1. No dedicated GPU
2. A low TDP CPU (https://ark.intel.com/)
3. An Intel CPU with current [Quicksync](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quick_Sync_Video#Hardware_decoding_and_encoding) with all the codecs you need. Newer gen the better
On the storage side I think some people are posting power numbers for JUST the plex server not the server plus storage.. Classic hard drives use a fair bit of power.
So storage will be a struggle, the only way to save power on old hard drives is to spin them down when not in use but if you have processes constantly poling them that will never happen.
In which case FEWER LARGE drives will be more power efficient than LOTS of smaller drives, however at 4x18tb you are already there
Is there a reason only intel CPUs get recommended? Wouldn't a low power AMD APU work? Something like a AMD Ryzen 5 4500u? Does Plex just not support AMD encoding?
I have a HP 600 G9 i5-12500T 32GB connected to a Synology DS923+ with 20TB drives.
I also have a Dell 7070 with an i7 9700 32GB and a Raspberry Pi. The Dell is a little less power efficient as it’s not the T processor but obviously it has a little bit more go because of it.
I suspect that all together they pull about the same at full power that yours does at idle. They could manage a dozen transcodes between them without trouble.
I run Proxmox in both mini PCs, Proxmox backup server as a VM on the NAS and the Pi is also a QDevice for quorum to allow failover.
When I first got my NUC I was so worried about sound and power draw. I had seen a ton of posts about constantly running fans and running hot enough to melt unobtanium.
Thankfully mine runs the exact opposite. Runs like 35c and completely silent.
Do you have Plex Pass?
If yes, go with a setup where you can leverage Quick Sync and low TDP CPU devices.
If no, you will need to have a high-powered system with the grunt to transcode these files in software (CPU).
Any one of the mini-PC's that use Intel CPU's will work. I'd recommend either an N100 or i3/i5/i7 CPU that is 12th generation or later. My setup runs on a NUC 12th gen. My storage is an external DAS USB box. I have both attached to a UPS. The entire setup, including the UPS only draws 35 watts at idle and around 100 watts when extremely busy and all the drives are being used at once.
I was in a similar, but worse boat lol. I switched from a dual Xeon/discrete gpu system to an i5 13400 with quick sync. It cut my power draw significantly. I don't have as many cores to throw around but I've managed just fine without.
My unRAID server runs the following:
i5 13500 |
ASRock Z790 Pro RS m/b |
64GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5 |
4x 18TB Seagate EXOS |
2x 2TB Crucial SATA SSD |
1x 1TB Seagate FireCuda 530 NVMe |
550w Seasonic Focus 80+ Platinum PSU
I use Intel QuickSync for Plex hardware transcoding.
The above idles at 32w with the four 18TB disks spun down.
The highest I've witnessed it is about 78w with all disks reading at full spread during parity operations.
With multiple streams it runs at about 42-55w (depending).
1. No dedicated GPU 2. A low TDP CPU (https://ark.intel.com/) 3. An Intel CPU with current [Quicksync](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quick_Sync_Video#Hardware_decoding_and_encoding) with all the codecs you need. Newer gen the better On the storage side I think some people are posting power numbers for JUST the plex server not the server plus storage.. Classic hard drives use a fair bit of power. So storage will be a struggle, the only way to save power on old hard drives is to spin them down when not in use but if you have processes constantly poling them that will never happen. In which case FEWER LARGE drives will be more power efficient than LOTS of smaller drives, however at 4x18tb you are already there
Is there a reason only intel CPUs get recommended? Wouldn't a low power AMD APU work? Something like a AMD Ryzen 5 4500u? Does Plex just not support AMD encoding?
I have a HP 600 G9 i5-12500T 32GB connected to a Synology DS923+ with 20TB drives. I also have a Dell 7070 with an i7 9700 32GB and a Raspberry Pi. The Dell is a little less power efficient as it’s not the T processor but obviously it has a little bit more go because of it. I suspect that all together they pull about the same at full power that yours does at idle. They could manage a dozen transcodes between them without trouble. I run Proxmox in both mini PCs, Proxmox backup server as a VM on the NAS and the Pi is also a QDevice for quorum to allow failover.
Check the daily posts on n100 mini pcs. I have one on standby pulling 5 watts right now. When it's streaming it's 18 to 25 watts.
When I first got my NUC I was so worried about sound and power draw. I had seen a ton of posts about constantly running fans and running hot enough to melt unobtanium. Thankfully mine runs the exact opposite. Runs like 35c and completely silent.
My little guy doesn't even have a fan.
I honestly don’t know if mine does either. It’s never gotten hit enough that if it had one it would have gone on.
Do you have Plex Pass? If yes, go with a setup where you can leverage Quick Sync and low TDP CPU devices. If no, you will need to have a high-powered system with the grunt to transcode these files in software (CPU).
Any one of the mini-PC's that use Intel CPU's will work. I'd recommend either an N100 or i3/i5/i7 CPU that is 12th generation or later. My setup runs on a NUC 12th gen. My storage is an external DAS USB box. I have both attached to a UPS. The entire setup, including the UPS only draws 35 watts at idle and around 100 watts when extremely busy and all the drives are being used at once.
I was in a similar, but worse boat lol. I switched from a dual Xeon/discrete gpu system to an i5 13400 with quick sync. It cut my power draw significantly. I don't have as many cores to throw around but I've managed just fine without.
My unRAID server runs the following: i5 13500 | ASRock Z790 Pro RS m/b | 64GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5 | 4x 18TB Seagate EXOS | 2x 2TB Crucial SATA SSD | 1x 1TB Seagate FireCuda 530 NVMe | 550w Seasonic Focus 80+ Platinum PSU I use Intel QuickSync for Plex hardware transcoding. The above idles at 32w with the four 18TB disks spun down. The highest I've witnessed it is about 78w with all disks reading at full spread during parity operations. With multiple streams it runs at about 42-55w (depending).