Which Plex Media Serer Hardware (Intel vs AMD)

[bastage]

Currently I have a Phenom 9150e (65w 1.8Ghz quad core) with 4gb DDR2 transcoding using plex media server to up to 4 Roku's

Right now I can not transcode anything in really high quality (lower 720p is fine for a couple of streams at a time). So I am wanting to upgrade the hardware.

I plan to move my system into a Fractal Design Node 304 so it will be a mITX setup..

Currently I am considering the 2 options below. Either of which will get 8gb of ram (unless someone can legitimately tell me that Plex uses more in which case I will go to 2x 8gb sticks)

Intel Core i5-3450S + ASRock B75M-ITX @ 290

or

AMD A10-5700 + ASRock FM2A75M-ITX @ 215

I know that the i5 @ 2.8 Ghz should outperform the A10 @ 3.4 Ghz (and maybe even when the A10 is in turbo at 4.0)

Ultimately though.. Is the i5 worth the 75 dollar premium for simply transcoding. Or should I stick to the cheaper A10 and be happy with the huge bump it would be over my very dated Phenom.

Also if making other CPU recomendations please keep in mind that I want no more then a 65w TDP as it will be in a mITX setup with a ton of HDD's.

 

[utnorris]

If you are not using the integrated GPU, then Intel would be better, however I would consider the 3225 instead, which should be about the same price as the A10-5700, but have slightly better performance for transcoding.

 

[bastage]

From what I have read plex will use all cores available. So I do not want to drop to a dual core.

And the gpu is not used. The amd rig is just substantially cheaper. Just not sure of the Intel is worth the price premium given the limited functions of the server.

 

[Dangman]

IMO, it's worth the $75.

With that said, the difference would only be $55 if you go with the Core i5-2310:
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Processor-i5-2310-LGA1155-BX80623I52310/dp/B00520J9KU

You'd save $20, lose only 3% performance, and only gain 10W (at most) of extra power usage. Yes the Core i5 2310 has a higher TDP but as shown in this XbitLabs review, the lower TDP really doesn't matter that much. The only reason why the T and S series CPUs were any special were because they were just clocked lower. Simple as that.

 

[bastage]

hmm I seem to remember the i5-3450S being cheaper then the i5 2310 the other day.

You are centainly right though. Currently the 2310 is the better buy Also the AMD combo I linked is now more expensive at 222 as opposed to the intel setup at 254.. So what was a 75 dollar difference is now only a 27 dollar difference. Less if I go with a different intel Mainboard since this is a SB chip as opposed to IB (238 if I use the better quality Intel BOXDH61DLB3 which has an Intel Nic so its much prefered anyway).

 

[Dangman]

hmm I seem to remember the i5-3450S being cheaper then the i5 2310 the other day.

To be honest, I'm not sure if it's a new price or just a sales price for the Core i5 2310. Either way, you probably should decide soon which CPU to get.

 

[Nethel]

I'm actually putting together a build in the Node 304 for this same purpose.

The ASRock motherboard you're looking at only has 4 total SATA connections; the Intel, 3. For my server I'm planning on going with the ASUS P8H77-I so I can use all 6 drive bays without having to install a RAID controller or SATA card. Couple dollars more expensive at the outset, but it saves me buying a card I don't really need.

 

[bastage]

I'm actually putting together a build in the Node 304 for this same purpose.

The ASRock motherboard you're looking at only has 4 total SATA connections; the Intel, 3. For my server I'm planning on going with the ASUS P8H77-I so I can use all 6 drive bays without having to install a RAID controller or SATA card. Couple dollars more expensive at the outset, but it saves me buying a card I don't really need.

I already have the raid card and will boot from an ssd so most of the onboard sata wont be used anyway. Having the onboard Nic being an Intel however is something that I really appreciate.

 

[bastage]

well I came across a deal I couldn't pass up.. an i3-540 & accompanying Gigabyte mITX board..

Wont have the processing power of the Intel system above, but I believe that this should still outdo the AMD quad core.. And the price is certainly right..

 

[Nethel]

An update on my system, now that it's built. I decided to go the opposite way bastage, I went all out on mine. Ended up with the system in my sig.

Intel DH77DF Mini ITX
Intel I5 3540
Crucial 8gb 1600
IBM M1015
4x Seagate 2tb
Crucial M4 256gb

I'm running Server 2012 with FlexRaid. Very happy with it so far, definitely handles my Plex needs lol. Future upgrades include adding the final 2 Seagate drives to finish out the 6, and a modular PSU because cable management in this Node is a bitch.

 

[GeorgeHR]

Right now I can not transcode anything in really high quality (lower 720p is fine for a couple of streams at a time). So I am wanting to upgrade the hardware.

