i5-4590s for server?

[xxredxpandaxx]

I am going to upgrade the processor in my server, I recently installed plex media server on it to get rid of having two computers. Anyone know how many 1080p transcoding streams this processor can handle?

[jumperalex]

look up the futuremark PASSmark of the processor and assume ~1500-1700 2000 points per 1080p stream. That will be your answer.

 

Sauce if you want it: https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201774043-What-kind-of-CPU-do-I-need-for-my-Server-computer-

[xxredxpandaxx]

ahh that helps thank you!

[Whatever]

I've seen guys claiming 1500 passmark per 1080p stream would suffice, but of course its always better to be on the safe side than regretting later.

 

https://forums.plex.tv/index.php/topic/116485-qnap-ts-x51-series/?p=707043

[jumperalex]

yeah as always it will depend on what you are coming from. As you can see I originally put 15-1700 because not only does that jive with info from elsewhere, but also my experience from loading up my server with full rate BD rips (i.e. 50mbps streams) transcoding to <5mbps

[garycase]

The transcoding isn't purely dependent on the CPU, but also on the acceleration capabilities of the video adapter.  Assuming you're using the on-chip video (HD4600), this has excellent capabilities, so I'd expect 1500-1600 passmarks/stream is pretty accurate.    With that CPU's PassMark score (7041) you should easily be able to handle 4 simultaneous streams.

 

[jumperalex]

hmmm i was not aware that plex media server used the GPU in linux (or even windows). Given my ATI Rage video card I can say for sure my GPU is not contributing at all. Based on very shallow searches of plex forums, the cpu does all the work.

 

EDIT: https://forums.plex.tv/index.php/topic/117318-cuda-transcoding-support/?hl=cuda

[garycase]

There are conflicting threads r.e. whether or not Plex using GPU assist when transcoding.  This post from a year-ago indicates it DOES use GPU acceleration for at least part of the process:  https://forums.plex.tv/index.php/topic/92874-gpu-offloading-timed-library-refresh/

 

... hopefully it's even better today; but as I noted it's difficult to confirm that.

 

In any event, an i5-4590s is an excellent CPU and I'm sure it can support at least 3 simultaneous streams even without GPU hardware assist; and should easily support 4, or possibly even 5, if it in fact uses the GPU to assist in the process.

 

[jumperalex]

Regardless of GPU, I agree 3-5 is reasonable. I ran 4 streams with my FS8320 (8000 passmark) from the aforementioned BD rips as a test. I could see the cpus (all were working very hard, but they weren't maxed once the streams were buffered sufficiently.

[xxredxpandaxx]

Well from all this, I will probably go with it. I tried doing several 1080p streams from my gaming computer (i5-4670k) just to get an idea of how many I might be able to do, and I ran out of devices to transcode to.    I think I used 7 devices? all wireless. So it looks like everything will be fine with my setup. Thanks guys

[garycase]

Clearly you've already proven that there's more "horsepower" than you need in the CPU.  Your 4670k is only 9% more powerful than the 4590s (PassMark 7676 vs 7041), so at most there would be a single stream difference in the capabilities.

 

[jumperalex]

You know, I wonder if the last 6 months to a year of optimizations into the new plex transcoder (they use a customized version of ffmpeg) have lowered the "required" passmark score per stream. [shrug] Good news in any case.

[garycase]

Given that a year ago they were using some of the GPU acceleration capabilities, I suspect it's likely that they're taking even more advantage of this ... which will clearly lower the demands on the CPU [thus lowing the "PassMarks/stream" requirements on the CPU].

 

[mr-hexen]

an easy way to find out, get a few streams going and monitor the GPU temps.