Home server 6th gen CPU?

[xylem59]

HI, I am looking to upgrade my home server. Currently running with an i3 3225 with 8gb of ram.
I was wondering if it was worth going to a quad core i5 6400T?
I do movies streaming across the house most of the time. and I have a dedicated mediaroom running Remux movie from the home server.
Any thought on CPU? i3 vs i5 , regular or T version?
thanks.

 

[LTC8K6]

Why not just drop an Ivy Bridge 4C i5 into the board you have now?

Unless you just want to get a whole new system and go with a Skylake chip?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

What kind of CPU load do you have now - are you really pushing your i3?

Second the comment about about dropping in a compatible quad core rather than rebuilding the system.

Whether or not to get a -T or -S version of a CPU largely depends on the power constraints, cooling solution, and design of your server. But without knowing that, I'd assume that your server is similar to an off-the-shelf desktop PC and opine that it's not necessary to go the low-voltage route.

As long as the machine is idle or close to idle, the -T and -S CPUs actually use about the same amount of power and heat as their higher-powered brethren. It's just that they're power - and performance - capped so they consume less power at high load.. And if you're always close to 100% CPU load, you probably should redesign your system around higher-powered parts anyway.

 

[HexiumVII]

I don't think you'll see a lick of difference. I have a new HTPC/Torrent server, had a skylake Pentium G4400 ($65). I have a 6700 lying around and put it in for shits and giggles because my friend wanted a cheap system, so i stole the Pentium from the HTPC. I notice absolutely no difference. Trying to find another G4400 for around $60 to put it back in.

 

[ShintaiDK]

If you wish to save power, get a NUC type. Else it pretty much doesn't matter what desktop parts you pick.

 

[TeknoBug]

an i5 6400T is adequate, but you'll be consuming unnecessary power. But for a server you really don't need top notch hardware, as mentioned a NUC will work and use far less power (~2W idle/15-19W load vs i5 6400T potential ~40W idle/~80-100W load). My i3 NUC does the job but I'd go with an i5 4250U or 5250U or so and USB3 capable for external HDD for high capacity storage and has Intel Quicksync to handle most videos.

 

[xylem59]

my current set up is the i3 with 8gb of ram, I have 9hhd and 1ssd for os. I cant really go with a NUC with 9hhd.
I stream across the house to independent pc, with Kodi and WMC (for TV cable with a cable card).

 

[coercitiv]

my current set up is the i3 with 8gb of ram, I have 9hhd and 1ssd for os. I cant really go with a NUC with 9hhd.
I stream across the house to independent pc, with Kodi and WMC (for TV cable with a cable card).

Did you ever consider monitoring CPU usage, especially in periods of peak load from devices around the house?

 

[xylem59]

Did you ever consider monitoring CPU usage, especially in periods of peak load from devices around the house?

Never thought about it, good idea.

 

[Face2Face]

If you were transcodoing high bit-rate video using PLEX, then I would probably recommend a quad, but for what you're doing; I doubt you'll need it.

 

[nerp]

I would not change a thing if everything works as it should unless you're desperate for a project or want to swap out components to get the system running on less power.

 

[TeknoBug]

Lots of people on the Plex subreddit on Reddit are using NUCs, found that out today.

 

[Face2Face]

Lots of people on the Plex subreddit on Reddit are using NUCs, found that out today.

As long as you're not doing multiple high bit-rate transcodes then NUCs are a good solution. It really depends on your use case. Even my i5-3470S struggles A bit to play low bit-rate 4K video if it has to be transcoded.

 

[xylem59]

As long as you're not doing multiple high bit-rate transcodes then NUCs are a good solution. It really depends on your use case. Even my i5-3470S struggles A bit to play low bit-rate 4K video if it has to be transcoded.

I guess question from my noob darkside, what do you mean by Transcoded?
I have movies in my home server, I have my server on, and for example in my Mediaroom, I use another PC to play the movie using KODI.

 

[Face2Face]

I guess question from my noob darkside, what do you mean by Transcoded?
I have movies in my home server, I have my server on, and for example in my Mediaroom, I use another PC to play the movie using KODI.

This guide sums it up quite well.

http://www.htpcbeginner.com/plex-vs-kodi-comparison-guide/

I basically use a Media server to house all of my media. I then can use the PLEX app to stream media to all of my "clients" i.e - phones, tablets, Set-top boxes, and PCs. I can be outside of my network as well. Basically the server will transcode the media into a format the client can decode. Plex will also allow you to share your media with friends and family. I share my server with around 10 people, so they all could be watching something at the same time and if it requires transcoding, chances are my server would choke. It can handle around 3-4 1080p (5-7mbps) streams at the same time. The faster the CPU and more cores you go, the more transcodes the server can handle.

https://plex.tv/

 

[coercitiv]

I guess question from my noob darkside, what do you mean by Transcoded?
I have movies in my home server, I have my server on, and for example in my Mediaroom, I use another PC to play the movie using KODI.

In your case devices read the files on the server and use them in their original state. Your server only needs enough resources to serve the files, in which case your existing configuration is a good match.

In the case Face2Face describes, devices around the house or even remote devices can ask the server to stream the files in a supported format. The server decodes the original file and temporarily encodes it in a suitable format for the remote device. (transcoding)

This setup can consume quite a lot of resources, but it has the advantage of making stuff work really easy on the client side: people push the play button and don't have to worry about resolution, codec, subtitles etc. The media server takes care of all that, client hardware can be a puny Chromecast device.