April 5, 201610 yr I also noticed you only have 2G of memory, you may have to bump that also to at least 4G. You might be able to get by with two, but it will probably be close. Good catch... 2gigs of memory and a slow cpu is probably just not going to work.. Those are very low specs... I do a lot with my system but plex is the most resource intensive of the lot..
April 5, 201610 yr Plex is more dependent on CPU than RAM. If it runs you've got enough RAM. Its the CPU that counts here.
April 5, 201610 yr Author I have no issue, upgrading my specs a bit; CPU, memory...no problem. I don't want, to have to do a whole, new MoBo. But...let me ask, the most basic of questions: again...why can I stream to my WD TV Live and Dune Smart D-1, with no problem?
April 5, 201610 yr But...let me ask, the most basic of questions: again...why can I stream to my WD TV Live and Dune Smart D-1, with no problem? because those devices natively understand the file formats/encoding
April 5, 201610 yr Author But...let me ask, the most basic of questions: again...why can I stream to my WD TV Live and Dune Smart D-1, with no problem? because those devices natively understand the file formats/encoding OK...so is the issue, the STB? FireTV doesn't make a good client, to run PLEX; because it requires this demanding transcoding? Someone suggested, running PLEX on WD TV Live instead; see if I have the same issues? I don't understand; FireTV runs Netflix beautifully.
April 5, 201610 yr Plex and Netflix are not the same. Netflix works great on everything because Netflix's expensive servers always handle all the transcoding. With Plex, your computer is the source, not Netflix's servers, so when transcoding is necessary, it needs to be powerful enough to handle it. Depending on the types of files you have, different devices will require transcoding for different files. So while you could blame the set top box for not having native support for certain file types/codecs(Thereby requiring transcoding), you could also blame the server for being too weak to reliably transcode. Transcoding is not normally a problem. It sounds like your server is just too weak to handle transcoding. My $400 i3 build from 2 years ago had no issues transcoding anything. Personally, I haven't had to think twice about the transcoding issue since I built my unraid box. Hell, I stream to multiple people at a time without issue, to all sorts of devices.
April 5, 201610 yr BTW, that $400 build referred to the full price of the server. The i3 was like $120. Since you already have a case and power supply, you could go with something like: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YF3Y8d Only $250. If you get serious about upgrading though, i could provide better suggestions, that was thrown together based on what I did a while back. Transcoding is an inevitability. You might as well have the hardware to handle it.
April 5, 201610 yr But...let me ask, the most basic of questions: again...why can I stream to my WD TV Live and Dune Smart D-1, with no problem? because those devices natively understand the file formats/encoding OK...so is the issue, the STB? FireTV doesn't make a good client, to run PLEX; because it requires this demanding transcoding? Someone suggested, running PLEX on WD TV Live instead; see if I have the same issues? I don't understand; FireTV runs Netflix beautifully. netflix is basically doing the transcoding for you on their hardware, with plex, your hardware is doing the transcoding. upgrade your machine or downgrade the transcode.
April 5, 201610 yr Author I'd like to keep my board...if I can get away with it. Will it only take AM3 CPUs...or is AM3+ an option?
April 5, 201610 yr Why do you care about keeping the board? Anyway, that may depend on the motherboard. You may need to look it up.
April 5, 201610 yr If your CPU can't cope with transcoding on the fly why not use Plex's optimize function to re-code the source material? That way it doesn't have to happen in real time and can proceed in the background while you're sleeping or working.
April 5, 201610 yr Or you know, just install Kodi on your client and use that if you don't want to upgrade your server at all.
April 5, 201610 yr Author Or you know, just install Kodi on your client and use that if you don't want to upgrade your server at all. I might try that. In the meantime...how can I find out, if my board will take AM3+ chips? Looks like the following chips, are supported; any thoughts? Does anything have enough juice, to get 'er done? http://www.gigabyte.us/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?v=AE72F6F9D4ADD0D78A04C12288E7D73255053F44998A160C&s=AMD%20Socket%20AM3&cs=AMD%20790GX
April 5, 201610 yr I'd choose a Phenom II from near the top of the list but in the meantime why not give my earlier suggestion a try for free?
