Proxmox Server For Plex, Homeassistant & Win11

[CarloMoretto348]

Hi guys,

currently have a 14 year old pc that is slowly dying so time to upgrade.

I have homeassistant running in Windows at the moment along with plex but will be going Proxmox route after upgrade. HA is used mainly to control lighting and heating and Plex isnt really used a lot but I want to have the ability to transcode 4k HDR in the future. I dont need a GPU as it wont be connected to a monitor. I also want a case which has hot swappable bays so was thinking of the silverstone cs382, not sure if pc specialist do anything similair. Ideally at least 4 swappable bays.

Here are the specs I was looking at, what do you think?

Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5500GT Six Core CPU with Radeon™ Graphics (3.6GHz-4.4GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE B550M DS3H (mATX, DDR4, AM4, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
16GB PCS PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3500 MB/R, 3200 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
2nd Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CX SERIES™ CX-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 80 V2 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

Thanks guys

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

but I want to have the ability to transcode 4k HDR in the future. I dont need a GPU as it wont be connected to a monitor.

You need a GPU if you're transcoding 4k with a decent NVENC encoder (NVidia RTX) https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-intel-nvidia-video-encoding-performance-quality-tested, you also need a network to support it. But are you sure you mean transcoding to 4k and not playing natively? Transcoding would mean you're down / upscaling or converting the source file in real time and generating a new video output? I'm guessing you're not downscaling from 8k, and if you're suggesting upscaling from 1080p, I'd just say don't bother. If you're not doing any transcoding, then you should be fine without a GPU and your proposed system makes more sense, if you're only doing audio transcoding, that's entirely CPU bound, but if you are doing video transcoding, then I'm afraid you're in for a slight shock as to what kind of system you require.

Worth taking a look at this:

[INFO] Plex, 4k, transcoding, and you - aka the rules of 4k

NOTE: for 2022 – Plex has come a long way since this FAQ was originally written, HW transcoding has become more available and more stable, and tone mapping was recently added to address the hdr/sdr color conversion issues. The first 4 ‘rules’ generally are no longer as important as they once...

forums.plex.tv

Best Graphics Card For Plex Transcoding

When it comes to Plex transcoding, having the right graphics card can make all the difference in achieving optimal performance. Did you know that the graphics card directly impacts the speed and efficiency of transcoding video files for streaming? With the right graphics card, you can seamlessly...

ms.codes

I also want a case which has hot swappable bays so was thinking of the silverstone cs382, not sure if pc specialist do anything similair. Ideally at least 4 swappable bays.

Definitely need to source a case from elsewhere, 3.5" bays in any form are very custom these days. That Silverstone looks really nice actually, not seen that before, for a home NAS / Media server, that's a real winner, may actually look into that for myself.

 

[CarloMoretto348]

You need a GPU if you're transcoding 4k with a decent NVENC encoder (NVidia RTX) https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-intel-nvidia-video-encoding-performance-quality-tested, you also need a network to support it. But are you sure you mean transcoding to 4k and not playing natively? Transcoding would mean you're down / upscaling or converting the source file in real time and generating a new video output? I'm guessing you're not downscaling from 8k, and if you're suggesting upscaling from 1080p, I'd just say don't bother. If you're not doing any transcoding, then you should be fine without a GPU and your proposed system makes more sense, if you're only doing audio transcoding, that's entirely CPU bound, but if you are doing video transcoding, then I'm afraid you're in for a slight shock as to what kind of system you require.

Worth taking a look at this:

[INFO] Plex, 4k, transcoding, and you - aka the rules of 4k

NOTE: for 2022 – Plex has come a long way since this FAQ was originally written, HW transcoding has become more available and more stable, and tone mapping was recently added to address the hdr/sdr color conversion issues. The first 4 ‘rules’ generally are no longer as important as they once...

forums.plex.tv

Best Graphics Card For Plex Transcoding

When it comes to Plex transcoding, having the right graphics card can make all the difference in achieving optimal performance. Did you know that the graphics card directly impacts the speed and efficiency of transcoding video files for streaming? With the right graphics card, you can seamlessly...

ms.codes

Definitely need to source a case from elsewhere, 3.5" bays in any form are very custom these days. That Silverstone looks really nice actually, not seen that before, for a home NAS / Media server, that's a real winner, may actually look into that for myself.

Thanks for the reply. Shouldve been clearer and said the cpu has in built graphics so that should do me (I currently have an Intel with integrated gpu and that handles transcoding).

I'm guessing I should be ok still without seperate gpu?

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

Thanks for the reply. Shouldve been clearer and said the cpu has in built graphics so that should do me (I currently have an Intel with integrated gpu and that handles transcoding).

I'm guessing I should be ok still without seperate gpu?

That's what I'm saying though, are you transcoding to 4k currently? Absolutely no way that could be done on an iGPU, requires an awful lot of raw power

 

[CarloMoretto348]

That's what I'm saying though, are you transcoding to 4k currently? Absolutely no way that could be done on an iGPU, requires an awful lot of raw power

No I'm not at the moment. Do you not think the cpu I've chosen would be up to the task?

If not I'm guessing it would be ok to transcode 1080p?

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

No I'm not at the moment. Do you not think the cpu I've chosen would be up to the task?

If not I'm guessing it would be ok to transcode 1080p?

Definitely not enough for 4k, if you look through the links posted, it highlights why.

Are you definitely transcoding though? What source files do you have and what endpoint are you outputting to?

 

[CarloMoretto348]

Definitely not enough for 4k, if you look through the links posted, it highlights why.

Are you definitely transcoding though? What source files do you have and what endpoint are you outputting to?

Mainly 1080p mkv files and end point is mostly shield pro (which I know handles hdr direct) but others are samsung tv's.

I think the only time 1080p files get transcoded is when someone who isn't on my network (parents mainly) are watching something and the bandwidth their end isn't enough so it transcodes.

File sizes are normally between 8-12gb

 

[CarloMoretto348]

Just an update on this. Received the pc 2 weeks ago (upgraded to 32mb ram plus some other minor changes) and have finally managed to get HW Transcoding working on proxmox with a plex container. Just transcoded a 4k movie to 1080p and cpu usage was 2-6%. Played flawlessly so Im over the moon.