"minimal" plex application server or GPU?

[gregsachs]

Looking for ideas or reccommendations. Currently run Plex on windows as a H-V guest. The host is a 2U intel server, can do a GPU but currently do not have one. (Need to check the max supply from the motherboard, but I have a port and cable that can supply a GPU).
I'm looking for either something "like" a tiny that can be tossed on the rack to run the VM and pass through the I-GPU, or ideas for a GPU. The host e5-2650 v2 just can't transcode high res.
If the unit is in rack, it will be battery backed up and could get connected via SFP+ for storage access.
I want to stay under $200. 8gb ram is sufficient, and storage doesn't really matter.
Do I
a: get something like a p400/p600/p620/t400? All fall under arbitrary budget...
b: ideas for small/quiet (rack mount?) intel core 7th gen+ box with 10GBe and 8gb ram?

 

[i386]

10GBe

For plex??

 

[gregsachs]

For plex??

Not a need, for sure! That is definitely wishlist.
I was only thinking of multiple streams, but given that 4k is ~50Mb/s, probably not critical.

 

[zer0sum]

Nvidia P400 is just about perfect for plex, tdarr, transcoding etc.

• single pcie slot
• no power cables needed
• H.265 capable
• 3 sessions

If you're ok spending a bit more then grab something with a bit more ram like a P600

A 1650 SUPER is the cheapest Turing based card you can get, but it's dual slot, needs power, etc.

 

[gregsachs]

Nvidia P400 is just about perfect for plex, tdarr, transcoding etc.

• single pcie slot
• no power cables needed
• H.265 capable
• 3 sessions

If you're ok spending a bit more then grab something with a bit more ram like a P600

A 1650 SUPER is the cheapest Turing based card you can get, but it's dual slot, needs power, etc.

Ok, P400's seem to be ~$100. A T400 is ~$150. It looks like turing NVENC is better than pascal, so probably worth that upgrade?

 

[zer0sum]

Ok, P400's seem to be ~$100. A T400 is ~$150. It looks like turing NVENC is better than pascal, so probably worth that upgrade?

Yeah, Turing will supposedly have better quality.
Ram is a concern if you are trying to do multiple streams

Change to the Quadro tab on this page to see how things stack up without any driver hacks to unlock the cards

Video Encode and Decode GPU Support Matrix

Find the related video encoding and decoding support for all NVIDIA GPU products.

developer.nvidia.com

Found a short review of the T400 as well

Leadtek | Reviews of entry-level professional graphics cards NVIDIA T400 and T600

In recent years, NVIDIA RTX™ technology has been constantly updated and rapidly evolved. From the previous releases and reviews, we know that high-end professional graphics cards have been updated from the previous NVIDIA Pascal™ architec...

www.leadtek.com

 

[itronin]

Ok, P400's seem to be ~$100. A T400 is ~$150. It looks like turing NVENC is better than pascal, so probably worth that upgrade?

I've got a couple of p400's I just pulled and replaced with p620's. I've got tall and short brackets and mini dp to DP adapters for them as well. drop me a note if you decide to go that route and it would be about half the T400.

 

[BoredSysadmin]

Why not 11th Gen Nuc like this one: Intel NUC 11 Performance mini Desktop Computer
Quicksync works just fine for hardware transcoding with plex pass. There's much difference between 11 and 12th gen Quicksync for video processing: Intel Quick Sync Video - Wikipedia

Just add 4-8GB ram and an inexpensive SSD

My home Plex is running on a much older NUC w/ Celeron J3455 with 4gb ram and no problems transcoding 4 parallel 1080p streams.

One massive benefit of running Plex on NUC is massive power savings.

 

[i386]

Nobody using nvidia shield for plex?

 

[BoredSysadmin]

Nobody using nvidia shield for plex?

I have Sheild-TV Pro 2019 which comes with a Plex server, but it doesn't have enough onboard storage for meta info so a USB expansion would be pretty much required. I've heard that performance isn't that great. On the plus side, running plex on Shield-TV doesn't require Plex Pass to enable hardware transcoding afaik.

