Which upgrade route would be more bang-for-my-buck? 

 

My M/B (SuperMicro H8DME-2) will support a second processor

 

OR

 

Would it be better to replace my current, lone, processor, with a faster one?

 

Will UnRAID even utilize a second processor? 

 

I already have extra RAM for the second bank.  My goal is to add a bit of capacity for my Plex transcoding- which seem to strain my current 1.8Ghz quad-core IF I'm transcoding for lower rate streams.  (60" 1080p DTS...smooth-as-silk.....but if my tablet asks for a stream...CHITTY-CHITTY-BANG-BANG) 

Well if you want to use the second ram bank you will need the second cpu. You can only use bank 2 if socket 2 is filled. Version 6 unraid should support 2 cpus

 

 

 

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Well surely 8 cores are better then 6. But depends if you want head room later on. Maybe start with a 6 core upgrade and if that isn't enough go for another 6 Atleast that way you don't short change yourself.  But as vl1969 mentioned you won't be able to use your second bank of ram without a second cpu.  Lastly,  if you care about power consumption then 2 cpu's will of course draw more.

 

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also forgot, check your MB version and BIOS version.

unless you are running an updated 3.5 version this Mb does not support anything over 4 Core.

I had to update bios (a quest in it self) to get my 2 6-core working.

when/if you update, do it BEFORE installing new CPU and ram.

update works only with original CPU/RAM.

 

one more FYI, this MB so not support Virtualization properly. i.e. IOMMU

super micro says it does but all my endeavored to setup VM with PCI - pass-through were not successful. so if your plans include virtualization in near future I would not invest into this MB more at the moment. I made this mistake, thus I have to stay with it for a while.

 

 

add a bit of capacity for my Plex transcoding- which seem to strain my current 1.8Ghz quad-core IF I'm transcoding for lower rate streams.

 

I think the operative words are 'strain' while transcoding.  I did not see any mention of simultaneous access.

 

In this case, I would go for a CPU upgrade to a faster clock speed.

My theory is, no matter how many cores you throw at it, unless the program is written to transcode in parallel threads it may not matter how many cores you have.

 

The trick is you have to

1. read the data (no problem here).

2. decompress the data (probably not an issue).

3. Re-compesss the data at a rate fast enough to keep the end user's buffer full. (This is where I bet you have a problem).

 

With a 1.8 ghz core, then moving it over wifi, you can only buffer so much.

 

I would suggest a test over a wired connection first (during an idle server period.)

See how long it takes to watch a small movie that you want transcoded.

 

use the extra duration as a gauge in a proportion of 1.8ghz and where you might need to go.

 

You may find the whole movie takes x number of extra minutes on a wired connection or it may prove something else.

You may find out the issue is with wireless speed or reliability.

I know in my building, I cannot stream wirelessly without issue. i.e. I do not get faster then 2MB/s, but I'm also in an apartment building with allot of other wireless routers around.

Well for what its worth, Plex is absolutely designed to utilize multiple cores.  I'm not saying a 2nd cpu is better, just saying Plex does well with more cores.

 

As for assessing the speed of Plex, you can look at the Plex Media Server.log log and see what speed it is happening at to give you an idea of how far behind you might be.  It gives you a straight "Speed => ?x" rating.  So if it is greater than 1x then you know it is a wireless issue and not a cpu problem.

Well for what its worth, Plex is absolutely designed to utilize multiple cores.  I'm not saying a 2nd cpu is better, just saying Plex does well with more cores.

 

As for assessing the speed of Plex, you can look at the Plex Media Server.log log and see what speed it is happening at to give you an idea of how far behind you might be.  It gives you a straight "Speed => ?x" rating.  So if it is greater than 1x then you know it is a wireless issue and not a cpu problem.

 

 

Great information.

 

 

johnny121b, I would love to know what your log says regarding the speed rating.

I my case it was easy to figure out if it was cpu or network. Pick a movie that you know has a large file/high bitrate etc.  on your tablet,  choose to transcode to a very low resolution.  If it's stuttering it's cpu.... Seeing as the bandwidth required for a a very low quality stream will be very low. Though is hind sight of looking at the op's post.  A quad shouldn't have trouble with a single stream...

 

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If it's stuttering it's cpu.... Seeing as the bandwidth required for a a very low quality stream will be very low. Though is hind sight of looking at the op's post.  A quad shouldn't have trouble with a single stream...

 

 

A 1.8ghz ?

My internal network bandwidth (both wired and wi-fi) isn't an issue.  Wired is gigabit throughout, and wireless is strictly 5Ghz w/ no interference from nearby networks.  Plus, don't forget- I have no trouble watching hi-def movies, 5.1 DTS/AC3, etc on my two bigscreens- both wireless.  (but just so you know, wasn't doing all that while attempting the tablet stream)

 

I'll look into getting the info from the Plex logs when I get home this evening.

If it's stuttering it's cpu.... Seeing as the bandwidth required for a a very low quality stream will be very low. Though is hind sight of looking at the op's post.  A quad shouldn't have trouble with a single stream...

 

 

A 1.8ghz ?

 

A quad 1.8.

Plex does use all the cores.  I was able to transcode with my single core celeron.  It was watchable but would pause. A single stream isn't too hard on the cpu.

 

For how cheap I think I saw the cpu's for this board,  I would just toss in two 6 cores and be done. Of course that's assuming you don't care about energy consumption.

 

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Seem to remember reading somewhere unraid 5.x is only compiled for 8 cores.

 

Here : http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=28414.msg264695#msg264695