Man, both of you guys are awesome. You guys have caused me to love IT again. I kinda stepped away from it for a while, because I got tired of being the help desk for all my family and friends. It took away the fun, but you guys have made me love it again. @RaidOwl @TechnoTim @NetworkChuck @Craftcomputing @JeffGeerling you guys are my favorites by far. I've learned a lot from watching you guys, also spent a lot of money as well. I'm in Grand Prairie, Texas (DFW area) and looking for someone that can hard wire my home with ethernet. If you guys have any ideas, please let me know. God bless you guys and thank you.
I just did this with my kids (8 and 10 years old) and they were ecstatic to make a difference in how our plex media server works! They were confident in watching your video that they did the best they could with what we have. While I did guide them through it putting on rails (ESPECIALLY in the bios settings) they did pretty much all of it on their own. Kudos for helping 2 little girls enjoy tech. People like you make STEM easy.
Awesome video. One addition: With so much RAM you could dedicate around 10GB for a RAM disk as the plex temporary trancoder directory. The limited write processes of your SSD will thank you sooner or later. 😊
@@TechnoTim Thanks. There are some edge cases though where a larger RAM disk is needed such as optimising and live TV & DVR (recording long programmes).
Plex, thanks for sponsoring this video. Low power builds, easy on the ears and eyes, and easy for a grand parent to control... Thats the right direction
Love energy efficient themed videos. Thanks Tim! One step I always recommend is doing the calculation of how long it takes to break even. Like, If you spend $600 on new hardware ... how many months/years would it take to reach that with $6/month higher power bill. At the end of the day though, conserving resources is always awesome!!!
Keep in mind some places like California, electric rates are $0.60 kWh and continue to skyrocket every year by another 10-25% and going from say 100w down to 16w running 24/7 would probably pay for itself quicker than you realize. But yeah for some places where power is very cheap the cost vs reward might not make a ton of sense other than it looking cool.
I feel like such a party pooper for thinking all of this: I love this system as purely an exercise in showing how efficient a machine like this can be. Also, it looks great. For me the elephant in the room is how expensive it is and that it uses all new hardware. If the pursuit of power efficiency is a cost thing, a near $1700 build is in direct opposition of that goal. If being green is the goal, buying all new hardware is kind of against that too. I love the message encouraging people to think about efficiency. I also am a fan of this channel and the caliber of content you produce. For me, I'm just not sure the efficiency quest in this video makes sense outside of the context of just doing something because it can be done/it's cool and fun. Hopefully that makes sense and feels like the constructive criticism it is intended to be.
I'm so excited about this, thank you so much for publishing. I'm traveling right now but I can't wait to get home and implement some of these settings!
I'm running Proxmox on an 11th gen i5 NUC, with a bunch of home automation and various services. It's reporting 6-9W package power just hanging out, 15-18W transcoding and tone mapping a 4k HDR video to 1080p SDR. It's not an exact like-for-like because the video is streamed from a NAS so the drive and network gear power consumption comes in addition. I've been incredibly impressed with the little guy, most recently after installing immich and seeing it generate many tens of thousands of thumbnails in just a few hours.
*Me sitting next to my Epyc Jellyfin server: Hmm that's neat. The only time I would argue against a low horsepower approach is if you're also running handbrake to transcode for storage efficiency on the server. I actually used your video on setting up containerized handbrake and it has been so convenient to batch transcode on my server overnight instead of on a user machine.
My video server is running on an N95 based mini-PC. Haven't checked the power consumption, nor how many streams I can do at the same time, but I do know it will do two transcode streams simultaneously.
My current plex uses about 15 watts max and has 16TB of storage. Bought a little reComputer years ago and its more than powerful for the 2 people in my household to watch plex.
One thing to consider with the power supply is that the efficiency is higher when you draw more power. Even if it says 80+, it might be much lower when you don't draw much power. This is basically to say: take a look at the power supply chart, some of them tell you the efficiency at a given power output. You might get better efficiency at such low power and spend a lot less money.
For such a small and power efficient system I think that Pico PSU would be the best choice. Any standard ATX PSU can't even come close when it comes to efficiency at 10-15W.
Did something similar lately but instead built a whole system for running Proxmox and setup Jellyfin (transcoding is free unlike with Plex) in a container!
@@simdevils I was informed that some people using my server would have to pay to use the server. The sheer audacity of requiring users to pay them more money for feature onlocking on my own server after I had already paid 200 dollars for transcoding, a basic feature, is where I threw the whole thing into the grave. Why people stick with them beyond Samsung TV support I will never understand.
@@inflatablemicrowave8187 it seems there seems to be some misunderstanding on you or your user's part. You paid 200 for what? The hardware or Plex pass? Add those people to your Plex Home and they will enjoy the benefits of having a server with Plex pass.
Been using my plex server since it was new and plexpass didn't exist yet. I just keep multiple quality formats on the server optimized. No need to worry about specs that way. =)
I understand the purpose of this video, but if you already have a NAS and need/want a separate pc for Plex, just get an older hp or Dell mini and connect it to your NAS via nfs or smb. Same end result, much cheaper and no extra drives.
Rebuilt my NAS last year. 13th Gen i3, 3x nvme drives, 4x 16TB drives, 1x 512gb sata ssd, 32gb of ram, and it runs between 44-53 watts. Using unraid as the OS. Definitely thinking about getting rid of 2 of the nvmes as I don't need the speed for the applications running on them.
