Motherboard and CPU choice for unRAID + Plex

[Nanobug]

Hello unRAID.

Currently I have the followe MB and CPU:

MB: MSI Z77A-GD65 (I know, old AF)

CPU: Intel i7-3770K (old AF as well)

 

Would it be enough to run unRAID and a decent Plex Media Server?

I'm thinking a maximum of 5 simultaneously 1080p streams at most, that might have to transcode it to 720p.

 

With Windows, it takes quite a lot of CPU usage.

 

I can also build an entire new system, I'm thinking AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, but I'm not sure on the MB yet, or if I should go PCIe 3.0 or 4.0.
4.0 might be a bit overkill for a NAS.

 

Any input on this?

[testdasi]

I believe the general consensus is 2000 passmark per 1080p stream so your CPU at 9279 is in the gray area for 5 streams.

Note that the consensus is for H.264 (aka AVC).

For H.265 (aka HEVC), your CPU will almost certainly won't be able to handle 3 streams.

 

Given your CPU is in the gray area, I would say just set up a test server and see if it's ok for you and your content before going the upgrade path.

[drdebian]

1 hour ago, Nanobug said:

Hello unRAID.

Currently I have the followe MB and CPU:

MB: MSI Z77A-GD65 (I know, old AF)

CPU: Intel i7-3770K (old AF as well)

 

Would it be enough to run unRAID and a decent Plex Media Server?

I'm thinking a maximum of 5 simultaneously 1080p streams at most, that might have to transcode it to 720p.

 

With Windows, it takes quite a lot of CPU usage.

 

I can also build an entire new system, I'm thinking AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, but I'm not sure on the MB yet, or if I should go PCIe 3.0 or 4.0.
4.0 might be a bit overkill for a NAS.

 

Any input on this?

I think you should be good to go if you enable the i915 QSV driver for hardware transcoding and stick to h.264.

[Nanobug]

10 minutes ago, drdebian said:

I think you should be good to go if you enable the i915 QSV driver for hardware transcoding and stick to h.264.

 

56 minutes ago, testdasi said:

I believe the general consensus is 2000 passmark per 1080p stream so your CPU at 9279 is in the gray area for 5 streams.

Note that the consensus is for H.264 (aka AVC).

For H.265 (aka HEVC), your CPU will almost certainly won't be able to handle 3 streams.

 

Given your CPU is in the gray area, I would say just set up a test server and see if it's ok for you and your content before going the upgrade path.

I'm planning on using it at first, I just wanted to check if it's completely hopeless to even start.

I assume unRAID uses less resources than Windows 10 64 bit Pro. I can run roughly 1 -  1080p stream while gaming and streaming at the same time. It's not the best gaming experience for me, but the stream is as smooth as the gameplay (no frames dropped), but I do drop to 30 fps some times. But the stream is working as intended.

11 minutes ago, drdebian said:

I think you should be good to go if you enable the i915 QSV driver for hardware transcoding and stick to h.264.

Not sure what i915 QSV. Do you mean Intel Quick Sync?

[testdasi]

7 minutes ago, Nanobug said:

I'm planning on using it at first, I just wanted to check if it's completely hopeless to even start.

It is definitely NOT hopeless. That's why I recommended you test it out first (otherwise I would have told you to just upgrade  )

[Nanobug]

28 minutes ago, testdasi said:

It is definitely NOT hopeless. That's why I recommended you test it out first (otherwise I would have told you to just upgrade  )

Then I will build a new rig for gaming, streaming and working, then use my current system as NAS/Media Server.

Thanks!

[testdasi]

2 hours ago, Nanobug said:

Then I will build a new rig for gaming, streaming and working, then use my current system as NAS/Media Server.

Thanks!

Also forgot to mention. You can test out with a trial license. It doesn't take much effort to have an empty disk + a USB + install Plex docker + copy 5 different media files over and do a 5-stream test.

[Nanobug]

6 hours ago, testdasi said:

Also forgot to mention. You can test out with a trial license. It doesn't take much effort to have an empty disk + a USB + install Plex docker + copy 5 different media files over and do a 5-stream test.

I need the rig first, since I'm gonna need a second PC case, and an entire new setup. But yeah, thanks a lot!

[drdebian]

17 hours ago, Nanobug said:

Not sure what i915 QSV. Do you mean Intel Quick Sync?

Yes, exactly. Hardware-accelerated video transcoding goes a long way in making older CPUs a viable option.

[Nanobug]

6 hours ago, drdebian said:

Yes, exactly. Hardware-accelerated video transcoding goes a long way in making older CPUs a viable option.

Ah, yeah. I've been looking into it. So far, I haven't seen an improvement yet. But it might be because I'm using my current system for everything, so it's not really showing a difference yet