Intel vs AMD (+ GPU?)


r1sk

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I was reading bunch of topics and I was overwhelmed with information, but still couldn't figure out whats better, and would happy to hear your thoughts.

 

(TL:DR below)

 

My first and last Unraid build was about 4-5 years ago - 

M/B: ASRock - C2750D4I

CPU: Intel® Atom™ CPU C2750 @ 2.40GHz

Memory: 32 GB ECC

HDD: 4x4TB , 3x3TB, 1x4TB (parity)

SSD: 1x256GB (Cache)

 

As you can see its pretty old but working solution to what I needed, mostly used for few dockers (SABnzbd, radar, sonarr, plex), it worked for file sharing and watching 1 oe 2 streams simultaneously in plex.

 

Now things are changing, I moved to a new house, got a new 1GB fiber connection so immediately I started to look at moving to a 4k movie quality since downloading the movies won't be an issue anymore.

 

I got to a conclusion I will need to build a brand new system, but here is the thing, not sure what route i should take.

 

I've got 3 options as far as I can understand:

 

1. Old dual xeon server CPUs , find a good deal on a MB + 2 CPUs add bunch of RAM 64-128GB - which sounds good, but from what I've managed to read H.265 is not ideal for this type of system, and I do expect most of the 4k movies / tv will use H.265.

2. New Intel i9-9900k + 32-64GB RAM - this option looks as the most expensive one, but should work the best for H.265 

3. New Ryzen 2700x + 32-64GB RAM - it is a bit cheaper then the intel option but I couldn't find out if its worse then the intel option or not? will I be able to use it with Unraid without any additional modification ? 

 

In the new system I would like to do the same as before + add few VMs for some testings and such.

 

And now about the GPU part ? do i need it for the above parts? will it help me in any way to off load the streaming of 4k movies?

 

and if in the future I would like to spin up a VM for steamOS to stream games to other computers in the house, can I add a GPU later ? and could I do it with any of the 3 options above ?

 

TL:DR 

Intel i9-9900k vs Ryzen 2700x vs Old dual xeon - with or without GPU support for 4k plex streaming?

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3 hours ago, whipdancer said:

i9-9900 and ryzen 2700 are not in the same league. Ryzen system should cost you about half an i9 system.

 

Threadripper and i9 are comparable. Threadripper should cost about 80% of an equivalent i9.

 

If you want quicksync support, that is only on Intel.

  

as far as I can understand i9-9900 is not comparable to 2700 but i9-9900 is not comparable to threadripper as well, the threadripper is about 40% more expensive .. 

 

Ryzen 2700x - 330$ ~ 

i9-9900 - 540$ ~

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X - 899$ ~ 

 

I am trying to understand how high the price range I should go , and what are the benefits for each, what does quicksync does in an unraid system for plex ? and if it's only Intels thing, how does the AMD CPUs work ?

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My 2c, if your going to use Plex, jump into some of the threads here and elsewhere on the topic to find what works best for others, noting that dockers currently won't give you gpu acceleration (but a VM would).

 

My thoughts are a 2920x would be only slightly more than the i9 but would give you so much more, albeit with the loss of quicksync.

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14 hours ago, r1sk said:

as far as I can understand i9-9900 is not comparable to 2700 but i9-9900 is not comparable to threadripper as well, the threadripper is about 40% more expensive .. 

 

Ryzen 2700x - 330$ ~ 

i9-9900 - 540$ ~

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X - 899$ ~ 

 

I am trying to understand how high the price range I should go , and what are the benefits for each, what does quicksync does in an unraid system for plex ? and if it's only Intels thing, how does the AMD CPUs work ?

Threadripper 19xx series is comparable to the i9-9900 (and ranges from about $300 to $550)

Ryzen 2700 is somewhere between i5 and i7.

Using a GPU will not off-load streaming. It will off-load encoding/decoding.

If you want GPU en/decoding, you want either Intel (via quicksync) or nvidia - I believe nvidia requires VM instead of a docker container.

Quicksync has nothing to do with Unraid. It is a feature of Intel cpu's with onboard gpu.  Newer generations of the Intel cpu with gpu are natively capable of en/decoding h265 via quicksync. AMD has to use the CPU itself to accomplish the same thing. 

