I'm considering buying a Dell PowerEdge T640 server. Here are the specs: it has dual Intel Xeon Gold 6138 processors, 128GB of ECC RAM, and two 960GB enterprise SSDs. I'm curious if I need additional components or software to set it up as a Plex server, or if it could also serve other purposes? Would a GPU make a difference for transcoding?
3 Answers
While I’m not a Plex guru, many users suggest having a dedicated GPU for transcoding to improve performance. If you're open to alternatives, you might consider Jellyfin, which is a free, open-source option and doesn’t have the same issues some users report with Plex.
Yeah, it sounds like a bit much for a typical Plex setup. Just storage and good bandwidth usually win out in that game. Just make sure whatever you do with it, you have enough storage to meet your media needs.
Honestly, that setup seems like overkill for just running Plex. Most people can use a simple server with a couple of HDDs without any issues. If you’re fine with the multiple CPU threads, you should be good without a dedicated GPU for transcoding. It really comes down to what other tasks you're planning for the server.
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