After years of hardware iterations, from undervolted passive cooled i7s to NAS with multiple 3.5 inch HDDs I arrived at my current most power saving Plex solution. A single 16TB external Drive on a DS620slim with mostly SSDs and one old Seagate 5TB. The NAS runs from 8 in the morning to 1 at night, and the Plex App itself starts at 7 in the evening so the external Drive doesn't spin before that (it's a Synology thing, some Apps keeps drives awake). 90% of everything is my own use though but I had no complaints from the other 10% about the setup either. As much as I like fiddling with hardware and building PCs, an additional device is still an additional device... :) Any power saving is welcome and I like the video even though I'd always try and make the machine as multi use as possible and prefer T-Series CPUs like a i3-14100T in this case
Well you’re welcome then :) keep doing what you’re doing, you inspired me in the past too My personal minilab is the result of a minimalism phase (what does one really need) and good old german power prices :D It’s really mind boggling to me that people in other parts of the world easily run multi 100w systems … The current setup uses ~55w at night when the Nas sleeps and ~75-80w when everything is running and mostly idling. By everything I mean router, access point, nas, one of these 1L Micro PCs with a 12500T for proxmox, a PoE Switch and a UPS. The UPS itself takes 30w which surprised me to be honest but I wouldn’t want to live without it and during the day it’s at least partially if not all powered by two solar panels (600w max) The only thing missing right now is a backup drive. I stopped hoarding but I’d be sad if my media drive would give up tomorrow… just haven’t found a nice external case yet
Thank you for this. Very complete presentation. On the older generation AMD CPU side, the APU's with integrated graphics such as the 8 core 5700G or 4750G Pro with PCI gen 3 speeds idle at under 10 watts measured in HW Info.
Jellyfin has free GPU transcoding. Did you optimize linux for max power savings? Or is it a comparison of "out-of-the-box linux" vs "tuned-to-the-max windows"?
This is just a word of caution, I have an Intel 8500k with its onboard UHD Graphics 630, it could not transcode a movie i have that is 4k, 24p, HEVC main10(HDR10) mkv. So, the internal GPUs work fine but there is asterisks only because your results will vary depending on the media you supply it with. Now for me its my main rig with a 1660ti that I use to actually transcode (zero issue on anything i have, no 8k) because I have yet to build my server. I am in the opinion depending on your needs a gpu is still recommended and Plex does lean towards Nvidia but on forums people have said no issues with AMD, again results may vary.
Actually you can set your BIOS to turn on when you enter Plex! I think that's the best option. In the bios choose allow wakeup... I don't remember the full name in the bios but I have definitely used it.
This - the energy savings would take years to pay back. Also for environmental costs - reusing old hardware is far less wasteful than new. Its a cool machine, but not environmentallly friendly.
This x1000. A 7th gen nuc, tiny/mini/micro will do about the same for basic (2-3) stream transcoding. One can have that system around 150 USD/EUR. Drives included.
@@bluesquadron593 IS that really all that is needed for running plex good without stuttering? Really want to get a mini pc for plex but no clue where to start and what i need to have it all work with no issues. i don't want something overkill just something where multiple people in the house can use it without any issues
@ironcrafter54 Very fun to build a new system! That's the real reason for the build - and the Plex sponsorship. In reality, this build is too expensive just for power savings. An older machine using 120W and running 24/7 would cost $160/yr ($0.15/kWh). This build is over $1000 so would take over 6 years to pay off. Assuming, of course, you already have an older system or can get one cheap. Could also just scale this down a lot and have a more affordable build - but that's not as much fun.
Thanks for the video. I ended up having low power nas with plex/jellyfin and 'essential' vms/containers and heavy eater dell r730 for all other experiments (turned on on demand). + Agree with other coments: best transcoding is no transcoding
You couldve/shouldve went with a 12100 if you disable turbo boost anyways. Same igpu + lower entry cost + you avoid potential intel 13/14gen problems.. (eventhough its unlikley that 14100 are affected). Beside that i love that you are giving power-efficiency some attention :D
Might be time for a new media server. My old server uses 140w due to older and multiple SAS drives. Electricity is pretty expensive where I live so I need to rethink my existing setup.
Thanks for the video! Whether it’s sponsored or not, it’s all good. The build looks great! If I were to make some changes, I wouldn’t go for a socket near the end of its life since you miss out on upgrading to new CPUs like Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake. I’d probably go with AMD over Intel, especially with their 5-year support guarantee. Also, I’ve had some bad experiences with Seagate drives-too many failures. I think WD Red+ Pro or higher models are a better choice. And when it comes to Linux vs. Windows, Linux wins for me because you avoid those blue-screen updates and licenses! Overall, the build seems overkill for a Plex server and a bit pricey.
Love a low power build/server. I'm planning something similar, but with the upcoming Jonesbo N5, and (hopefully) 15th gen Intel. My current server has been rock solid, but could definitely use an upgrade. Thinking about trying UnRaid, too.
I have a full home server running on a 10400, 32gb of ram, no discrete gpu, and a combo of nvme, sata ssd, and hdd. I use OMV so it is on a usb stick which I make a full copy of every month plus weekly backups, a sata ssd for my plex transcode (it was an older ssd I just happened to have around), an nvme for the main docker containers, then up to 8 HDD drives for bulk storage. Right now I have 4x4TB hdd and 2x14TB HDD. I use snapraid with both of the larger drives being the parity drives. SMART enabled for all drives that I can that does short scans daily and long scans weekly. I know this is the not best configuration but it is my first home server and I constantly make backups of all that I can and put them on external drives which I have two copies of (one in home and one at work). At some point I would like to change from OMV to something that can be installed on an actual drive instead of a usb without causing issues (I heard it has issues or requires the full disk space). I am unsure what OS I would change to that would be relatively simple to swap to from OMV since it uses BTRFS for my data drives.