If all you want is to use HW en/decoding in Plex, then any modern Intel cpu with gpu will get you there using via a Docker or VM on Unraid.

The use of GPU en/decoding is a whole topic unto itself.  First decide if you require a GPU specifically for Plex.  Separately, figure out what you want out of Unraid.

Edited by whipdancer
docker VM info
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2 hours ago, whipdancer said:

Threadripper 19xx series is comparable to the i9-9900 (and ranges from about $300 to $550)

Ryzen 2700 is somewhere between i5 and i7.

Using a GPU will not off-load streaming. It will off-load encoding/decoding.

If you want GPU en/decoding, you want either Intel (via quicksync) or nvidia - I believe nvidia requires VM instead of a docker container.

Quicksync has nothing to do with Unraid. It is a feature of Intel cpu's with onboard gpu.  Newer generations of the Intel cpu with gpu are natively capable of en/decoding h265 via quicksync. AMD has to use the CPU itself to accomplish the same thing. 

If all you want is to use HW en/decoding in Plex, then any modern Intel cpu with gpu will get you there using via a Docker or VM on Unraid.

The use of GPU en/decoding is a whole topic unto itself.  First decide if you require a GPU specifically for Plex.  Separately, figure out what you want out of Unraid.

any advantages of using GPU vs iGPU (intel) ? 

Do I really neew HW en/decoding for 4k H.265 in plex ? or will a good CPU be more then what I need?

 

I'm looking more into getting the i9-9900k , since it comes with iGPU already and it will save me from buying a dedicated GPU.

what I am unable to find in any post around this forum is what are the results ill get from every combination

 

i9-9900k  (docker / vm) - ~730$ (incl MB)

i9-9900k + GPU( GTX 1070Ti or something in that area) (VM) - ~1230$

Ryzen 2700x + GPU( GTX 1070Ti or something in that area) (VM) - ~1050$

Threadripper 29xx + GPU( GTX 1070Ti or something in that area) (VM) - ~1700$

Threadripper 19xx + GPU( GTX 1070Ti or something in that area) (VM) - ~1350$

Ryzen 2700x + GPU(no HW en/decoding Generic GPU just for running unraid) (VM) - ~600$

Threadripper 29xx + GPU(no HW en/decoding Generic GPU just for running unraid) (VM) - ~1250$

Threadripper 19xx + GPU(no HW en/decoding Generic GPU just for running unraid) (VM) - ~900$

 

(Do I need 1070TI for plex HW en/decoding or is it over kill ? )

 

for every of the above options can I somewhere get the numbers for the below questions? 

* # of 4k stream I can get from that.

* if I am getting a GPU can it stream a 4k movie and run a VM with steamOS to stream a game on another computer at the same time ?

 

 

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3 hours ago, r1sk said:

any advantages of using GPU vs iGPU (intel) ? 

Do I really neew HW en/decoding for 4k H.265 in plex ? or will a good CPU be more then what I need?

 

I'm looking more into getting the i9-9900k , since it comes with iGPU already and it will save me from buying a dedicated GPU.

what I am unable to find in any post around this forum is what are the results ill get from every combination

 

i9-9900k  (docker / vm) -<snip>

 

(Do I need 1070TI for plex HW en/decoding or is it over kill ? )

 

for every of the above options can I somewhere get the numbers for the below questions? 

* # of 4k stream I can get from that.

* if I am getting a GPU can it stream a 4k movie and run a VM with steamOS to stream a game on another computer at the same time ?

 

 

1. Advantage of iGPU is you don't have to buy something else. Some consider quicksync an advantage, some don't.
2. That is up to you to determine. I'm running an i5-4690T (a 4th gen i5), Plex with hw enabled. I easily does full bluray bitrates. It cannot transcode 4k without buffering.
3. You will not find a post where they discuss every option. It is up to you to cull through the mounds of data available on this topic to suss out what you need.

4. A GPU used by a VM cannot be used by anything else.

Intel iGPU makes hw en/decode easy - but it is a compromise in quality. Some say it is too much of a compromise. Some say they can't tell the difference. Again, it's an opinion thing and you will have to figure out if it applies to you.

If you want to do VM's, consider more cores. If you want to game on your VM, you will need a dedicated GPU.

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