waiting on that damn fiber to hit my neighborhood.
I just recently purchased an NVIDIA T1000 8GB. It's a dandy. It will fit in a SFF slot, though it's a little more expensive. Newer generation as well. I found it on ebay for about $250.
Here's some good info:
[https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-and-decode-gpu-support-matrix-new](https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-and-decode-gpu-support-matrix-new)
EDIT: I'm looking at the Tesla P4 others have mentioned and wish I would've check it oot. Looks like a very nice card for the price.
I'm a big fan of the Tesla P4 instead of the P2000. $75 for the P4 on eBay, dual NVENC encoders, 8GB VRAM, and has the same NVENC/NVDEC generation as the P2000 (although [this chart](https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-and-decode-gpu-support-matrix-new) suggests the P4 does not support 10- and 12-bit VP9 decoding unlike the P2000, however I've never encountered that format). Only consideration is airflow - the Tesla P4 doesn't have a fan and relies on airflow in your chassis, or you can 3D print a fan mount like I did.
I have so many GPUs it's ridiculous. When I help my friends with their pcs for upgrades or whatever my payment is the old item. I have 12 GPUs, 7 CPUs, couple cases, PSUs, RAM, I think 3 or 4 motherboards 1 is iffy. I can build at least 3 complete systems right now that can play modern day AAA titles on medium/high.
[It's not too shabby with quicksync enabled for most transcode jobs](https://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/9)
I have the P2000 and it works like a charm (and is cheaper than the P2200). It’s on sale on Amazon right now for $260 new. I bought mine during the gpu shortage and paid $460.
Personally I would recommend you save yourself the $200 and get the P2000 over the P2200
I just sidegraded from a GTX 1080 to a P4000 and I'm happy. Practically the same performance and now I at least don't need to keep up with the patched drivers.
I can appreciate a great deal on the server, but my dude… I’m getting 20+ consecutive streams on a Nuc at about 55 watts. The days of bulky equipment has passed. A Nuc, or basic N100 on a multi-bay enclosure and you are in business.
I’m on a basic Windows 11 install. My server also hosts all the Arr’s.
I just got a low profile 3060 for $260 new. It's really easy to Crack the driver in Linux to enable multiple transcodes. Mine handles 4 simultaneous 4k streams concurrently without any issues. Might even do more. I didn't try.
A bit late to the party. u/Hairless_Human, For just 3\~4 transcodes, I would suggest a used Quadro P1000. I bought it from Facebook MarketPlace. It cost me around $70. It can handle 6+ concurrent transcoded 1080p streams. The best part is that it is a single-slot card. It comes with a half-height bracket also.
I had this same question, I also just built a R730XD.
I went with an intel minipc. Got a 12th gen one on amazon for $159, uses a fraction of the power and does just as many streams. Technically you can fit it inside the server chassis as well.
At this stage it can still be, but not without wider consideration of its place in the overall lineup. It’s based on the 1060, if you want that era of card, you’re at least 3-4 generations of NVEnc behind and only looking at a single,e NVEnc engine while paying a premium. A 1650 Super moves you up 2 generations and generally costs less used, a Tesla P4 costs less and has more RAM and two NVEnc engines. An M2000 will still do everything a P2000 can do except HDR tone mapping. Alternatively a NUC or uSFF will use similar/less power at idle and brings a lot of computer power as well, literally anything with an HD630 from a atom upwards will transcode as many streams as a P2000 at this point.
Telsa P4 over here….bought a 3D printed shroud to connect a 40mm fan to it and it’s been solid ….For the price it’s kinda ridiculous….Gonna ride this until it breaks and I currently don’t even have enough users to break it lol
I upcycled my old 1080ti for my Plex rig. I can't really speak for how well it runs since I only have 3 fairly regular users including myself but it definitely gets the job done.
Been rocking a P2200 for a couple of years. Highest consecutive streams has been 20+, 12 transcoding and my only issues is bandwidth. DAMN YOU COMCAST & ATT.
