So Plex will need to be able to stream to 2-3 people. The majority of my media at the moment is 99% x264 and aac so if it transcodes it's subtitles and it's minimal for the moment, but that may change down the line.

 

I'm trying to keep this as cheap as I can while still meeting my needs, while also kind of making it easy to expand in the future if I so desire.

 

I've started a build but I'd like input on a few things, namely storage. I wanna go WD reds I think, for the slower spin rate because this will be on 24/7. But I've heard that 3TB drives are unreliable? I'd like to start with a more than 2TB usable storage, and if 3TBs are a no go then I'd have to spend another 100 bucks to get two 4TBs or buy three 2TBs and start off with a 2TB parity drive. I don't know what to do there.

 

I'm also pretty sure I want an SSD for Plex's metadata location and all that, and also use it as the cache drive. Not sure on what brand would be best, Samsung 850 EVO 250GBs I guess but is 250GBs enough? or overkill?

 

Is 8GBs of ram enough?

 

Is 450W a big enough psu for this type of build while also taking into account future drive expansion? Possibly 6-8 drives in the end based on what would work with this mobo and case.

 

Should I get an extra fan or two? Case only comes with 2.

 

With this current build, a Samsung 850 EVO 250GBs, and two WD Red 4TB drives, its over 800 bucks ($842.29 according to pcpartpicker). And that's over my budget by a little bit but if this is where it needs to be, I could make it work.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($178.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($99.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($35.28 @ Newegg)

Case: NZXT H230 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Power Supply: SeaSonic 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($73.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Total: $457.24

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-18 07:59 EDT-0400

 

So how's it look?

If your looking for a plex only machine then I would just keep an eye out for a ready made machine? Example my RIG 2 machine was a ready made machine which I got for a bargain from Amazon and moved all my dockers and plugins to that.

 

Then for my storage requirements I use a N40L with WD Reds and Samsung Cache drive RIG 1.

 

If your are going to build your own machine then remember plex doesnt use memory for transcoding so 8GB should be fine but the general rule of thumb is a 2000 passmark for a 1080 transcode. So check the CPU passmark score.

 

I personally have a 4000 passmark and have at peak around 5 streams going at any one time. So looking to replace with an i7 4790.

 

 

Nothing is ever overkill as long as it fits with your budget

 

 

If your looking for a plex only machine then I would just keep an eye out for a ready made machine? Example my RIG 2 machine was a ready made machine which I got for a bargain from Amazon and moved all my dockers and plugins to that.

 

Then for my storage requirements I use a N40L with WD Reds and Samsung Cache drive RIG 1.

 

If your are going to build your own machine then remember plex doesnt use memory for transcoding so 8GB should be fine but the general rule of thumb is a 2000 passmark for a 1080 transcode. So check the CPU passmark score.

 

I personally have a 4000 passmark and have at peak around 5 streams going at any one time. So looking to replace with an i7 4790.

 

 

Nothing is ever overkill as long as it fits with your budget

 

Ready made like a thinkserver or something?

 

N40L as in an Hp microserver? How do you connect rig 1 to use rig 2's storage? I'm very new to this.

A Core i5-4460 should be fine for several h.264 streams and can handle one or two 1080p streams in addition that require some real transcoding.

 

8GB is perfect for unRAID and a few Dockers.

 

Run a power calculator for your fully loaded system to predict your usage.  450w sounds a little light if you go with 8 drives.

 

A 250GB SSD is perfect for your plans.

 

I've had perfectly good luck with my 3TB and 6TB WD Reds.  That said, I think you'll be happier managing a smaller number of larger drives over time.  If you are buying new drives I'd say nothing smaller than 3TB.  I like my drives to be directly cooled whenever possible (fan blowing directly over the drives) and add fans to accommodate that.

Yep something like Thinksever they often on sale or have cashback deals.

 

So what I did was start with a N40L and once I did everything possible to it, such as modify bios add 6 Drives and SSD cache I soon realised plex was just too slow for my needs. So instead of switching all my drives to a new machine I bought a 2nd machine and installed the dockers I needed then used "Unassigned Devices" Plugin to mount the shares.

 

I could have just bought a big case and custom built another machine but the cost would have been too high.

 

Eventually I might move to a single system but for now this works for me. If your selling your xcase let me know im UK Based... I just never got how SAS plates worked.

A Core i5-4460 should be fine for several h.264 streams and can handle one or two 1080p streams in addition that require some real transcoding.

 

8GB is perfect for unRAID and a few Dockers.

 

Run a power calculator for your fully loaded system to predict your usage.  450w sounds a little light if you go with 8 drives.

 

A 250GB SSD is perfect for your plans.

 

I've had perfectly good luck with my 3TB and 6TB WD Reds.  That said, I think you'll be happier managing a smaller number of larger drives over time.  If you are buying new drives I'd say nothing smaller than 3TB.  I like my drives to be directly cooled whenever possible (fan blowing directly over the drives) and add fans to accommodate that.

