Plex Hardware Recommendations for Multiple Streams


Lithium

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With the current state of the world, my Plex server is getting more attention than it used to and it's time to upgrade. Currently it can handle about 3-4 1080p streams but I'd like it to be able to handle about double the amount. I'd also like to run a VM or two but just to play around with - nothing intense.

 

I've currently got a AMD Ryzen 5 2400G running on a B450 AORUS M motherboard. 

 

Ideally, I don't want to change the motherboard so I'm hoping you can recommend something last-gen that's compatible and will allow more Plex streams.

 

I was also wondering if it's necessary to put a graphics card in the system. Most people are watching the content at it's native quality so hardly any transcoding takes place (if I'm understanding the terminology correctly) so I don't think it's needed?

 

Lastly, I've just got 16Gb of 2133 MHz DDR4 memory installed. I haven't noticed this being a bottleneck but do you think there would be any benefit to upgrading this that I can't see?

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4 minutes ago, Lithium said:

Ideally, I don't want to change the motherboard so I'm hoping you can recommend something last-gen that's compatible and will allow more Plex streams.

If you are largely direct playing content locally, I am surprised it can't handle more than 3-4 simultaneous streams.  However, if content is being transcoded (converted to a different format or bitrate the client can play or streamed remotely), then that is, in fact, the limit of the Ryzen 5 2400G.

 

Transcoding recommendations from Plex are that each 1080p transcoded stream needs about 2000 passmarks.  Your Ryzen 5 2400G has a passmark score of 8953, that is enough for the CPU to transcode up to 4 streams and leave barely enough overhead for unRAID itself with no other activity on the server.

 

With a supported Nvidia graphics card in the system, the transcoding is offloaded to the GPU and the CPU passmark score does not become such a big concern.

 

16GB RAM could be a bottleneck if you have other system activity plus multiple transcodes taking place; however, that depends on the source format, target format, bitrate, etc.  For direct played local content (no transcoding) it should be plenty.

 

If you are going to stick to CPU transcoding, when transcoding is necessary, and you want to have the CPU overhead to handle 8 streams transcoded, you would need a CPU passmark score of around 18,000 (16,000 for eight 1080p streams + 2,000 for unRAID overhead).  That would mean at least a Ryzen 2700X or above.

 

The bottom line is that you have to have a good idea how those eight streams of content are going to be delivered and plan accordingly with either CPU or GPU.  All direct play? A mix of direct play and transcoded?  All transcoded? 

 

This whole discussion has centered on 1080p content.  If you are talking about transcoding (when needed) 4K/HEVC content, throw all this out the window because Plex says you need 17,000 passmarks for a single 4K/HEVC/10-bit transcoded stream.  Hopefully, all your Plex clients can play 4K directly or you have a 1080p library for remote streaming.

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Thank you so much for the detailed reply!

 

I was being dumb and assuming all devices were direct playing because all the devices in my home do but after checking, there are a few external users with hardware that wasn't direct playing - probably why my CPU is having a hard time. I think I can safely make the assumption that the split between direct playing and transcoding is 50/50. Thank you for the advice about the passmarks - I'll use that as a rough guide in future!

 

With those updated requirements though, do you think it would be better to upgrade the CPU or to install an Nvidia graphics card? I've heard transcoding can be problematic on graphics cards, even if they are supported?

 

And apologies for going slightly off-topic but as you mentioned 4K content, I've only got a few media files that are 4K but this is something I'd like to start getting more of. The main TV in my house can direct play it but other devices probably can't. Would you recommend created "optimised versions" of these from within the Plex server GUI or have something like Handbrake create 1080p versions?

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25 minutes ago, Lithium said:

With those updated requirements though, do you think it would be better to upgrade the CPU or to install an Nvidia graphics card? I've heard transcoding can be problematic on graphics cards, even if they are supported?

Some claim that software (CPU) transcoding is of much better quality than hardware (GPU) transcoding.  I, and many others, have seen no quality issues with hardware transcoding at 720p 4 Mbit quality and above.  Sure, it may be slightly lower quality than software transcoding and, in very dark scenes, it may be possible to detect some slight blockiness, but, I don't really even notice it.

 

I have an Intel based-system with an integrated GPU to which Plex transcoding is offloaded and I support five remote households.  I have seen up to five simultaneous transcodes taking place and the CPU is not even breaking a sweat because the iGPU is dealing with it all.  No one has complained about the quallity.  I have Plex set to transcode remote streams to 1080p 8 Mbit, but, before that it pumping out 720p 4 Mbit and no one complained about quality on their very large screens.

 

31 minutes ago, Lithium said:

Would you recommend created "optimised versions" of these from within the Plex server GUI or have something like Handbrake create 1080p versions?

Either would suffice with 4K content.  You can play it locally but you definitely want a 1080p library for remote streaming.  I would try an optimized version of a 4K movie and a HandBrake 1080p transcode and see if you can detect any great difference via remote streaming.

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