I want to host security cameras and a plex server. Does this mean that my server needs a GPU? (Or would benefit from one). I heard plex does fine with just a CPU
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plex would benifit from using a gpu
Consider any low power gpu for media hardware transcoding
Plex can only use the GPU if you haver the paid version. Those features are disabled in the free version. I run my plex server on Windows Server 2016 with an I7-3770K CPU @ 3.5GHz and 16GB RAM, with no dedicated graphics card, just the Intel on CPU graphics. I have no performance problems with transcoding videos using the free version of plex.
I use Jellyfin which is similar to Plex. I have it on a Raspberry Pi 4 8 GB. It’s perfectly fine if I’m sending H264 but most modern browsers do not support H265 so it forces the server to transcode. That will consume almost all processing power if it’s CPU-only and is a very slow process.
That will consume almost all processing power if it’s CPU-only and is a very slow process.
This is a complicated topic and the terminology is a bit ambiguous.
Yes, non-hardware-accelerated transcoding is slow and will consume the CPU.
However, you don’t necessarily need an external GPU to do hardware-accelerated transcoding. When you use Intel QuickSync for example, the codec hardware is part if the CPU. On the other hand it is only in CPUs that have integrated graphics, so you could still say the transcoding is done “by the GPU”, just not the additional one that you put in. In fact, putting in a dedicated graphics card often disables the integrated graphics and you have to use tricks to re-enable it before you can use it for transcoding again.
If you use a third party app that can play directly, like Infuse, or your CPU has Intel QuickSync, then you’ll likely be fine. For security cameras unless you need any sort of facial recognition or object detection just a CPU will still be fine. If you need anything more advanced then a GPU is necessary
Transcoding
As long as you have Plex Pass, hardware transcoding is extremely good with moder QuickSync Intel processors, and specially good if you run Linux.
In fact, putting in a dedicated graphics card often disables the integrated graphics including QuickSync and you might have to set up a virtual screen to re-enable it.
Bought an Intel A750 for transcoding on my Jellyfin server. The CPU did fine for just 1 or 2 people watching at the same time. It just pegged out the CPU at 100%. Plus had limited support for what types could be transcoded. With the A750 can easily handle several people watching at the same time and can transcode any format. With little CPU usages, so everything else running stays fast.
If you want object detection with your ip cameras, you can use Frigate, and to have good performance, you can buy a Google Coral to perform the object detection part.
I have found transcoding to work noticeably better when using quicksync (the intel chip native encoder) rather than a GPU.
At this point, I think the only real reason you would want a GPU is for LLMs.
A decent, recent Nvidia GPU is going to beat most CPUs. I wouldn’t shell out extra for a GPU just for transcoding, though. Good enough is good enough.
Plex server or running your own LLM
Just about anything Machine Learning or AI, Transcoding for a media server, render farm for something like blender perhaps?
Get an Intel cpu with iGPU (most do) and you’ll be good to go for anything that you’re doing there.
Jellyfin transcoding.
I added a cheap Quadro p400 to my Unraid server as the old girl (4790s) couldn’t handle h265 on the igpu.
Far cheaper and easier than a whole server upgrade just for a little more capability when transcoding.
Interested in the arc a380 just for transcoding when the kernel is updated to support the cards in Unraid natively when they eventually do but in no rush to do so.
I use a p4000 to transcode Plex content. The GPU uses less power than maxing out my CPU. I also have the GPU available in Kasm though I’m unsure if that works as I mostly use kasm as a SSH jumpbox or access to an unfiltered Chrome session at work.
When I upgrade my CPU, I plan to put my spare 1650 in my host and spin up a windows gaming VM for guests and remote play.