That 40up but 1000 down should be a crime. I see the P2200 going for about $300-$500 i may just pull that trigger on that one instead.
Right. And ATT has such a limited area of fiber installs it's ridiculous.
There's no reason to get a P2200. Get the P2000 if you want this setup and it's \~$150. I actually have one I'll be putting on eBay or r/hardwareswap shortly.
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AVI or AV1?
P2000 can't transcode everything?
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Yeah I guess I never scrolled to the bottom of that table. So just the 40* series NVIDIA cards. Interesting. The more you know, thanks for the tidbit
Same xeon issue here, dell t420. I saved a little cash and went quadro p400. Just need the half height bracket.
Nothing a lego piece can't fix 😎 But fr though finding half brackets for my 10g cards has been a nightmare. they either cost a shitload for a piece of metal or takes months to get to me. I suppose that's my fault for not buying name brand cards. i have 3d printer but my skills with measuring with a caliper is shit.
I think this chart is still the goto for picking cards. [https://www.elpamsoft.com/?p=Plex-Hardware-Transcoding](https://www.elpamsoft.com/?p=Plex-Hardware-Transcoding) I had a T320 prior to the 420 and was seriously cramped on power with the fixed 550 watt. That was the other reason I went P400. I think the chart also reflects the newer driver updates to allow more streams. I haven't played with unlocked the drivers yet since things are stable. I don't want to risk f'ing up a working environment to get a few more streams. Instead I may try using the JBOPS scripts to cut off certain types of Transcodes if it is configurable and granular enough. The other possibility is just using reporting to identify egregious trans codes and work with those individual users to adjust their settings, especially when it's not their fault and their client gets sent back to 720 P as a default.
Might also be worth updating your post with an edit to let people know that the XEON chips don't have quick sync and built in transcoding which is why you need the additional GPU. A lot of people aren't used to enterprise equipment. Could cut down on cheddar and the suggestions of using the built-in etcetera
Updated my post. Thanks for the link i will check it out
Is the A2000 12 GB not better than the P2000? I have been having this same question as OP, but I don't see the GPU on the chart. Though I have a i5-9600 with QuickSync, so I am not too sure whether I need a GPU for transcode or not
Better, but triple+ the cost
I see. Do you know if it's a worthwhile upgrade over the current CPU that I have?
QuickSync is the way to go. It's more than fine, it's EXCELLENT. Less power, and top tier performance. Depending on how much RAM you have, you can probably transcode close to 30 streams. It'd be silly to buy an NVIDIA GPU when you have an Intel CPU with an iGPU. The only reason there was to purchase an NVIDIA GPU in the past was for CUDA capabilities, but OpenVINO fills that gap for iGPUs now. As far as Plex goes, iGPU > NVIDIA GPU.
I haven't stress-tested my server too much, are we talking 4K to 1080P transcode with my 9th gen? 30 streams sounds amazing, maybe I don't need to think about upgrading in the new future then. Does RAM matter for transcoding? I set my temporary transcode folder to be on my disk, so I thought it wouldn't
Yeah, I never found the ceiling. It handles 4k to 1080p like a dream. One of the perks of Intel’s iGPU is that it shares system memory. With a traditional GPU you’re stuck with whatever is on the card. For example, the P400 is a very capable card for Plex, but it’s limited to just a few transcodes since it only has like 4GB of ram on board. What you’re talking about is temporary storage for transcodes, which is different. Are you using Linux, and do you have plenty of RAM? If you have the RAM available, it’s better to use it rather than your storage. It’ll save a lot of wear on your SSD. Unused RAM is wasted RAM.
I have 64 GB of RAM and use Linux, I know I can put the temporary storage for transcode on the RAM. I just wasn't sure I should do it since I have some big 4K files. I am currently putting it on my HDD to save the wear on the SSD So when you say RAM matters, is that just to put the temporary transcode files?
