Work let me salvage a PC case from the disposal pile, seems the mobo and CPU inside was still alive, winning! I'm building a Plex server under the stairs as it's cool and no worry of noise. It'll be used to play with VM's, file storage and maybe other stuff. So of the parts I have lying around, which is best? I have 2x4gb RAM and will be looking for a matching set at some point CPU: Phenom II x6 1055T Mobo: M4A88T-M CPU: FX4130 Mobo: M5A78L-M LX V2 Cheers
I’d suggest you make one your NAS and one your screwing around with VMs box running proxmox or something. Don’t mix prod and test environments!
Well, that may be the next step but the VM's at the moment are just playing with Linux to see which distro I may move to as main PC, it's nothing major, yet. Should have stated, the Phenom is running the Plex system at the moment, it was the FX4130 but I moved the HDD's to the new case and just left the mobo in the case to test it.
You might find running a LiveCD on your desktop is a better way of getting the desktop experience you’re looking to test!
i wish i understood this stuff better...we "cut the cord" but i am missing so many of my shows that we will probably patch that cord back up. plex server seemed like the answer but i dont understand how to set it up, and my health issues prevent me from holding on to the info long enough to figure out how to set it up...let me know how it goes... edit: @goldstar0011 ...your avatar...one of my fav movies of all time...can still damn near quote the whole show as i watch it...
The question of hardware depends on your usage. What quality do you stream at? Does your Plex server perform transcoding? How many simultaneous streams are you likely to have? At first glance the newer FX would appear to the be better option, newer, faster etc. That said, if you have multiple streams the Phenom might be the better option as it has more cores. Interestingly the older Phenom also scores higher in Passmark score (4971 vs 4172), which is the benchmark Plex uses in their hardware guide. I am not familiar either of the motherboards, but all I really see is the FX CPU and motherboard support marginally faster RAM but not enough to be a decision maker. The other differences mostly are related to video support, which is irreverent for a Plex server. Per you second post, you are in a rare situation as you can test the two systems. I suspect that you won't see a difference in performance unless you are extreme in your usage.
Cheers @Dr. Coin Good questions! Only ever 2 streams at once. Plex does transcode but all files are usually 720p. I was using the FX cpu until recently, only reason I'm considering the Phenom is the extra cores and the mobo has 4 RAM slots, the other one has 2, if I was using a VM at same time as a plex workload it'd have the power. I think I'll stick with the Phenom for now, I need a better cpu fan though but it's going in a nice cool cupboard soon. Cheers for the input all, it's nice to just bounce some idea's off people, the Mrs is getting annoyed as I keep asking her!
Managed to network into the under stairs cupboard which is nice and dry and cool, it's massively helping the temps and even though we was used to the noise of it where it was before it's so nice having silence now. Need to find a nice mATX case for the left over kit as all I have is ITX cases
@Dr. Coin nailed it. For a single 1080p transcoded stream, a CPU with a passmark of 2000 is recommended; based on that, the Phenom seems to be the winner. If you're streaming files to a machine on the local network to a browser or a plex app (Windows or mobile) then transcoding won't be needed: the client machines should be able to do "direct play" and just stream the file without needing to transcode. My Plex box is a Xeon X3323 771 (modded to work on a 775 board) with 4GB RAM running OpenMediaVault. It can happily cope with 3 simultaneous clients: 1x 1080p transcode to a remote client and 2x local clients using direct play. It could possibly handle more remote clients, but it does run a number of other services besides Plex. FWIW though I'd highly recommend putting in the time to learn how to use it in Docker container rather than a full VM; I use the linuxserver.io Plex image which has pre-configured volume mounts for accessing video files and storing configuration parameters. I find this far far easier to work with rather than going to the effort of creating a full VM image or running the service natively. I use Docker at work so I'm familiar with the technology, but I found and adapted this helpful tutorial (have to sign in to see images ) in order to work out Docker containers on OpenMediaVault.
Docker ah...well that is one more thing to add to the list of I need to learn more about. I currently run my Plex as a plugin on my freenas and while I know it is installed in a jail I really don't know more than that.
Combine that with Portainer (web UI for docker) and Watchtower (automatic updater and restarter of docker images), and you have automatically updated install of Plex (or other Docker images).
Yep. OpenMediaVault - if you run that - does have a web UI for its docker plugin and it can pull the latest version of images, but it doesn't automatically restart them (as far as I'm aware). But that's certainly a more lightweight solution than running OpenMediaVault just to learn Docker .
I run omv4.1 with plex on the bare metal. But then, I have a TV card with Plex DVR, and I just do not want the hassle of Docker in the mix.
If you don't need hot-swappable drives then something like the Fractal Design Node 804 is a good bet. It's a bit of a porker but it takes up to 8x 3.5" drives - handy for the digital hoarder.
My Plex system/NAS in on an ITX motherboard, but I went for the full ATX, Fractal Define R5. So much free space in the case. Up to eight drives with two 140mm fans blowing directly across all drives. I thought I had a picture of the Case but all I can find is the close up of the SATA cables. I find looking at the SATA cable in this case very satisfying.
Currently enjoying a freebie NZXT beta evo Really put some effort in cable management, by no means one to show off but I'm proud of it
Nice case but too tall to fit in my TV unit. I'm looking at the SilverStone SST-DS380 for when I go to a Plex server that can handle 4k media: Pics or it didn't happen
