Can this server transcode and share files over wireless efficiently?

[JQLeitch]

Yeah so I decided to try and build a home server capable of transcoding video over to devices wirelessly, I'm using Plex to share and transcode the videos/music etc etc etc however is this enough and more importantly is wireless viable? I obviously will use wired for other PCs but for my android devices, I can't do that. 1080p will have trouble obviously but can I make it work is the question? So here's the hardware

CPU: A6 6400K FM2 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE A Dual Core APU with onboard graphics, perfect for what I need and cuts down cost on a discrete GPU, it is an AMD APU though so the power consumption may be bad for a almost 24/7 server. and since I'm not doing much with this server, I'm assuming this should be fine.

MOBO: MSI FM2-A55M-E33 Basic chipset but like I said basic media streaming so Sata 2 ports and a basic chipset is all I need, and a HDMI port. It is also cheap. Although recommendations are welcomed as I am a newbie to this stuff http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

RAM: XMS3 4GB 1333mhz (Will come from my main PC, upgrading my main PC with Kingston 8GB 1600mhz)

PSU: Corsair CX600 80+ Bronze

HDD: 1x WD Caviar Blue (1TB)... for now. Gradually I hope to have around 7TB of storage but obviously that requires money I don't currently have.

CASE: My main PC's Elite 430 (My main PC will go in a Fractal Design Define R4) Bought it for £30 back in 2012 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooler-Maste...ords=elite+430

WIFI CARD More basic hardware yay! Just a random PCI-E wireless card. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
Thanks!

 

[smitbret]

Yeah so I decided to try and build a home server capable of transcoding video over to devices wirelessly, I'm using Plex to share and transcode the videos/music etc etc etc however is this enough and more importantly is wireless viable? I obviously will use wired for other PCs but for my android devices, I can't do that. 1080p will have trouble obviously but can I make it work is the question? So here's the hardware

CPU: A6 6400K FM2 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE A Dual Core APU with onboard graphics, perfect for what I need and cuts down cost on a discrete GPU, it is an AMD APU though so the power consumption may be bad for a almost 24/7 server. and since I'm not doing much with this server, I'm assuming this should be fine.

MOBO: MSI FM2-A55M-E33 Basic chipset but like I said basic media streaming so Sata 2 ports and a basic chipset is all I need, and a HDMI port. It is also cheap. Although recommendations are welcomed as I am a newbie to this stuff http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

RAM: XMS3 4GB 1333mhz (Will come from my main PC, upgrading my main PC with Kingston 8GB 1600mhz)

PSU: Corsair CX600 80+ Bronze

HDD: 1x WD Caviar Blue (1TB)... for now. Gradually I hope to have around 7TB of storage but obviously that requires money I don't currently have.

CASE: My main PC's Elite 430 (My main PC will go in a Fractal Design Define R4) Bought it for £30 back in 2012 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooler-Maste...ords=elite+430

WIFI CARD More basic hardware yay! Just a random PCI-E wireless card. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
Thanks!

If it's for a server, the graphics really don't matter a bit. It's been months since I have even hooked a monitor up to mine. Motherboard integrated graphics are all you really need.

If real time HD transcoding is going to be expected, then you'll want an i3 or quad core AMD at the minimum.

I wouldn't worry too much about power consumption. My 6-core AMD server with 7 drives doesn't even break 60 watts at idle and doesn't get over 100 watts when transcoding multiple files. Think.... a light bulb. That includes and external HDD for backup and some networking components like a switch that I have plugged into the UPS.

 

[azazel1024]

If it's for a server, the graphics really don't matter a bit. It's been months since I have even hooked a monitor up to mine. Motherboard integrated graphics are all you really need.

If real time HD transcoding is going to be expected, then you'll want an i3 or quad core AMD at the minimum.

I wouldn't worry too much about power consumption. My 6-core AMD server with 7 drives doesn't even break 60 watts at idle and doesn't get over 100 watts when transcoding multiple files. Think.... a light bulb. That includes and external HDD for backup and some networking components like a switch that I have plugged into the UPS.

Its still $60+ a year in electricity, and I assume if those drives are a big RAID array, that is another 40-60 watts when you are streaming something. So I'd bet it runs more like $80-90 a year when all is said and done.

My weeny Celeron G1610 based server runs 21w at idle and 33w streaming (2 drives in RAID0).

What are you going to transcode to? I am not sure how lightweight Plex is (since I've never used it) on transcodes, but I assume it uses fairly lightweight settings. My quad core i5-3570 desktop running at 4GHz can transcode 1080p Bluray to 1080p h.264 with very, very high settings at around 4-6FPS. To 720p using the same settings around 20-25FPS. To 480p using the same settings at around 60-70FPS.

With just generic standard profile in H.264 it can do >25FPS 1080p encodes and >>>> than that for 720p and 480p.

My celeron can also do >25fps with the same settings from bluray to 480p.

So, if you are looking at 1080p to 480p, the AMD processor you are looking at MIGHT be able to handle it...but possibly not. If Plex can leverage the GPU for transcoding it probably can. I doubt it'll handle downresing to 720p though. I think you'll want to look at an i3 or quad AMD if you want to do 720p streaming to your devices (unless Plex is using some seriously crap h.264 settings).