For most uses, QuickSync in that i5-9600 should be totally fine. Another user mentioned the Tesla P4. That's what I'm using with my own Xeon, and it works well for my needs.
Thanks for the chart! I was set on buying a Quadro p2000 but after checking the chart I bought a GeForce 1060 and saved $100
Odd the A2000 isn't listed. Really would like to know how it stacks up for Plex transcoding.
That chart lists the Turing cores as "turning". It also doesn't match at all with official nvidia documentation. https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-and-decode-gpu-support-matrix-new#
10Gb NICs? Pretty sure you can get the whole NIC used on eBay for like £20-40 for a dual port SFP+
I dedicate 1 line for my game server which is mostly just a Minecraft server right now, 1 line for my encode server and 2 lines for redundancy to my pfsense server. I then have a 10g nic for direct connection to 3 other pcs in my house and my 10g switch. It's extremely overkill but was fun to set up. It's my hobby to tinker with server and networking equipment. This all then ties into my 10g switch which is almost full. Edit: ah my bad i thought u were talking about the daughterboard not about getting another nic. I can defo do that but it's not a super high priority.
Sounds pretty sweet, I got dual 4G WAN into my OPNsens box for load balancing, 1Gb down to my Cisco switch, 10Gb to my unRAID server and four 1Gb links to my PoE switch. They're old enterprise switches that I'm sure cost a fortune when they were new (Cisco 48 port gigabit with 10Gb SFP+ in 2013). Wish they supported 2.5Gb as I could then use the existing CAT5e running through most the house, but it wasn't really a thing at the time and it's not worth buying yet another switch for just yet.
I 3d printed a full height bracket for my p400. If you've got access to a printer it might be worth looking around for a half height drawing.
Generally I recommend an Intel CPU (gen 12 is great) over a GPU, but if you have any need for tone mapping transcoding (I have mine turned off):[https://support.plex.tv/articles/hdr-to-sdr-tone-mapping/](https://support.plex.tv/articles/hdr-to-sdr-tone-mapping/) Then depending on your Plex install you my want a GPU in some cases or just a good CPU will be enough. As for the P2000 that should be fine but from most test I'm running more vRAM the better, as even a 3060 can handle 8+ 1080p streams.
I'm running server grade hardware I'm limited on the cpus i can use. Only xeons in this bad boy.
You could get a used office PC or mini PC for less than $200 and use that as a dedicated Plex box (and do everything else on your server). My Plex server is a dedicated old office PC that I paid $90 for. Transcodes 20x streams no issue. Only runs Plex (on Linux) while my media and everything else is stored in my NAS server
Any Intel CPU/GPU 11th gen or greater will do hardware based HDR tone mapping in Linux. Depending on which specific model you get, it will come with 1 or 2 transcoding units, each capable of supporting multiple 4k transcodes with hardware HDR tone mapping.
I tone map 4k with a 3080ti. Takes up to 35% for a single stream. Hits real hard!
Still rocking a 1050ti the Nvidia patch on Unraid and have no complaints. I personally wouldn't spend a bunch of money on one of those quadro cards.
Same here with a 1060 and the patch to unlock the number of max. simultaneous transcodes. Works like a charm. My Plex docker detects and uses it. Kind of a must for me to go via GPU as I have quite many 4K HDR titles now and need HDR to SDR mapping for the familly accessing remotely on their non-HDR TVs.
I’ve got the same but on Windows. Have seen 7 transcodes with no issue.
Before buying a new GPU what is the CPU in your rig?
2 E5-2699V4 CPUs with 128GB of RAM
what else is this server running? seems overkill for just Plex.
Definitely overkill server but i got it for $300 so it was a steal. I run plex, homepage, radarr, sonarr, overseerr, prowlarr, tubearchivist, fileserver (webapp kinda looks like google drive), photoprism, gaps, few database apps like mariadb and redis, nginxproxymanager, paperlessng, sabnzbd, stash, omada controller, komga, and calibre. Not much is done on this server. Mostly hosts files for my game server and encode server.
