What cpu for transcoding 5+ streams on a Plex container?

[dukiethecorgi]

I have a standalone AMD [email protected]  Plex/Win10 box I'm using now that can handle 3, sometimes 4, transcodes.  I'm thinking of building a new unRaid server and running Plex as a Docker container.  I want to upgrade enough that I can serve 5-6 transcodes.

 

I know the rule of thumb is 2K passmarks per transcode, just wondering what other peoples experiences are with various processors.  I'm thinking that I'll need an i7 at the minimum, but I'm also considering a Natex dual 2730 board (powerful, but energy hungry) or a Rizen 7? 

 

What do you think?

 

 

[tdallen]

I'd guess you're getting around 8,000 Passmarks running the AMD FX8320E @ 4.5ghz.  The rule of thumb is 2,000 Passmarks per 1080p stream, but there are two additional things worth considering.  First, unRAID needs some processing power itself.  Set aside at least 1,000 Passmarks for unRAID and preferably 2,000.  Also, the 2,000 Passmark rule of thumb, like all "rules of thumb", is an average at best and can be too much, too little, or just right for any given stream.  For instance, I can spike all 4 cores on my 4,000 Passmark Q9550 transcoding a high bit-rate BD rip.  The source material and the capabilities of your players matter when determining how much work your server needs to do to transcode the media.

 

That said, 5-6 transcodes is a lot and I don't think you're going to get what you want with a Xeon E3 or Core i7 (unless you go for one of the 6 core socket 2011 models).  You're probably in Ryzen, Xeon E5, or Xeon D-1567 territory.  If you can live with 4-5 transcodes then you'd probably be Ok with a high end socket 1150/1151 Core i7 or Xeon E3.  FYI, I'll confess that my hands-on experience with Plex tops out with a Core i7 4790.

 

 

[dukiethecorgi]

Yeah, I get around 9200 Passmarks.  Most of the clients using my server can use direct play, but there's a few that still need transcoding.

 

unRaid and all the various containers don't seem to take much CPU at all, the only time I see high cpu usage is when something like SabNZBD extracts files from archives

[jbuszkie]

Dumb question..  How do you guy get your passmark rating?  Is there a plugin for that? Or an unraid installable app?

Edited May 23, 2017 by jbuszkie

[wgstarks]

32 minutes ago, jbuszkie said:

Dumb question..  How do you guy get your passmark rating?  Is there a plugin for that? Or an unraid installable app?

http://cpubenchmark.net