I'd really recommend using something like TuneD or TLP (more used for laptops) to get power consumption down on Linux. RHEL or Rocky Linux include TuneD by default, which can optimize for power saving. Cockpit (system management web ui) even allows you to reconfigure the power profile on the fly, so if you want more performance it takes just a minute to log in and switch it on. You can even write a script (or use systemd timers) to enable power-saving mode at night, when you're hardly using it anyways
It's weird... energy costs are quite low where I am, but for some reason idle power usage has become something of a goal to me. I'm always balancing the added idle power draw vs. utility of an upgrade.
I would love to see a small Proxmox server built with the same philosophy. More cores, (i7-9700?), 4-6 drives, 64-96 GB of RAM and maybe a PCI slot or two.
I think the low power builds are neat and make for good content. I would like to see some power optimization on recycled hardware. Like I recycled my old gaming pc with a haswell processor for my parents and it would take 25 years to break even on power consumption alone vs a new $1K pc. I will admit power is cheap where I live which is why my plex server runs on a 64-core epyc.
Thanks for the video. Although I don't have a video server at the moment (and if I did, I'd probably use Jellyfin) I'll take another look at your BIOS settings since I have a very similar one. A couple of questions: - Why so much memory? I don't think Plex uses that much and that way it's cheaper. - What is the model of your smart plug that you monitor from Home Assistant? Thanks.
The NUC's and some of the mini pc's can be pretty energy efficient out of the box, but the problem I have with those are lack of space for storage. I'd like to at least do a mirror and in maybe some of the small pcs you can fit 2.5" SSD's but they are so expensive~
may not be necessary since turbo boost is disabled in the bios. Did save a massive amount of power for me tho, from 40 to 20 Watts at idle on Ryzen 3600.
I've been able to transcode video with a OASLOA Mini PC that has the N95 processor. IIRC, it idled at around 6 W, and at full tilt, I think it was something like 10-11 W. (I don't remember exactly.) It doesn't have any space inside for any additional storage, so if I were to use that, I would need to use external hard drives over USB, but I can also tell Windows to spin down those drives when it isn't needed. It's certainly NOT a performant system, but it CAN be done.
Loved the video but as a noob plex user I have an almost maxed out 10tb drive. Is there any way to get more drives in this build? Looks like only two fit in here?
Nice Video! What about ECC memory? Would you even recommend a system without? Would love to see a low powered build with ECC because all i got is 38 watts with 2 drives and an AMD Epyc 3151, it has no internal GPU but I didn't need transcoding anyway in the past year. I'm curious if there is more to optimize.
I stick to my ol Nvidia Shield Pro. I don't have to pay for transcoding, but still have Plex Pass for full functionality (Jellyfin and Emby lacks of some extra usefull features). For me what make the difference between Plex and any other media streaming server is Plex's nice polished and mature UI/UX and Media Management between all my Plex media servers and all my subscriptions. I hate Netflix, Max and even Disney algorithms ;) Tim, in my opinion your server is waaay overpowered for the main purpose of a Plex Media Server. Not to mention the ...price. It is a nice build tough.
Interesting video! Interesting build. Now, what would you build if your media library was, say, 8-10 times the size of a mirrored pair of 14TB disks? I am not sure how typical a one-disk media library is.
Thank you! Glad you like it! Honestly, it's like a nice fitting blanket. Super soft. I am not just saying that because it's mine, but I specifically picked out the material for it.
I doubt it effects much but did you consider testing ssd/hdd HW encoding vs RAM disk? ssd and ram might be similar, but i would assume the hdd would use a little bit more.
We are still pushing plex in 2024 after they have had multiple privacy issues over the years and still don’t have local authentication? I’ll watch this when you talk Jellyfin instead.
@@ellieday6438 As far as I know, you can't natively use Jellyfin to watch a video outside your LAN. Setting up a VPN or a reverse proxy just isn't an option for some people.
Platinum efficiency only comes into effect at 80% load while this system is most of the time well under than. It’s better too right size your power supply or get a pico psu for this kind of build
Does this single device also run prowler, radarr, sonarr, overseerr, qBitTorrent, vpn, etc... or is this only powerful enough to do the streaming servers? Would you need an additional machine to handle your media downloading?
64GB of ram is overkill for a plex build. My Plex VM runs perfectly on 4GB of ram and even with 4 transcode streams going, the Plex is oinly using about 1 gb of RAM. 8GB would be sufficient and 16gb would be plenty for a dedicaded plex server, even if you were going to run some docker containers that would say, organize your media library.
Why use that case when it only fits 3x HDDs? Something like the Jonsbo case series or the Node 304 fit significantly more HDDs. You say you want to have this server for many years, yet skimp on the most essential part which is storage expansion. Great video otherwise
I just shrank down from 400W to 200W. Would love to go lower but I’m addicted to all the PCIe lanes Epyc gives me. Someone create a desktop class processor with 40-50 lanes, please!!! 💸
Tim, please be the first who makes a tutorial how to passthrough a Ryzen igpu to a Plex LXC for HW transcoding and show Wendel, Jeff, Brett, Wolfgang and Co who is the real Master Blaster.