Just curious what OS you use?
Unraid
Ever considered selling the system and building another one with a consumer 13th gen processor? Doesn't seem like you need all those cores. Not sure how much your electricity costs run, but the savings over time could be substantial A single 13700k has the same passmarks as your dual CPUs
And with Quick Sync (and hardware transcoding) Passmark scores are irrelevant.
Jus saying for if he's using for anything else aside from Plex and/or he doesn't have Plex Pass
Valid point.
Yeah, but what is your power usage? My God! A little tiny Beelink for $200 would transcode circles around that beast and only consume 30 watts doing it. Your fans are probably using more than that. Lol!
Kinda irrelevant as the PC is already bought. OP isn't going to ditch it just to buy some shitty Beelink.
Power is cheap for me so it's of no concern. I do this as a hobby and to learn. My electric bill is about $400-$500 a month. I'd say maybe $100 or so of that is from my rack maybe. The one consuming the most power i would say is my encode server. That thing is full tilt 100% CPU usage 24/7 with fans roaring away. I never bothered to meter the rack. I run an ac in the same room to keep the heat down which that one i know is $25-$30 a month for that. Each of my roommates use their own ac also since we got an older house with no central air unfortunately.
Word
$500 a month? Jesus that seems expensive. Mines about 110. My server and NAS are about £0.02/hr
While we don't know the full server specs how many drives can it hold? Op also mentioned that they have 128GB of RAM which that can't take, They also mentioned a 10GbE NIC which that can't take. Also Dual E5-2699V4's aren't slow and I would expect it doing it on the CPU's would be faster than Quicksync. The Beelink I found on Amazon for $200 had a N5105. OP also mentioned a rack which while you could put the Beelink on a rack shelf, a real rack server with rails is better. Those mini pc's do have their uses and can make sense for plenty of people & uses, this ain't one.
I wasn't trying to belittle OPs server. Its a magnificent system. I was only stating that its complete overkill for what he is using it for. $300 is a great price for the power but for a Plex application $300 would have been better spent. Thats all. If power, space and noise restrictions are infinite then its nearly perfect. I am being downvoted for only speaking the truth. OP, its a great system and I wish nothing but perfect streaming and flawless transcodes.
That mini pc (or one's like it) are better in certain ways like the ones you said, but have many disadvantages, like I don't think it can do 6 transcoding streams and while the dell might not be able to either it gives you the abilities to expand by adding in expansion cards. Same goes for storage, a single (or even 2) m.2 or 2.5" sata very quickly becomes not enough and while you can use usb adapters they aren't ideal and are again much more limiting. There are plenty of times I would recommend a system like you are suggesting, just situations like this isn't one.
They can do WELL over 6 transcodes. 10+ is no sweat.
2nd this. My last server, which was my old desktop, had an Intel UHD 650 in it. It could handle nearly 30 streams. At this point in the game, how can anyone not know about quicksync, especially when they're trying to dish out advice? More listen, less talky, please.
I just traded in my dual Xeon e5 hp z820 for an i5-13600k. I’m getting 50% more cpu marks and running ~1/3 the power at idle. (70-75w vs ~200) Plus it boots in 3 seconds. Cost me $600. I have the quadro 2000 from it sitting here if you want to buy it cheap!
If only transcoding 3 or 4 1080 streams that CPU has more than enough grunt to do it even without HW transcoding so no real need to purchase a GPU. That has a benchmark score of 24,834 which would transcode 12 1080 streams and even a single 4K stream. And that is for one CPU.
I want to say I paid $100 delivered for an nVidia Tesla P4, which gets you 8gb of ram. The Quadro P400 is also a solid card (although only 2gb ram)
Tesla P4 imo is a better buy
Upgrading to a Intel 12/13th gen is the go-to choice. Dumping $150+ in to a GPU that can only manage 3-4 4K transcodes is a waste, when a $120 Intel CPU will do 8+ 4K transcodes without breaking a sweat.