 

Power calculator says at least 500W so I grabbed same make and model of my current one at 550W, only 4 bucks more so that works well.

 

Have any recommendations for fans? Or does everyone just use Noctua?

 

Yep something like Thinksever they often on sale or have cashback deals.

 

So what I did was start with a N40L and once I did everything possible to it, such as modify bios add 6 Drives and SSD cache I soon realised plex was just too slow for my needs. So instead of switching all my drives to a new machine I bought a 2nd machine and installed the dockers I needed then used "Unassigned Devices" Plugin to mount the shares.

 

I could have just bought a big case and custom built another machine but the cost would have been too high.

 

Eventually I might move to a single system but for now this works for me. If your selling your xcase let me know im UK Based... I just never got how SAS plates worked.

 

Yeah I've looked at the think servers a few times. Not much space in those cases it seems. I know it may sound odd saying I have a budget and then being picky but I have a habit of future proofing I guess, otherwise you just end up spending more down the line.

 

And I'm not sure what a SAS plate is, no idea if you even talking to me or the other guy about that.

My bad merged 2 topics in my head!

Have any recommendations for fans? Or does everyone just use Noctua?

I like Noctua for implementations where noise is an issue, but there are plenty of high CFM fans if this will be in a closet and noise doesn't matter.

Have any recommendations for fans? Or does everyone just use Noctua?

I like Noctua for implementations where noise is an issue, but there are plenty of high CFM fans if this will be in a closet and noise doesn't matter.

 

So Noctua it is then. Is there a specific type I should get or are they all relatively the same? Angled blade design vs straight blade design.

I've always used angled, but the stats and reviews on the straight blades look worth a try.  Take a look at the Noctua lines, though.  Their Focused Flow fans are more of a static pressure radiator fan while the S12 fans are more air flow optimized case fans.  Of the two you linked I'd go with the straight blade fan as it is optimized as a case fan.

I've always used angled, but the stats and reviews on the straight blades look worth a try.  Take a look at the Noctua lines, though.  Their Focused Flow fans are more of a static pressure radiator fan while the S12 fans are more air flow optimized case fans.  Of the two you linked I'd go with the straight blade fan as it is optimized as a case fan.

 

Awesome. If you don't mind me asking, how does your CPU handle Plex?

Google the cpuname and passmark and see what each cpu scores. Mine gets around 4000 and according to plex site you roughly should have 2000 passmark for 1080 transcode. Im now looking for a CPU with a 10000 passmark score.

Google the cpuname and passmark and see what each cpu scores. Mine gets around 4000 and according to plex site you roughly should have 2000 passmark for 1080 transcode. Im now looking for a CPU with a 10000 passmark score.

 

Yes but that's only roughly. I wanted to hear his personal experience with it.

My CPU is a 4,045 Passmark CPU.  It's an older CPU, but it was pretty decent back when it was released.  I use Roku's and iPads for players.  My media is a mix of H.264 encoded TV shows and native DVD and BluRay rips.  FYI I've played with Plex on several CPUs, from a Core2Duo E6400 to Core i7 4790.

 

Playing a 1080p H.264 TV Show has low transcoding requirements for my players and all 4 cores are less than 25%.  Playing a 720p DVD will see all 4 cores spiking once in a while but in general load averages around 1.0 - 1.25 (so overall running at 25% capacity).  Playing a low bit rate 1080p BluRay sees all 4 cores at around 75% and one minute load averages around 3.0.  But, playing a high bit rate action movie results in all 4 cores completely spiked with one minute load averages well over 4.0 (I've seen > 5.0) and 5 minute load averages well over 3.0.

 

In other words, Plex transcoding for a high bit rate native 1080p BluRay rip can run a 4,000 Passmark CPU at full capacity.  I've never seem any stuttering, but I suspect it's a close thing with this CPU.  Another consideration - leave some CPU for unRAID!

Keep in mind that plex usually transcodes ahead. It transcodes a bunch and then stops and waits for the stream to catch up. So it's more likely to max out the cpu initially for a little while.

 

To figure out how many streams it can do, I let it transcode for either plex sync or cloudsync, and it will tell you the transcode speed in x. My old am3 phenom transcoded scene 720p rips to lower bitrate at about 4.2x (I believe passmark score is just shy of 4000). So it was capable of doing 3, possibly 4 at once. But I never had more than 2 at a time in reality. And I have mostly 720p material

 

I'm now using the xeon e5-2670v1 with a 10,000 passmark score and it transcodes at over 12x

Yeah, that's why I don't get stuttering - Plex has transcoded ahead.  Based on what I'm seeing I think I could induce stuttering if I reduced the Transcoder Default Throttle Buffer to less than the 60 seconds I have it set to now, but I haven't tried narrowing it down.