Sempron 3850 for Plex Server?

[Seth L]

I'm looking for a cheap, effective CPU to use on a Plex server. All this PC will do is sit idle unless it's streaming Plex to devices in my home. Would the Sempron 3850 suffice? I went with AM1 because they're super cheap.

I've never done a project like this, so I'm unsure exactly how cheap I can go.

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N83U89845

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

Never used Plex server, but taking a quick peak, it says the CPU in the host system will be used for transcoding when streaming to your remote devices. You might try the system out on another machine, and perhaps down clock it to the Sempron's speeds to simulate the approximate performance and see if it's going to work.

If it does work, a 25 watt CPU sounds like a great pairing for a system that runs as a simple server.

 

[why_wolf]

It could certainly host and transmit the Plex server but I think you'll run into problems with the "on-the-fly transcoding" (dumbing down the video file so you can watch it on your cell phone or other weak devices). The more devices that are accessing it at once the bigger this problem will be.

I'd really only be comfortable saying as low as an i3 would work no problem. After that you're taking a chance.

If it does work please leave a review saying so, so other will know. Its really hard to find good reports on just how low people can go and get a Plex server to work under certain load levels.

 

[why_wolf]

PS. read those newegg reviews. One of the reviews specifically states the chip is useless on 1080p video.

 

[kanewolf]

The embedded Celeron motherboards like this -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157497 are quite similar to what is used in commercial NAS units.

 

[why_wolf]

Plex says you want a cpu that can pass 1080p/10Mbps: 2000 PassMark or 720p/4Mbps: 1500 PassMark for a single user. https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201774043-What-kind-of-CPU-do-I-need-for-my-Server-

So you can check out cpubenchmark to get a rough idea if it will work or not. http://cpubenchmark.net/

 

[steelraptor1]

You can avoid transcoding and do direct play if you encode your media to mp4,h264, and acc audio. Downside to this, it will take up more hdd space but you won't have trouble running it in 1080p to multiple clients remote or local. At worse if your client has issues it will turn to direct stream, a small increase to your cpu usage.

 

[Seth L]

It could certainly host and transmit the Plex server but I think you'll run into problems with the "on-the-fly transcoding" (dumbing down the video file so you can watch it on your cell phone or other weak devices). The more devices that are accessing it at once the bigger this problem will be.

I'd really only be comfortable saying as low as an i3 would work no problem. After that you're taking a chance.

If it does work please leave a review saying so, so other will know. Its really hard to find good reports on just how low people can go and get a Plex server to work under certain load levels.

Alright, well, I tried streaming from my main rig which is using an Athlon X4 860K OC'd to 4.3GHz...
Results:
Streaming 1080p to 3 devices
Xbox One, Roku, and my nephews PS4.
As well as streaming 720p to my tablet. It won't play 1080p for some reason, so it, as you said, "dumbed down the video file" to 720p.

All 4 of those devices were being streamed to simultaneously, and I never hit 2% CPU usage(peaked at 1.6%, to be exact.) So personally, I think I just undercut the i3 budget by at least $40-$50 retail on the CPU. Whether or not the Sempron will be completely destroyed is still a mystery, but I think I'm going to go ahead and get it and a board to give it a shot. If it can't hack it, I'll just use it as an HTPC.
Would I post the results for that here in this thread, or make a new one entirely?

Btw, my tablet is RCA's Maven Pro 11, and my router is probably very important in this matter. It's an Actiontec F2250, with shotgunned(dual-linked) connections.
All devices running wirelessly except for my regular PC that's hardwired to the router.

You can avoid transcoding and do direct play if you encode your media to mp4,h264, and acc audio. Downside to this, it will take up more hdd space but you won't have trouble running it in 1080p to multiple clients remote or local. At worse if your client has issues it will turn to direct stream, a small increase to your cpu usage.

This is great to know. I'm going to remember that bit of information.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

The results sound promising, so far. I would personally prefer the results be posted here, so I don't have to look for a new thread to follow.

 

[steelraptor1]

@Seth L
I'm glad I can offer my experience with you. I do own 2 Samsung smart Tv's, Ps4, and 2 laptops remotely. I did notice you are on wifi, have you tried to hardwire your clients to avoid more issues? And lastly I use the program Wondershare to convert my media to those settings I mentioned. Plex can optimize your media or use handbrake which is free, but both use cpu encoding methods and take forever. Wondershare uses gpu encoding and can take minutes encoding blurays or re-encoding movies to what ever format you want.