April 5, 201610 yr You can compare the suitability of your various CPU options here, but read this first so that you know what you're looking for. Kodi is worth considering, but I thought you said you were keen to use Plex?
April 5, 201610 yr Use this site as a reference for choosing/comparing your options. Figure roughly 2000 passmarks per user streaming/transcoding. And add a small cushion to that. https://www.cpubenchmark.net/index.php my CPU (see sig) is rated at 8949 which should handle 4 users easily. I recently had occasion to have 4 on at same time (including me) and I did see a little slow down in the FF & Rewind functions. Playback itself was flawless tho. The guy in NY had some buffering but his client is a TV "smart app".
April 6, 201610 yr Here you go, buy this for $85, you will also need another heat sync. Your current one will not work. This is a 95 125 watt CPU. The Cooler-Master-Hyper-212 is supposed to be a good cooler if you have the room in your case, dimensions (120 x 80 x 159 mm (4.7 x 3.1 x 6.3 in). I would also look around to see if you can pick up another 2 gig of memory if you can find it relative cheap. This would be the cheapest solution For approximately $4-$500, you could get a new CPU/MB/Memory that would work really well. You could also probably go lower specs and for a little over $300 if you have a Microcenter nearby. http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Phenom-II-x6-1055T-2-8GHz-6Core-6MB-Socket-AM3-95W-HDT55TFBK6DGR-/291728608164?hash=item43ec614ba4:g:inoAAOSwiylXAbuR http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Hyper-212-RR-212E-20PK-R2/dp/B005O65JXI?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER http://www.microcenter.com/site/brands/intel-processor-bundles.aspx 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-4370 3.4GHz LGA 1150 Processor 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-4370 3.4GHz LGA 1150 Processor $129.99 381970 Save $20 Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-GAMING 5 LGA 1150 mATX Intel Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-GAMING 5 LGA 1150 mATX 574582 BUNDLE PRICE $244.98 BUNDLE NOW Save $20 ASRock H97M Pro LGA1150 mATX Intel Motherboard ASRock H97M Pro LGA1150 mATX 646455 BUNDLE PRICE $174.98 BUNDLE NOW Save $20 ASUS Z97-E LGA 1150 ATX Intel Motherboard ASUS Z97-E LGA 1150 ATX 685792 BUNDLE PRICE $224.98 BUNDLE NOW Save $20 Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H LGA 1150 mATX Intel Motherboard Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H LGA 1150 mATX 646810 BUNDLE PRICE $187.98 BUNDLE NOW Save $20 Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H LGA1150 mATX Intel Motherboard Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H LGA1150 mATX 456954 BUNDLE PRICE $199.98
April 6, 201610 yr Also, note these Phenoms DO NOT have built in graphics capability. You will have to add a video card or run headless.
April 6, 201610 yr If you just want to go as cheap as possible and get a CPU that will work, then this Athlon-II-X4-640 would do the job. It comes with the heat-sync. I would just pay the $48 buy it now price, don't mess around and try and get it cheaper. It has video support so no need to run it headless. Just crank the video memory down to 32M in the bios. http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Athlon-II-X4-640-3-0-GHz-Quad-Core-CPU-ADX640WFK42GM-Processor-/272198576776?hash=item3f604caa88:g:Ek4AAOSwiylXAUya
April 6, 201610 yr Have you looked at the specs on your motherboard. Fourth bullet down. These are all on the supported CPU list you posted. You really need to try and do some of this research yourself so you understand what you have.. o Supports new generation of AMD Phenom™ II X6 processors o Ultra Durable 3 Classic Technology with copper cooled quality for lower working temperature o Revolution energy saving design with Easy Energy Saver technology o Supports AMD AM3 Phenom™ II/ Athlon™ II processors You can look up the CPU specs here. http://www.cpubenchmark.net http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3143#ov
April 6, 201610 yr Author http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Phenom-II-X6-1045T-6-Core-2-7GHz-6MB-Socket-AM3-CPU-Processor-HDT45TWFK6DGR-/172152947911?hash=item28151d84c7:g:lywAAOSwZtJW8unH
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