Just for reference I have a I3 CPU and transcoding HD takes about an 1hr/hr of recoding. That is using a SSD for the source. It takes longer using a HDD as the source.

I don't know what your time constraints are so I don't know what CPU and disk speed you need.

 

[bastage]

An update on my system, now that it's built. I decided to go the opposite way bastage, I went all out on mine. Ended up with the system in my sig.

Intel DH77DF Mini ITX
Intel I5 3540
Crucial 8gb 1600
IBM M1015
4x Seagate 2tb
Crucial M4 256gb

I'm running Server 2012 with FlexRaid. Very happy with it so far, definitely handles my Plex needs lol. Future upgrades include adding the final 2 Seagate drives to finish out the 6, and a modular PSU because cable management in this Node is a bitch.

Wow a very similar build indeed.. Your packing more CPU power then I am for sure though..

As for the PSU I bought a Seasonic 380w non modular one used & I am going to mod the cables to custom fit the Node 304 & I will remove anything I am not using (such as the extra molex & possibly the PCIe connector).

I already have a license Stablebit Drivepool so I will be using it (though it appears it & flexraid do basically all the same stuff).

I am going to keep my eye out for an i5-750 or an i7-860 though to bump this guy back to a quad, but I really dont think I will need it to get the performance I am after.

Also I now ahve 4 of the samsung 2tb drives & 2 samsung 1.5tb drives that are going into it & I am going to put the OS on a Crucial M4 64gb so I can start migrating the drives over to 4tb drives as they become available..

 

[Nethel]

How safe is modding a PSU? I'm running an Antec High Current Gamer 430w. If I can remove the extra cables I would prefer doing that instead of buying a new PSU I don't really need. What all does this entail? Removing the extraneous cables and heatshrinking the exposed wires?

I got the i5 from Microcenter for $119 before they raised the prices. I wanted to keep my options open for VT-d in case it gets re-purposed in the future.

Ditto on the M4 256, snagged on from Amazon Warehouse deals for about $130. Updated firmware and off to the races.

 

[bastage]

Getting rid of extra leads is easy, its adding new ones that make it a bit more defficult.. To get rid of anything I dont need I will just use some end snips & follow the wires into the psu & clip them as close to the PCB as I can get.. That in its own will be enough, but I will probably throw some liquid etape over as well just be be certain. Also keep in mind this will absolutely void the warranty. & that HCG 400 is a good seasonic unit as well. I actually have a corsair cx400 which I believe is about the same thing (also seasonic)

 

[Nethel]

I've been doing some research on it this afternoon, looks fairly simple. I may redo the connections on the SATA string too. Unclamping them and flipping the connectors would make the cable management a lot easier for the HDDs. I just have to find one extra power connector to add to the string to round out the 6.

 

[bastage]

IO just ordered a bunch of these as well as matching red to replace everything else..

I plan to redo the string for the HDD's & I will be flipping every other one so that they do line up wight with the HDD's in the Node 304.. I wont really have alot of extra to get rid of in mine, but I figure if I am going to mod that SATA cable as to line up for the HDD's which wont work well in ANY other case I might as well tailor fir the rest of the PSU to the case too. I am actually pretty psyched for it since I have never modded a PSU before at all or for that matter I have never sleeved my own cables in a PC (though I have on a dirtbike).

 

[bastage]

So Nethel.. Can you by chance snap a picture of the M1015 with a HDD installed in the cage behind it. I am trying to get a feel for how much (errr how little) space there is there?

 

[Nethel]

I will get the pic for you tomorrow. I have an SSD and a 2.5" drive in that last cage right now, so I will put a full size drive in and see how much room is left.

 

[Medion]

1. Replace the Rokus with WD TV Live
2. Place all rips on a single HDD connected via USB to your wifi/corded router (MKV or MP$, either works)
3. Stream straight to WD TV Live, no Plex or transcoding needed.

 

[bastage]

1. Replace the Rokus with WD TV Live
2. Place all rips on a single HDD connected via USB to your wifi/corded router (MKV or MP$, either works)
3. Stream straight to WD TV Live, no Plex or transcoding needed.

So you really think I should downgrade everything and delete 2/3 of my media.. Great suggestion..

/sarcasm off

 

[Darq]

Not sure if you are still taking suggestions, but I would find the cheapest 22nm i5 you can [Just ordered one on newegg a few days ago for $180 shipped, I think].

8GB RAM should be fine unless you think you'll be streaming a ton of stuff simultaneously to machines that all require transcoding [as opposed to some stuff the Roku/PlexWeb can play direct].