>4 sata ports plenty enough for plex server 5/6 on mobo, 6 on sata controller, plus 4 in qnap tr004… thats 15 and soon… ill need more. all joking/flexing aside, 4 is ok. to start with. i started with 4, and after a year or so had to upgrade. welcome to the desert of the hoard, padawan! oh, yes. dunno how much watts it consumes, but i dont care. i think. i use the htpc for reencoding dvds, and general computer use so… but am thinking of checking the power consumption. im afraid i wont be pleasantly surprised, with 13 drives and 110tb of storage space (yes, im down to 800gb free, hence the welcome, lol).
Low-power, efficient Plex/Jellyfin server? N100+motherboard will cost as much as i3-14100 itself, while being even more efficient. N100's iGPU will handle transcoding without any problem. Pico PSU will beat most of the PSUs when it comes to efficiency at very low wattage (10-15W) and it will be enough for 2 HDDs. Small CPU cooler with Arctic fans in the case will be more than enough - Noctua not needed. Build cost around half compared to what is presented in the video (not counting drives). ROI with energy saving will be much faster with cheaper build.
How would this build work to run plex but also home assistant and various other vms? I am looking to build a rack mount server to run all my home services.
I can buy a 100w solar-panel and a cheap grid tie inverter and completely offset my current amd 5950x + 128gb ecc ram + rtx A2000. I use the gpu for transcodes the picture quality is better and I can handle all 8 accounts transcoding in real time from my stored Blu-ray raw backups. This system has a pair of nvm catching and 16x 20TB a HDD's. At idle I draw 119w at full power (eco profile + under volt tuning) I pull 232w from the wall. Plex if just a vm the host is proxmox. And I push a lot of vm's for work and code testing. I can save 14w by simply not using the 10gbps nic but I have a 10gbps network so I use it. My main desktop is a 7950x 96gb ram build with a pair of 4090's. So money not the real problem
To be honest, a laptop is the easiest on power, I’ve had my server on a laptop for 7years with dedicated GPU and linked to a nas With 25 concurrent users transcoding at very low wattage
Hi tim. can you say me if you succes transcode hevc 4k to 1080 with your intel cpu in hardware transcoding. With amd gpu is imposible but with nvidia p4000 i can do it. im curios if he have limitation. Thanks
I feel personally attacked within the first 5 seconds of the video...
Me too 😅
Man, both of you guys are awesome. You guys have caused me to love IT again. I kinda stepped away from it for a while, because I got tired of being the help desk for all my family and friends. It took away the fun, but you guys have made me love it again. @RaidOwl @TechnoTim @NetworkChuck @Craftcomputing @JeffGeerling you guys are my favorites by far. I've learned a lot from watching you guys, also spent a lot of money as well. I'm in Grand Prairie, Texas (DFW area) and looking for someone that can hard wire my home with ethernet. If you guys have any ideas, please let me know. God bless you guys and thank you.
Me looking at my dell r720 😂… but then again my electricity is like .02 cents per kWh
@@jssjuly $0.02 is wild. Here in California its $0.60 kWh
I just did this with my kids (8 and 10 years old) and they were ecstatic to make a difference in how our plex media server works! They were confident in watching your video that they did the best they could with what we have. While I did guide them through it putting on rails (ESPECIALLY in the bios settings) they did pretty much all of it on their own. Kudos for helping 2 little girls enjoy tech. People like you make STEM easy.
Awesome video.
One addition:
With so much RAM you could dedicate around 10GB for a RAM disk as the plex temporary trancoder directory. The limited write processes of your SSD will thank you sooner or later. 😊
That's a really great idea!
@@TechnoTim Thanks. There are some edge cases though where a larger RAM disk is needed such as optimising and live TV & DVR (recording long programmes).
/dev/shm
I am sure you made Wolfgang proud.
meh wolfgang would think the idle power is to high lol
Wolfgang would only trust a Cybernetics rating
Plex, thanks for sponsoring this video. Low power builds, easy on the ears and eyes, and easy for a grand parent to control... Thats the right direction
Love energy efficient themed videos. Thanks Tim! One step I always recommend is doing the calculation of how long it takes to break even. Like, If you spend $600 on new hardware ... how many months/years would it take to reach that with $6/month higher power bill. At the end of the day though, conserving resources is always awesome!!!
Keep in mind some places like California, electric rates are $0.60 kWh and continue to skyrocket every year by another 10-25% and going from say 100w down to 16w running 24/7 would probably pay for itself quicker than you realize. But yeah for some places where power is very cheap the cost vs reward might not make a ton of sense other than it looking cool.
@@909SportRider Yup my point exactly. All depends on your location. And who knows, maybe you can get a good deal on hardware, too.
I feel like such a party pooper for thinking all of this:
I love this system as purely an exercise in showing how efficient a machine like this can be. Also, it looks great. For me the elephant in the room is how expensive it is and that it uses all new hardware. If the pursuit of power efficiency is a cost thing, a near $1700 build is in direct opposition of that goal. If being green is the goal, buying all new hardware is kind of against that too. I love the message encouraging people to think about efficiency. I also am a fan of this channel and the caliber of content you produce. For me, I'm just not sure the efficiency quest in this video makes sense outside of the context of just doing something because it can be done/it's cool and fun. Hopefully that makes sense and feels like the constructive criticism it is intended to be.
