Thinking about the E-2186G....


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What is your playback device? Maybe you can avoid the transcoding by using a different player? I have been fighting with the issue of my server not being powerful enough to transcode since I ditched my dedicated HTPC (too old to play 4K) for an Apple TV4K. There was no way the other half was going to approve funds for a HTPC that can do 4K with full madvr quality settings. Initially I was using Infuse (does not require transcoding) and then I switched to MrMc, also doesn't require transcoding. I prefer MrMc. Feels more like Kodi and Emby.

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It seems to be platform indipendent.  For instance my Nvidia Shield TV (One of the best players on the market) direct plays them fine, but the transcoded versions playing on the same device look washed out.  Same thing for browser viewing.  It doesn't seem to be a "client" issue, but more a transcoding issue...the transcoder is not mapping the tone between HDR and SDR..so when the client gets it they don't get the HDR metadata /and/ the default tone mapping in the transcoder is putting out crap colors.

 

For reference: https://forums.plex.tv/t/hevc-4k-playback-washed-out-colors/220912/22

 

So right now, any HDR content being transcoded will look washed out...see the screen shots in that thread.  4k that isn't HDR will be fine.

 

So I can transcode 4k HDR/SDR content at 8x+ (So always throttled in PMS), but with HDR content the playback is crap.  

 

As a note, I'm unsure if the HDR issue would be resolved on a transcoding session where the client supports HDR...as that is likely the most limited of corner cases in this day and age, I'm not sure it matters :).

Edited by Tybio
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  • 4 weeks later...

I've been looking into building a Plex 4k Transcoder NAS for a little while also and came to conclusion a c246 motherboard with either i3-8100 or E-21xxG would be the best option so it could do everything, and have ECC, was the best solution... but having been looking into it and Plex's capabilities (or lack of) around hw transcoding and specifically 4k HDR... and so reluctantly reached the conclusion even if i could achieve the aim of having a single server for Plex Transcoding and NAS there's little point - and it would cost a good amount to achieve it vs just building a dedicated NAS with older parts that don't support iGPU-based HEVC transcoding, and storing properly encoded version of 1080p films alongside 4k.

It's a real shame, i have a couple of Nvidia Shield's i use and love also, but that's usually not possible when you want to watch something away from home, even with a 1GbE fibre connection and a 4k device - so the dream was to have everything in 4k and transcode as required - but the technology and Plex Media Server software just isn't mature enough to do this yet it seems. It's just too bleeding edge.

I think for now i'm going to forget trying to transcode 4k HEVC on the fly, wait till everything else catches up, and instead build a NAS to store both 4k and 1080p versions of media.

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21 minutes ago, SonicUK said:

I think for now i'm going to forget trying to transcode 4k HEVC on the fly, wait till everything else catches up, and instead build a NAS to store both 4k and 1080p versions of media.

 

A very reasonable plan, as I said above, I've done the upgrade and I'm having to do the same thing. 

 

You do need to keep separate libraries by the way, you can't just use plex "Versions" of the movie as Plex is /stupid/ about picking which one to play.  If there isn't a direct play option, and it is going to transcode...the selection of which version to transcode is lacking any brains.  Some people say it is the "first" version added to plex, and others say it always transcodes the best file....either way, you can't get predictable behavior at the moment when you have multiple versions in the same library.

 

For example, I have a movie with a 1080p and 4k HDR version.  Transcoding down to iphone via LTE levels (so the lowest 720p option or lower) my server started transcoding the 4k HDR version......

Edited by Tybio
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  • 1 month later...

Instead of E-2186G, I just bought an E-2176G from a cybershop in New Zealand for better power savings.

And my build is based on Gigabyte MX32-4L0 and 4x16G ECC Crucial CT16G4WFD8266.

 

Both unraid and ESXi 6.5 work like a charm. Both RX590 and 1660Ti could be passed-through to VMs without any issue.

 

If I want to go CoffeeLake and ECC with a relative high frequency, I think E-2186G or E-2176 is the (only) best choice at this moment.

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On 3/27/2019 at 4:30 AM, suriv520 said:

Instead of E-2186G, I just bought an E-2176G from a cybershop in New Zealand for better power savings.

And my build is based on Gigabyte MX32-4L0 and 4x16G ECC Crucial CT16G4WFD8266.

 

Both unraid and ESXi 6.5 work like a charm. Both RX590 and 1660Ti could be passed-through to VMs without any issue.

 

If I want to go CoffeeLake and ECC with a relative high frequency, I think E-2186G or E-2176 is the (only) best choice at this moment.

I've been thinking of a similar build with E-2146G. Where were you able to find the Gigabyte MX32-4L0? Haven't seen it on retail sites. Thinking about this or ASRock Rack C246M WS, both of which have IPMI but both seem unavailable.

Edited by golli53
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  • 4 weeks later...
On 3/31/2019 at 12:50 PM, golli53 said:

I've been thinking of a similar build with E-2146G. Where were you able to find the Gigabyte MX32-4L0? Haven't seen it on retail sites. Thinking about this or ASRock Rack C246M WS, both of which have IPMI but both seem unavailable.

I managed to get a 2176g running on a $50 B150 motherboard.  I had to flash a modify bios to the mobo and isolate/short some pins on the cpu. 

Edited by trurl
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On 12/27/2018 at 2:28 AM, Tybio said:

Ok, the build is done!  I've updated my post in the compulsive design forum for people who want details and pictures.

 

I just wanted to drop this in here, tested Plex hardware transcoding today and got it working...the iGPU works out of the box with unraid 6.6.5 (Standard steps to enable hardware transcoding in Plex).  It is /throtteled/ when transcoding from 4k to 1080p (Meaning it can transcode well faster than the playback).  Obviously only the video stream is hardware assisted...so I'm bouncing from 5-10% CPU when playing.  That is with 2 VMs running and a boatload of dockers...my normal CPU is hovering at the 5% or less level.

 

The normal temp of this server is ~29C, with transcoding it jumps up to ~35C.

 

1243555702_ScreenShot2018-12-26at1_23_23PM.thumb.png.bd838557ccf27c5b210b9db432be4a1f.png

hi, did you passthru the igpu to a windows vm or you enabled hw acceleration in a docker?

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  • 2 months later...

For anyone in this thread looking for an 8 core/16 thread entry-level Xeon with iGPU, it is here (sort of).

 

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/193745/intel-xeon-e-2278g-processor-16m-cache-3-40-ghz.html

 

It uses the same socket and chipset as the E-21xx series so all the MBs mentioned in this thread can accommodate this new CPU.

 

It was announced a couple of months ago, but, it is not yet shipping (probably will give @Tybio painful flashbacks).  Best guess on availability is Q4.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Question for the OP, I stumbled across this thread as I've been struggling with finding suitable hardware for an upgrade path for an aging i7 based HP workstation that is currently my do-it-all server in the home (runs Plex, some CCTV software, a couple of other services).

 

I want to run ESXi 6.7 preferably and want the ability to passthrough GPU in the event that 4K HDR transcoding ever becomes an option within Plex.

 

I had been leaning towards getting the new Ryzen 3700X since bang for buck it is an enormous processor... unfortunately motherboard selection if you need a few PCI slots is kind of terrible (I want a reserved slot for GPU, need a slot for 10Gb NIC in future and need a slot for a PERC H330 RAID controller).... the motherboard that has IPMI and most of the features I need is an Asrock motherboard (X470D4U) but it appears to have some stability issues, the IPMI is buggy ,etc.

 

If you were doing it again right now would you still go the Intel route?  There for sure is better motherboard options.

 

What is your standby power consumption with the Intel chip?

 

Thanks

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