I currently have a lime-tech md-1500 system which I upgraded to unraid 6.  I primarily use it for simple file storage and now that I have docker, I want to use it as my plex server.

 

Before upgrading to unraid 6 I was running plex on my mac mini.

 

I have noticed that since I started running plex on my unraid server, i will occasionally be watching a video on one of my tvs from the plex server and it will hang and buffer.  Or I notice that if I fast forward or rewind it will take longer than it used to to start playing again.

 

I assume this is because it is now my unraid server handling the transcoding which is less powerful than my newer mac mini.

 

So with that said I am wondering if someone can give me some recommendations for an inexpensive upgrade that will make my unraid server more capable for plex.

 

so here are the specs for my unraid md-1500 box (i got them from the info window in the unraid 6 web gui):

M/B: Supermicro - C2SEA

CPU: Intel® Celeron® CPU E1200 @ 1.60GHz

HVM: Not Available

IOMMU: Not Available

Cache: 64 kB, 512 kB

Memory: 2048 MB (max. installable capacity 4 GB)

Network: eth0: 1000Mb/s - Full Duplex

 

Would just installing another 2GB of RAM do the trick, or do i need to upgrade the mobo and cpu?  any suggestions would be appreciated.  Although I do not have a specific budget in mind, I am looking for the least expensive option that would get me up to speed for plex.  I am just curious what it would take and how much it would cost.

The CPU is the problem. How are you playing on your TV? Smart TV app? Some other device connected to your TV? Does it require transcoding? The computer connected by ethernet and outputting to the TV doesn't require transcoding from PMS on my server.

I use a roku 3 on one of my tvs, an apple tv 3 on two of my tvs and a new apple tv 4 on my main tv.

 

I have a variety of videos on my collection in a variety of formats (i have ripped a lot of my purchased movies over the years in different formats).  I even have some old dvr-ms files from my old windows media center.  so I'm sure that some are being transcoded while others are not.

 

if the processor is the problem, could you point me in the direction of a better one that I could drop onto my motherboard?  or do I need to replace the motherboard too in order to get a cpu that is capable enough to handle the transcoding?

 

 

You need a LGA 775 socket CPU. The plex recommendation is 2000 passmark per stream. May have a problem locating some for that socket since it is a little old.

 

CPU Benchmarks - filter on socket LGA 775 and sort by CPU Mark. If you click on the price link it will take you to a page that might show somewhere to buy.

oh awesome - thanks for that link!  So it looks like a Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 would do the trick, correct?  I found for a good price online.

 

 

oh awesome - thanks for that link!  So it looks like a Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 would do the trick, correct?  I found for a good price online.

 

It would at least hit the minimum requirements for a single Plex 1080p transcode according to https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201774043-What-kind-of-CPU-do-I-need-for-my-Server-computer-

great thank you!

 

one of these days I would love to to a complete rebuild in a rackmount case with all the bells and whistled.  but until then, this should do the trick.

so upon further investigation I was able to find an Intel Xeon X3323 which looks a bit better and is reasonably priced.

 

one other question - will I be able to use the same CPU fan that I have now (the one that came with the limetech md-1500) or would I need a new CPU fan too?  if so, which one?

The Xeon would be a better choice if your motherboard supports it.  While it is an LGA775 chip I couldn't find anything on the Supermicro site indicating that the Supermicro - C2SEA supports Xeons - so just be sure that's going to work.

 

I replaced my old C2D with a Core 2 Quad Q9550 and am reasonably happy with its transcoding performance - since you are doing surgery, why not put the fastest quad core in there you can get for cheap off of eBay?  Even Q9650 's can be found for $80.  You will need a new cooler as the Celeron has a lower TDP than the chips we're talking about and the stock cooler for it won't be enough.  It doesn't have to be expensive, though - I think I used one of these or similar:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835200034&cm_re=rosewill_cooler_lga775-_-35-200-034-_-Product

Oh bummer!  I thought they were all the same. I just ordered a refurbished one from newegg. I will have to see if it's too late to cancel.

 

Thanks for your suggestions though!  I will take a look at eBay. 

The X3323 is actually an LGA771 chip, rather than LGA775.  Very similar, but slightly different pin outs.  If you Google LGA 771 to 775 adapter or converter you can actually find little tape/sticky things that allow an LGA771 processor to work in an LGA775 socket.  I looked at them briefly but decided I wanted normal BIOS support for the CPU rather than the the adapter route.  The C2Q CPUs cost more than the LGA771 Xeons on eBay, but it was plug and play after the BIOS update for me.  An LGA771 Xeon with the adapter is the cheaper way to go if you want to try that route, though.