Honestly if you are looking cheap, I'd look at something like a basic H77/75 board with a Haswell Celeron or Pentium processor. Its likely to get you lower power consumption AND more processing power, unless you are stepping up to a quad core AMD processor...and then single threaded stuff is still going to be faster on the Intel silicon (and lower power).

 

[smitbret]

Its still $60+ a year in electricity, and I assume if those drives are a big RAID array, that is another 40-60 watts when you are streaming something. So I'd bet it runs more like $80-90 a year when all is said and done.

My weeny Celeron G1610 based server runs 21w at idle and 33w streaming (2 drives in RAID0).

What are you going to transcode to? I am not sure how lightweight Plex is (since I've never used it) on transcodes, but I assume it uses fairly lightweight settings. My quad core i5-3570 desktop running at 4GHz can transcode 1080p Bluray to 1080p h.264 with very, very high settings at around 4-6FPS. To 720p using the same settings around 20-25FPS. To 480p using the same settings at around 60-70FPS.

With just generic standard profile in H.264 it can do >25FPS 1080p encodes and >>>> than that for 720p and 480p.

My celeron can also do >25fps with the same settings from bluray to 480p.

So, if you are looking at 1080p to 480p, the AMD processor you are looking at MIGHT be able to handle it...but possibly not. If Plex can leverage the GPU for transcoding it probably can. I doubt it'll handle downresing to 720p though. I think you'll want to look at an i3 or quad AMD if you want to do 720p streaming to your devices (unless Plex is using some seriously crap h.264 settings).

Honestly if you are looking cheap, I'd look at something like a basic H77/75 board with a Haswell Celeron or Pentium processor. Its likely to get you lower power consumption AND more processing power, unless you are stepping up to a quad core AMD processor...and then single threaded stuff is still going to be faster on the Intel silicon (and lower power).

I can't speak specifically for Plex since I don't use it, but I use Mezzmo and both use FFmpeg for their transcoding. With an FX 6100 I can transcode and stream 2 Blu Ray rips to medium quality 1080p at a time. If I cut them down to 720p at any quality setting, it can do 4 at a time.

I suppose that CPU should be able to handle at least one stream.

 

[JQLeitch]

I think I'm gonna get an i3 4130. For HD transcoding I think it's gonna be enough and should do me a while. What do you think?

 

[ch33zw1z]

The CPU will be fine, but the wireless is what's going to kill it.

what board, and how much ram.

 

[smitbret]

I think I'm gonna get an i3 4130. For HD transcoding I think it's gonna be enough and should do me a while. What do you think?

That CPU is only slightly slower than the FX 6100, that I use, in multi threaded benchmarks. Plex uses FFmpeg as its transcoder like the media server software that I use and I am able to do 2 1080p transcodes in real time at medium quality or 4 720p streams simultaneously. You should be just fine.

I agree though, the wireless may be a weak spot. I generally do not recommend streaming HD content on anything less than 802.11ac. You can get it to work on n300 or n450 but it will take some luck and skill to get a consistently reliable experience.

 

[JQLeitch]

So if I try to use Wired at most times. I have seen Micro USB to Ethernet adapters around etc. So if I try to use that do you think I'll be fine. I streamed 720p episodes of COSMOS off my main PC to my phone wirelessly last night and it worked okay, I defiantly see where you're coming from. I have a Blu Ray Rip of Reservoir Dogs and it ran like ass, buffering every 2 seconds. So yeah defiantly going with wired for most situations, even with phones/tablets.

 

[JQLeitch]

It will use 4GB RAM and will be in a Gigabyte Z87-HD3

 

[smitbret]

So if I try to use Wired at most times. I have seen Micro USB to Ethernet adapters around etc. So if I try to use that do you think I'll be fine. I streamed 720p episodes of COSMOS off my main PC to my phone wirelessly last night and it worked okay, I defiantly see where you're coming from. I have a Blu Ray Rip of Reservoir Dogs and it ran like ass, buffering every 2 seconds. So yeah defiantly going with wired for most situations, even with phones/tablets.

I am not following. What is the micro USB to Ethernet adapter being used for?

 

[JQLeitch]

It's the USB connector used in most modern tablets/phones, meaning I can connect to my server via a wired connection

 

[azazel1024]

Wireless should be fine. Unless you have a lot of wifi congestion where you are located, most 720p only needs in the 3-8Mbps range. That should be plenty on almost any wireless network. Some depends on the streaming program though, if it doesn't buffer at all or the buffer is tiny, it could be a bit of an issue even if you have sufficient speed if that speed is erratic.

I'll grant I have a very strong network with no competing nearby networks, but my N300 network has no issues with 3 concurrent 1080p streams and general internet browsing over wifi. No choppy playback or other issues.

 

[smitbret]

It's the USB connector used in most modern tablets/phones, meaning I can connect to my server via a wired connection

If you are close enough to use a USB to ethernet cable then why aren't you just using a regular USB cable between the server and your mobile device?

 

[JQLeitch]

If you are close enough to use a USB to ethernet cable then why aren't you just using a regular USB cable between the server and your mobile device?

You see if I was to build an AMD server what FX line of CPU would you suggest. I really want to transcode 1080p streams but I also need it to be cheap, I can't really afford an 1150, i3 etc.