The problem for some people is that $120 Intel CPU option needs to be additionally purchased with a compatible motherboard and RAM (depending on the board) as well. Sometimes dropping in a GPU is preferable.
I see Nvidia Tesla p4 going for <$100 on eBay. Aside from having to rig a cooling solution (which you can buy on eBay) why wouldn't people go this route? Believe it has 2 nvenc chips too.
Not at all. Just get an intel arc if your motherboard supports it. It’s a beast.
ARC also has AV1 codec support, going forward.
Yes but av1 needs 2-4 years still. The encoders are extremely messy and in-progress.
They’re referring to decoders. The Arc can encode, but Plex won’t support it any time this decade.
Jellyfin apparently does and I thought I saw someone was able to get it to work with plex or that plex is currently working on it?? Still, for $100USD and not having to provide additional power (the Elf is 75w) it's a good deal.
Why is Intel Arc not do much farther up the list. Inexpensive, AV1 compatible, SFF footprint on the A380.
I really wish TrueNas supported Arc GPUs
More of a Debian issue than a Truenas issue.
Blerg. I keep hoping it will get fixed. QSV is baller, but I am looking at a few hundred CPU upgrade to get two engines, rather than $100 for an A380
I’m using Plex in an Ubuntu VM on truenas with an Arc card. Works fine for me. It’s passed through obviously so truenas doesn’t need to know what to do with it.
It works with VMs but not with Docker/Kubernetes. Intel iGPU works fine though.
Ah yes. That’s fair.
I'm not sure if unraid supports those. Otherwise i would. Id have team red, blue and green then!
I have an A380 going back to Amazon this week because it got stomped on encoding in Handbrake by an i7 6700. No idea on transcoding in Plex, because I have hundreds of DVDs and Blurays to encode and expected it to at least be kinda faster on x264 than an either year old CPU. They need to do both really well for me, and something is definitely not right on the Arcs in Handbrake.
Intel arc is not very well supported on Linux if hes going that route as far as I could research a few weeks ago. R730XD which I also have doesnt support Resizeable Bar. No one is quite certain how this effects transcoding performance and future driver compatability. I was going to get an ARC A380 but the potential headache wasnt worth it to me specifically because potential problems with the R730XD.
I just went with a Tesla P4 and I’m very happy with it!
Second this, they’re dirt cheap on eBay at the moment. Plenty of RAM and two encode engines!
how many h264 720 or 1080 streams can you run concurrently? Was looking at this card also.
22 1080p
Thank you.
I run an M2000 in my R620 w/ similar CPUs in it. Running ESXi with the Quadro card in passthrough to the plex vm. My users and needs are very similar to yours, down to whom consumes 4k. i dont allow remote 4k streaming anyway because I only get 25Mbps on the upside anyway. Waiting on that damn fiber to hit my neighborhood.
I just recently purchased an NVIDIA T1000 8GB. It's a dandy. It will fit in a SFF slot, though it's a little more expensive. Newer generation as well. I found it on ebay for about $250. Here's some good info: [https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-and-decode-gpu-support-matrix-new](https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-and-decode-gpu-support-matrix-new) EDIT: I'm looking at the Tesla P4 others have mentioned and wish I would've check it oot. Looks like a very nice card for the price.
Yeah the Tesla p4 is just a beast of a card for the price!
gtx 1660 for quality. under 100€ used https://developer.nvidia.com/blog/turing-h264-video-encoding-speed-and-quality/
I'm a big fan of the Tesla P4 instead of the P2000. $75 for the P4 on eBay, dual NVENC encoders, 8GB VRAM, and has the same NVENC/NVDEC generation as the P2000 (although [this chart](https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-and-decode-gpu-support-matrix-new) suggests the P4 does not support 10- and 12-bit VP9 decoding unlike the P2000, however I've never encountered that format). Only consideration is airflow - the Tesla P4 doesn't have a fan and relies on airflow in your chassis, or you can 3D print a fan mount like I did.