Yeah I shuddered when the build was at $350 two components in (MoBo and CPU).
Plex in Docker on linux seems like the best way to go in my opinion.
@@alldaytherapy2919 agreed!
Or jellyfin so you don't have to pay for transcoding lol
@@inflatablemicrowave8187 And as it is said in some comments, not only to do transcoding but to be able to use someone's server.
I'm a MSP with plenty of licenses and converted to a Linux based Plex server 🤷♂️
the power efficiency is pretty impressive! *aggressively takes notes*
I'm so excited about this, thank you so much for publishing. I'm traveling right now but I can't wait to get home and implement some of these settings!
I'm running Proxmox on an 11th gen i5 NUC, with a bunch of home automation and various services. It's reporting 6-9W package power just hanging out, 15-18W transcoding and tone mapping a 4k HDR video to 1080p SDR. It's not an exact like-for-like because the video is streamed from a NAS so the drive and network gear power consumption comes in addition. I've been incredibly impressed with the little guy, most recently after installing immich and seeing it generate many tens of thousands of thumbnails in just a few hours.
which NUC model is that? how much RAM you put in that box?
@@ewoks42 NUC11PAHi5 with 16gb of RAM
*Me sitting next to my Epyc Jellyfin server: Hmm that's neat.
The only time I would argue against a low horsepower approach is if you're also running handbrake to transcode for storage efficiency on the server. I actually used your video on setting up containerized handbrake and it has been so convenient to batch transcode on my server overnight instead of on a user machine.
wut
My video server is running on an N95 based mini-PC. Haven't checked the power consumption, nor how many streams I can do at the same time, but I do know it will do two transcode streams simultaneously.
My current plex uses about 15 watts max and has 16TB of storage. Bought a little reComputer years ago and its more than powerful for the 2 people in my household to watch plex.
One thing to consider with the power supply is that the efficiency is higher when you draw more power.
Even if it says 80+, it might be much lower when you don't draw much power.
This is basically to say: take a look at the power supply chart, some of them tell you the efficiency at a given power output. You might get better efficiency at such low power and spend a lot less money.
For such a small and power efficient system I think that Pico PSU would be the best choice. Any standard ATX PSU can't even come close when it comes to efficiency at 10-15W.
Did something similar lately but instead built a whole system for running Proxmox and setup Jellyfin (transcoding is free unlike with Plex) in a container!
What where the specs you went for?
I'm kinda partial to Jellyfin.
Its Plex pro week ...
@@simdevils I was informed that some people using my server would have to pay to use the server. The sheer audacity of requiring users to pay them more money for feature onlocking on my own server after I had already paid 200 dollars for transcoding, a basic feature, is where I threw the whole thing into the grave. Why people stick with them beyond Samsung TV support I will never understand.
@@inflatablemicrowave8187 it seems there seems to be some misunderstanding on you or your user's part. You paid 200 for what? The hardware or Plex pass?
Add those people to your Plex Home and they will enjoy the benefits of having a server with Plex pass.
@@inflatablemicrowave8187 Samsung even has a Jellyfin App, though it needs to be self-built with a few docker commands.
I have a spare Fractal Terra case so I might try this.
Been using my plex server since it was new and plexpass didn't exist yet. I just keep multiple quality formats on the server optimized. No need to worry about specs that way. =)
I understand the purpose of this video, but if you already have a NAS and need/want a separate pc for Plex, just get an older hp or Dell mini and connect it to your NAS via nfs or smb. Same end result, much cheaper and no extra drives.
Agreed if you already have a NAS, just run it there, but there are some people who haven't built one yet, and this could also be your NAS :)
Rebuilt my NAS last year. 13th Gen i3, 3x nvme drives, 4x 16TB drives, 1x 512gb sata ssd, 32gb of ram, and it runs between 44-53 watts. Using unraid as the OS. Definitely thinking about getting rid of 2 of the nvmes as I don't need the speed for the applications running on them.
After years of hardware iterations, from undervolted passive cooled i7s to NAS with multiple 3.5 inch HDDs I arrived at my current most power saving Plex solution. A single 16TB external Drive on a DS620slim with mostly SSDs and one old Seagate 5TB. The NAS runs from 8 in the morning to 1 at night, and the Plex App itself starts at 7 in the evening so the external Drive doesn't spin before that (it's a Synology thing, some Apps keeps drives awake). 90% of everything is my own use though but I had no complaints from the other 10% about the setup either. As much as I like fiddling with hardware and building PCs, an additional device is still an additional device... :)
Any power saving is welcome and I like the video even though I'd always try and make the machine as multi use as possible and prefer T-Series CPUs like a i3-14100T in this case
You're really got this figured out! This is inspiring! Thank you for giving me more ideas!
Well you’re welcome then :) keep doing what you’re doing, you inspired me in the past too
My personal minilab is the result of a minimalism phase (what does one really need) and good old german power prices :D
It’s really mind boggling to me that people in other parts of the world easily run multi 100w systems …
The current setup uses ~55w at night when the Nas sleeps and ~75-80w when everything is running and mostly idling. By everything I mean router, access point, nas, one of these 1L Micro PCs with a 12500T for proxmox, a PoE Switch and a UPS. The UPS itself takes 30w which surprised me to be honest but I wouldn’t want to live without it and during the day it’s at least partially if not all powered by two solar panels (600w max)
The only thing missing right now is a backup drive. I stopped hoarding but I’d be sad if my media drive would give up tomorrow… just haven’t found a nice external case yet
Thank you for this. Very complete presentation.