That said, for Plex, an SSD is likely a waste of money. Get a small one to run the OS on for the machine, but I have yet to hit any HDD bottlenecks streaming off a crappy Segate SATA drive that was repuirposed out of an external disk [power adapter busted].


The one thing Medion may have gotten right [WD TV Live over a Roku 2? Srsly?] is that an ethernet-based disk/NAS may not be a bad idea, since it should have more than enough throughput IF your Plex box will also be wired, and it's all gigabit cabling/switch. If the Plex box is wireless, or you have 100mb wiring/networking, then I would avoid the ethernet NAS, as you'll have buffering on both ends [Plex will have to buffer/load before it can transcode, and then obviously the client/player will have to buffer from Plex]

 

[mrgstiffler]

Wow a very similar build indeed.. Your packing more CPU power then I am for sure though..

As for the PSU I bought a Seasonic 380w non modular one used & I am going to mod the cables to custom fit the Node 304 & I will remove anything I am not using (such as the extra molex & possibly the PCIe connector).

I already have a license Stablebit Drivepool so I will be using it (though it appears it & flexraid do basically all the same stuff).

I am going to keep my eye out for an i5-750 or an i7-860 though to bump this guy back to a quad, but I really dont think I will need it to get the performance I am after.

Also I now ahve 4 of the samsung 2tb drives & 2 samsung 1.5tb drives that are going into it & I am going to put the OS on a Crucial M4 64gb so I can start migrating the drives over to 4tb drives as they become available..

Very interesting post. I'm in pretty much the exact same situation. I'm running Plex server on an i3-540 with 8 2TB drives pooled with DriveBender. The server is also running MySQL for Newznab. I'm trying to decide if swapping the i3-540 with an i5-750 would be good. Sacrificing clock speed for extra cores. It sounds like both MySQL and the Plex transcoder would make good use of two more cores. I'm able to stream non-compressed BD rips to my Roku 2 XS at 1080P/20Mb almost flawlessly. There are occasional blips and the CPU is constantly pegged at 100% while watching. I'm thinking I'll swap the 540 for the 750, go from 4GB to 8GB and clone the WD2500KS OS (and MySQL DB) drive to a Seagate 500GB XT.

 

[thedge]

So you really think I should downgrade everything and delete 2/3 of my media.. Great suggestion..

/sarcasm off

He DOES have a valid point. My WD Live Streaming (the current one you can get) plays almost everything direct play from my Plex server. Only a few random files need transcoding. I dont know how Rokus are, but ive run across only a few downloaded TV episodes/etc that my WD Live struggles with. It seems to hate the mp42 codec. Its specced to handle 1080p as well. Major difference is that the WD Live doesnt show much metadata at all from Plex. But for playing it works great. Even the old WD Lives I have (pre DLNA, etc) play all the files ive thrown at them. Including ISOs.

 

[bastage]

He DOES have a valid point. My WD Live Streaming (the current one you can get) plays almost everything direct play from my Plex server. Only a few random files need transcoding. I dont know how Rokus are, but ive run across only a few downloaded TV episodes/etc that my WD Live struggles with. It seems to hate the mp42 codec. Its specced to handle 1080p as well. Major difference is that the WD Live doesnt show much metadata at all from Plex. But for playing it works great. Even the old WD Lives I have (pre DLNA, etc) play all the files ive thrown at them. Including ISOs.

I haven't found anything that my roku's wont play with plex that doesn't also fail on any media player on my PC. Also the interface and metadata displayed in the plex interface is phenomenal.

 

[Balthazar2k4]

Just wanted to chime in. I am using an A10-5800K in my media server that runs Plex Media Server. I have transcoded one movie to my Roku 3, one to my iPhone, and another direct play to my HTPC simultaneously and the server didn't hiccup once. The A10 thus far has had the muscle, but I must admit when I selected it I had no idea I would end up with Plex on it. In retrospect, I probably would have went Intel had I known (for the peace of mind).

 

[crackbone]

Just wanted to chime in. I am using an A10-5800K in my media server that runs Plex Media Server. I have transcoded one movie to my Roku 3, one to my iPhone, and another direct play to my HTPC simultaneously and the server didn't hiccup once. The A10 thus far has had the muscle, but I must admit when I selected it I had no idea I would end up with Plex on it. In retrospect, I probably would have went Intel had I known (for the peace of mind).

I'm in the same boat.

I'm running an A10-5800k on the media server. I've served 4 simultaneous 1080p streams, (1 to LG Smart TV without need to transcode), 3 requiring transcoding and didn't have one single issue.

I went with the AMD set up simply because it was less expensive and had the horsepower to stream at least 4 sources (I think I can push it even further but haven't had the need to yet).