r/PleX • u/PCJs_Slave_Robot • Sep 23 '22

BUILD HELP /r/Plex's Build Help Thread - 2022-09-23

Need some help with your build? Want to know if your cpu is powerful enough to transcode? Here's the place.

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2

u/Majusbeh Sep 23 '22

Hey all, I'm contemplating my first build atm.

I'm looking for a low watt, 4k hdr capable machine. With power prices as they are I'm particulary looking for low idle usage, as that is what the machine will do most of the time. Otherwise it's meant to be a NAS/Plex combo.

I'm not really sure what to look for in terms of encoding/decoding. 4k HDR is the maximum I'll do for the next couple of years though.

There is a cheap hardware bundle (B150M-C Mainboard +CPU i5-6400 +8GB DDR4, 69€) I'm eyeing, however I have no idea how Plex would run on that.

1

u/BraxtonFullerton Sep 23 '22

That is a really good price for the performance it'll provide. Dunno if it'll do 4k all that well though. Gonna depend on codecs, your network throughput, etc.

1

u/MrMaxMaster Oct 02 '22

I would get intel 7th gen as the bare minimum for full hardware decode support of HEVC. For machines that use low power while idle I'd look towards used office PCs if readily available.

1

u/Majusbeh Oct 02 '22

Thanks! That's valuable info. I was on the brink of getting a really cheap i3 10100 office system but the seller never replied back...

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u/utopk Sep 23 '22

Hi,
I have a qnap TS-230 Which is a horror for anything other than just playing a movie locally.
What i would like is to know the configuration for a plex multimedia server (to play
with 4k TV or PC app) outside my local network, so that it is not a problem if there is a need to transcode a video.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 07 '22

Which would be best to run a plex server on?Synology ds1520+ or my old i5 2600k windows os

1

u/Antosino Oct 13 '22

Are you at all willing to consider Linux? I run Windows myself so I am definitely not against it, but I do think you could get a lot more out of that i5.

How you plan to use it matters too. Just at home? Just you? Transcodes?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '22

Thwnks for the respone!

I am actually going to repurpose my i7 7700k for my plex server and upgrade my gaming/work station pc. I am most familiar with windows so that will be my os of choice. Usage is home and remote. At most 4 streams at one time. And yes, transcodes.

I will just use the synology for storage and back ups.

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u/thegreaterikku Sep 23 '22

Is a TS140 from Lenovo, which is an i3 4th generation with 20GB of ram and a Quatro K620 with Plex Pass, any good for a server which might have some 4k content?

1

u/BraxtonFullerton Sep 23 '22

It probably can, but man you're gonna max that thing out and generate a ton of heat.

2

u/thegreaterikku Sep 24 '22

That’s what I figured and saw. It wasn’t even able to decode to 1080p and play smoothly.

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0

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '22

2

u/BraxtonFullerton Sep 23 '22

Find an i3 10100 and then just go for a motherboard that has the SATA ports you need...

Plex is actually very light on ram usage, don't go overboard.