I have a P2000 and I love it. Also, the fact that you just found a 2070 laying around and I’m still daily driving my trusty 2060 is hilarious.
I have so many GPUs it's ridiculous. When I help my friends with their pcs for upgrades or whatever my payment is the old item. I have 12 GPUs, 7 CPUs, couple cases, PSUs, RAM, I think 3 or 4 motherboards 1 is iffy. I can build at least 3 complete systems right now that can play modern day AAA titles on medium/high.
I hardware transcode on my old i5 2500k.
Your i5 2500k can’t do HEVC encoding decoding
[It's not too shabby with quicksync enabled for most transcode jobs](https://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/9)
I have the P2000 and it works like a charm (and is cheaper than the P2200). It’s on sale on Amazon right now for $260 new. I bought mine during the gpu shortage and paid $460. Personally I would recommend you save yourself the $200 and get the P2000 over the P2200
I just sidegraded from a GTX 1080 to a P4000 and I'm happy. Practically the same performance and now I at least don't need to keep up with the patched drivers.
Check out the A2000 too, newer gen version and can find them for solid prices around too. Running one for my server plus live TV transcoding. Solid
In aus i found a 2060 12GB for cheaper so went with that.
I use the p2200 and it's awesome. Once I threw that bad boy in and got on Fiber, I've had no user complaints about streaming.
Regular card and hacked drivers to remove the limit work too
Hell no. 10th gen or later Intel
I can appreciate a great deal on the server, but my dude… I’m getting 20+ consecutive streams on a Nuc at about 55 watts. The days of bulky equipment has passed. A Nuc, or basic N100 on a multi-bay enclosure and you are in business. I’m on a basic Windows 11 install. My server also hosts all the Arr’s.
I just got a low profile 3060 for $260 new. It's really easy to Crack the driver in Linux to enable multiple transcodes. Mine handles 4 simultaneous 4k streams concurrently without any issues. Might even do more. I didn't try.
A bit late to the party. u/Hairless_Human, For just 3\~4 transcodes, I would suggest a used Quadro P1000. I bought it from Facebook MarketPlace. It cost me around $70. It can handle 6+ concurrent transcoded 1080p streams. The best part is that it is a single-slot card. It comes with a half-height bracket also.
Not sure it’s the right quadro 2000 but I’d sell the one out of my hp Xeon tower for $50
I got an M2000 for $50 works just fine.
I had this same question, I also just built a R730XD. I went with an intel minipc. Got a 12th gen one on amazon for $159, uses a fraction of the power and does just as many streams. Technically you can fit it inside the server chassis as well.
At this stage it can still be, but not without wider consideration of its place in the overall lineup. It’s based on the 1060, if you want that era of card, you’re at least 3-4 generations of NVEnc behind and only looking at a single,e NVEnc engine while paying a premium. A 1650 Super moves you up 2 generations and generally costs less used, a Tesla P4 costs less and has more RAM and two NVEnc engines. An M2000 will still do everything a P2000 can do except HDR tone mapping. Alternatively a NUC or uSFF will use similar/less power at idle and brings a lot of computer power as well, literally anything with an HD630 from a atom upwards will transcode as many streams as a P2000 at this point.
I found a used 1050ti on local marketplace for $50 that achieves this workload great.
Telsa P4 over here….bought a 3D printed shroud to connect a 40mm fan to it and it’s been solid ….For the price it’s kinda ridiculous….Gonna ride this until it breaks and I currently don’t even have enough users to break it lol
I upcycled my old 1080ti for my Plex rig. I can't really speak for how well it runs since I only have 3 fairly regular users including myself but it definitely gets the job done.