On the older generation AMD CPU side, the APU's with integrated graphics such as the 8 core 5700G or 4750G Pro with PCI gen 3 speeds idle at under 10 watts measured in HW Info.
Every time I see that Fractal Terra case I want it a little bit more...
Jellyfin has free GPU transcoding. Did you optimize linux for max power savings? Or is it a comparison of "out-of-the-box linux" vs "tuned-to-the-max windows"?
I tuned it as much as I could in the UI for Ubuntu, just like Windows
Can we talk about the HHD mounts?? I love my Terra, but I could use some of those mounts!
Yes, I would also know how those HDD’s are mounted 👍
What was that tiny monitor? Would be great for a server crash cart!
This is just a word of caution, I have an Intel 8500k with its onboard UHD Graphics 630, it could not transcode a movie i have that is 4k, 24p, HEVC main10(HDR10) mkv. So, the internal GPUs work fine but there is asterisks only because your results will vary depending on the media you supply it with. Now for me its my main rig with a 1660ti that I use to actually transcode (zero issue on anything i have, no 8k) because I have yet to build my server. I am in the opinion depending on your needs a gpu is still recommended and Plex does lean towards Nvidia but on forums people have said no issues with AMD, again results may vary.
Actually you can set your BIOS to turn on when you enter Plex! I think that's the best option.
In the bios choose allow wakeup... I don't remember the full name in the bios but I have definitely used it.
Cost for build? $700? $1200? Where are savings?
This - the energy savings would take years to pay back. Also for environmental costs - reusing old hardware is far less wasteful than new. Its a cool machine, but not environmentallly friendly.
This x1000. A 7th gen nuc, tiny/mini/micro will do about the same for basic (2-3) stream transcoding. One can have that system around 150 USD/EUR. Drives included.
@@bluesquadron593 IS that really all that is needed for running plex good without stuttering? Really want to get a mini pc for plex but no clue where to start and what i need to have it all work with no issues. i don't want something overkill just something where multiple people in the house can use it without any issues
Yeah, but it's fun
@ironcrafter54 Very fun to build a new system! That's the real reason for the build - and the Plex sponsorship.
In reality, this build is too expensive just for power savings. An older machine using 120W and running 24/7 would cost $160/yr ($0.15/kWh). This build is over $1000 so would take over 6 years to pay off. Assuming, of course, you already have an older system or can get one cheap. Could also just scale this down a lot and have a more affordable build - but that's not as much fun.
Thanks for the video. I ended up having low power nas with plex/jellyfin and 'essential' vms/containers and heavy eater dell r730 for all other experiments (turned on on demand).
+ Agree with other coments: best transcoding is no transcoding
You couldve/shouldve went with a 12100 if you disable turbo boost anyways. Same igpu + lower entry cost + you avoid potential intel 13/14gen problems.. (eventhough its unlikley that 14100 are affected). Beside that i love that you are giving power-efficiency some attention :D
I considered that too but I got a good deal on the 14th gen and I was able to flash the BIOS and microcode right away! Thank you for looking out!
Jellyfin > Plex. Otherwise great video :)
Might be time for a new media server. My old server uses 140w due to older and multiple SAS drives. Electricity is pretty expensive where I live so I need to rethink my existing setup.
Thanks for the video! Whether it’s sponsored or not, it’s all good. The build looks great! If I were to make some changes, I wouldn’t go for a socket near the end of its life since you miss out on upgrading to new CPUs like Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake. I’d probably go with AMD over Intel, especially with their 5-year support guarantee. Also, I’ve had some bad experiences with Seagate drives-too many failures. I think WD Red+ Pro or higher models are a better choice. And when it comes to Linux vs. Windows, Linux wins for me because you avoid those blue-screen updates and licenses! Overall, the build seems overkill for a Plex server and a bit pricey.
Love a low power build/server. I'm planning something similar, but with the upcoming Jonesbo N5, and (hopefully) 15th gen Intel. My current server has been rock solid, but could definitely use an upgrade. Thinking about trying UnRaid, too.
Its a gret build but perhaps abit expenssive for what its used for :p Still appreciate your stuff and what you do for us man
I have a full home server running on a 10400, 32gb of ram, no discrete gpu, and a combo of nvme, sata ssd, and hdd. I use OMV so it is on a usb stick which I make a full copy of every month plus weekly backups, a sata ssd for my plex transcode (it was an older ssd I just happened to have around), an nvme for the main docker containers, then up to 8 HDD drives for bulk storage. Right now I have 4x4TB hdd and 2x14TB HDD.
I use snapraid with both of the larger drives being the parity drives. SMART enabled for all drives that I can that does short scans daily and long scans weekly.
I know this is the not best configuration but it is my first home server and I constantly make backups of all that I can and put them on external drives which I have two copies of (one in home and one at work).
At some point I would like to change from OMV to something that can be installed on an actual drive instead of a usb without causing issues (I heard it has issues or requires the full disk space). I am unsure what OS I would change to that would be relatively simple to swap to from OMV since it uses BTRFS for my data drives.
ubuntu server and jellyfin docker container?
@@xMdb I run Trunas scale. I use it for plex and home assistant. I run my drives in clone mode. It's expensive but my data is always backed up.