 

[gigatexal]

are you passing through to a linux vm guest? if so is there any magic to getting it to work? I'm thinking a container or vm with the Nvidia drivers and then is there anything special to get Plex to see the gpu and use it?

 

[gregsachs]

I've got a couple of p400's I just pulled and replaced with p620's. I've got tall and short brackets and mini dp to DP adapters for them as well. drop me a note if you decide to go that route and it would be about half the T400.

Sounds interesting, will keep that in mind...

 

[gregsachs]

Why not 11th Gen Nuc like this one: Intel NUC 11 Performance mini Desktop Computer
Quicksync works just fine for hardware transcoding with plex pass. There's much difference between 11 and 12th gen Quicksync for video processing: Intel Quick Sync Video - Wikipedia

Just add 4-8GB ram and an inexpensive SSD

My home Plex is running on a much older NUC w/ Celeron J3455 with 4gb ram and no problems transcoding 4 parallel 1080p streams.

One massive benefit of running Plex on NUC is massive power savings.

Totally blows by <$200 budget away. I do have a 800G2 tiny with an I5-6 that I was thinking I would use, but didn't realize the massive jump between gen 6 and gen 7.

are you passing through to a linux vm guest? if so is there any magic to getting it to work? I'm thinking a container or vm with the Nvidia drivers and then is there anything special to get Plex to see the gpu and use it?

I am using H-V for my host, not Linux. When I did this before with a P2000 I had to return it was just a question of doing windows DDA to get it to work.
(except that my current plex server is a VM of an old windows home server 2011 install, and WHS 2011 doesn't support DDA evidently, so I will need to move my server to a new vm if I do this, and it seems easier to move windows ->windows than windows ->linux. )

The ~3 streams I get with a x400 would be sufficient I'd say, this is only internal unlike some.

 

[itronin]

The ~3 streams I get with a x400 would be sufficient I'd say, this is only internal unlike some.

you can fnd this information buried in other threads here or plex/emby/jellyfin forums or Internetwebs at large.

The 3 stream limitation for the pascal chip is a software driver restriction for the P series 1000/4xx/6xx cards.

the enc/dec chip on those cards is the same as on the P2000.

I do NOT know if a patch is available for the Turing cards but it would not surprise me if it was or is in development.

FYI - Running the P400 cards on windows I found I had to connect a dummy mini DP plug to get the driver to behave and that was supported via research at multiple forums too.

 

[gregsachs]

A very kind gentleman offered to ship me a Wyse 5070 for shipping, which gets to HD605 graphics, so I'm going to try that as a first pass minimal plex box. Low power, silent, and hopefully enough GPU for my needs. If not I'll probably pursue the p/t400 as a good option. Appreciate all the good feedback!

 

[zer0sum]

you can fnd this information buried in other threads here or plex/emby/jellyfin forums or Internetwebs at large.

The 3 stream limitation for the pascal chip is a software driver restriction for the P series 1000/4xx/6xx cards.

the enc/dec chip on those cards is the same as on the P2000.

I do NOT know if a patch is available for the Turing cards but it would not surprise me if it was or is in development.

FYI - Running the P400 cards on windows I found I had to connect a dummy mini DP plug to get the driver to behave and that was supported via research at multiple forums too.

The patch is great, but with only 2G of ram you hit that limit really fast, so it's probably only 1 x 4K stream or 4-5 1080p streams max, or something like that

It helps if you use an Nvidia Shield or AppleTV so that they can do direct play and don't ever need transcodes.
Then your transcoding is really just for format conversions, tablets, and other remote devices

 

[itronin]

It helps if you use an Nvidia Shield or AppleTV so that they can do direct play and don't ever need transcodes.
Then your transcoding is really just for format conversions, tablets, and other remote devices

I'm moving my 2 TV's (yeah I only have 2!) as well as a couple of remote family members to Roku Ultra (2021, 4K, WAF), at < 70 it made sense to me and I haven't thrown anything at the roku that it can't handle (so far) - hoping to simplify the always on infrastructure as it is essentially prod now due to WFH.