I'd really recommend using something like TuneD or TLP (more used for laptops) to get power consumption down on Linux. RHEL or Rocky Linux include TuneD by default, which can optimize for power saving. Cockpit (system management web ui) even allows you to reconfigure the power profile on the fly, so if you want more performance it takes just a minute to log in and switch it on. You can even write a script (or use systemd timers) to enable power-saving mode at night, when you're hardly using it anyways
Thank you, I will check these out. Tuning Linux for power savings is new to me! I appreciate your time and knowledge!
It's weird... energy costs are quite low where I am, but for some reason idle power usage has become something of a goal to me. I'm always balancing the added idle power draw vs. utility of an upgrade.
Jonsbo N3 would have been a fantastic case for this build
Excellent video Tim as always.
I would love to see a small Proxmox server built with the same philosophy. More cores, (i7-9700?), 4-6 drives, 64-96 GB of RAM and maybe a PCI slot or two.
Thanks Tim! Incredibly useful information!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks Tim. Nice build.
Great video but jellyfin when?
I think the low power builds are neat and make for good content. I would like to see some power optimization on recycled hardware. Like I recycled my old gaming pc with a haswell processor for my parents and it would take 25 years to break even on power consumption alone vs a new $1K pc. I will admit power is cheap where I live which is why my plex server runs on a 64-core epyc.
Thanks for the video. Although I don't have a video server at the moment (and if I did, I'd probably use Jellyfin) I'll take another look at your BIOS settings since I have a very similar one.
A couple of questions:
- Why so much memory? I don't think Plex uses that much and that way it's cheaper.
- What is the model of your smart plug that you monitor from Home Assistant?
Thanks.
The NUC's and some of the mini pc's can be pretty energy efficient out of the box, but the problem I have with those are lack of space for storage. I'd like to at least do a mirror and in maybe some of the small pcs you can fit 2.5" SSD's but they are so expensive~
Would be interesting to compare this to a $150 used mini PC that idles about 4-6w.
On a Ubuntu Server, you need to change CPU governor to powersave
may not be necessary since turbo boost is disabled in the bios. Did save a massive amount of power for me tho, from 40 to 20 Watts at idle on Ryzen 3600.
I've been able to transcode video with a OASLOA Mini PC that has the N95 processor. IIRC, it idled at around 6 W, and at full tilt, I think it was something like 10-11 W. (I don't remember exactly.)
It doesn't have any space inside for any additional storage, so if I were to use that, I would need to use external hard drives over USB, but I can also tell Windows to spin down those drives when it isn't needed.
It's certainly NOT a performant system, but it CAN be done.
it looks very nice but also expensive. for budget people i advise buying a second hand HP prodesk400 or elitedesk mini pc
Loved the video but as a noob plex user I have an almost maxed out 10tb drive. Is there any way to get more drives in this build? Looks like only two fit in here?
Im gonna rack mount this.
I thought I was doing well with 35w.
I think it's time I re do the whole home lab to more modern hardware.
But then I do have some bulk and redundancy
I up plex media server on China's TV box with Armbian, using usb to sata adapter. Power consumption 5 watt and it cost me free.
Nice Video! What about ECC memory? Would you even recommend a system without? Would love to see a low powered build with ECC because all i got is 38 watts with 2 drives and an AMD Epyc 3151, it has no internal GPU but I didn't need transcoding anyway in the past year. I'm curious if there is more to optimize.
I stick to my ol Nvidia Shield Pro. I don't have to pay for transcoding, but still have Plex Pass for full functionality (Jellyfin and Emby lacks of some extra usefull features).
For me what make the difference between Plex and any other media streaming server is Plex's nice polished and mature UI/UX and Media Management between all my Plex media servers and all my subscriptions. I hate Netflix, Max and even Disney algorithms ;)
Tim, in my opinion your server is waaay overpowered for the main purpose of a Plex Media Server. Not to mention the ...price. It is a nice build tough.
is disabling SMT really worth it for saving power? Doesn't that basically half your multi core performance?
I could build 3 Plex servers only with the cost of the case! 😅 You're underutilizing this hardware, this should be a gaming pc + plex
Interesting video! Interesting build. Now, what would you build if your media library was, say, 8-10 times the size of a mirrored pair of 14TB disks? I am not sure how typical a one-disk media library is.
The Dark Mode t-shirt is sooooo comfortable, is the hoodie just as comfy?
Thank you! Glad you like it! Honestly, it's like a nice fitting blanket. Super soft. I am not just saying that because it's mine, but I specifically picked out the material for it.
Do you have a step by step video of this build?
I have it running on my Nas/Das with 10 drives using 100 watts. That's down from 250 on my PC but I don't transcode.
I doubt it effects much but did you consider testing ssd/hdd HW encoding vs RAM disk? ssd and ram might be similar, but i would assume the hdd would use a little bit more.
Very curious if The Laptop Project/TLP could reduce Linux power usage. I'm not assuming Linux can beat Windows power usage, but it'd be interesting.
We are still pushing plex in 2024 after they have had multiple privacy issues over the years and still don’t have local authentication? I’ll watch this when you talk Jellyfin instead.
I'll consider switching to Jellyfin when I don't have to be at home to watch it.
@@JamieStuff You don't have to be home no watch it? Not sure where you got that idea?
@@ellieday6438 As far as I know, you can't natively use Jellyfin to watch a video outside your LAN. Setting up a VPN or a reverse proxy just isn't an option for some people.
@@JamieStuff I was across the country using it a few months ago with no issues. This sounds like a skills issue 100%.
@@JamieStufflol.. What!?
very nice case :)
Platinum efficiency only comes into effect at 80% load while this system is most of the time well under than. It’s better too right size your power supply or get a pico psu for this kind of build
Does this single device also run prowler, radarr, sonarr, overseerr, qBitTorrent, vpn, etc... or is this only powerful enough to do the streaming servers? Would you need an additional machine to handle your media downloading?
64GB of ram is overkill for a plex build. My Plex VM runs perfectly on 4GB of ram and even with 4 transcode streams going, the Plex is oinly using about 1 gb of RAM. 8GB would be sufficient and 16gb would be plenty for a dedicaded plex server, even if you were going to run some docker containers that would say, organize your media library.
I think using a mici-pc is a much better choice if you are going for maximum power saving. Again - it's just my opinion...
Great video as always! I want to buy one of your shirts, when will you get more 3x size?
Thank you so much! I will have some soon, along with more designs!
@@TechnoTim Awesome thank you sir.
This build can also serve as a great Windows 11 or Linux workstation for a daily driver.
That's right! It's a pretty versitile build!
Also, in one of your videos I noticed that you have a nice curved monitor. What brand and model is it?
Why use that case when it only fits 3x HDDs? Something like the Jonsbo case series or the Node 304 fit significantly more HDDs. You say you want to have this server for many years, yet skimp on the most essential part which is storage expansion. Great video otherwise
I just shrank down from 400W to 200W. Would love to go lower but I’m addicted to all the PCIe lanes Epyc gives me. Someone create a desktop class processor with 40-50 lanes, please!!! 💸
So, yeah. I just ordered all the hardware to duplicate this build. I just needed something to do this weekend. 😂
Tim, please be the first who makes a tutorial how to passthrough a Ryzen igpu to a Plex LXC for HW transcoding and show Wendel, Jeff, Brett, Wolfgang and Co who is the real Master Blaster.
Plex doesn’t support AMD gpus outside of windows
@@pseudoki officially not, but according to Wendell, it can be done and works
That PSU is so overkill, the PC still looks great.
Did you use powertop on Ubuntu? Usually this can make a difference if a few Watts, depending on what you can/are willing to turn off/optimize.
My server was at one point kinda power efficient
now it's a epyc 7402P with a a4500 GPU and way to many drives + cache
but hey it's only 400W ....
Hello much better to use Jonsbo N2 or Fractal Design Node 304 NAS Case.
Also a lot cheaper
nvme drives use the least amout of energy of the three, I don't know where you got this info 4:40.
>4 sata ports plenty enough for plex server
5/6 on mobo, 6 on sata controller, plus 4 in qnap tr004… thats 15 and soon… ill need more. all joking/flexing aside, 4 is ok. to start with. i started with 4, and after a year or so had to upgrade. welcome to the desert of the hoard, padawan! oh, yes. dunno how much watts it consumes, but i dont care. i think. i use the htpc for reencoding dvds, and general computer use so… but am thinking of checking the power consumption. im afraid i wont be pleasantly surprised, with 13 drives and 110tb of storage space (yes, im down to 800gb free, hence the welcome, lol).
I am from India
What is this mini pc prize that you have given information about
Low-power, efficient Plex/Jellyfin server? N100+motherboard will cost as much as i3-14100 itself, while being even more efficient. N100's iGPU will handle transcoding without any problem. Pico PSU will beat most of the PSUs when it comes to efficiency at very low wattage (10-15W) and it will be enough for 2 HDDs. Small CPU cooler with Arctic fans in the case will be more than enough - Noctua not needed. Build cost around half compared to what is presented in the video (not counting drives). ROI with energy saving will be much faster with cheaper build.
Jellyfin is also very good...
I've found a 10100 very cheap. It also has integrated gpu. Would it still work for a plex build?
At this point why not just go with the MinisForum MS-01 or MS-A1?
How would this build work to run plex but also home assistant and various other vms? I am looking to build a rack mount server to run all my home services.
My plex server is a LXC container on proxmox that runs on a dell optiplex 1L computer with a 9th gen i5…
I can buy a 100w solar-panel and a cheap grid tie inverter and completely offset my current amd 5950x + 128gb ecc ram + rtx A2000. I use the gpu for transcodes the picture quality is better and I can handle all 8 accounts transcoding in real time from my stored Blu-ray raw backups.
This system has a pair of nvm catching and 16x 20TB a
HDD's.
At idle I draw 119w at full power (eco profile + under volt tuning) I pull 232w from the wall.
Plex if just a vm the host is proxmox.
And I push a lot of vm's for work and code testing.
I can save 14w by simply not using the 10gbps nic but I have a 10gbps network so I use it.
My main desktop is a 7950x 96gb ram build with a pair of 4090's. So money not the real problem
Sounds awesome!
To be honest, a laptop is the easiest on power, I’ve had my server on a laptop for 7years with dedicated GPU and linked to a nas
With 25 concurrent users transcoding at very low wattage
Noctua, blow on that thing
N100 would have been my pic, av1 handles 4 streams just fine
Hi tim. can you say me if you succes transcode hevc 4k to 1080 with your intel cpu in hardware transcoding. With amd gpu is imposible but with nvidia p4000 i can do it. im curios if he have limitation. Thanks
Nice 😎😎
Can you add a third 3.5 hdd in this case?
@@jujus_reviews i will have a full build video taking about that soon!
@@TechnoTim thank you! Trying to build a small home server to house all of my photos and videos.