3 ms·

That is a great call, an atom would struggle big time running plex, I have a Thinkcentre M92p which is tiny and silent, do wish it had a tiny bit more grunt but

by sams99 9y ago

That is a great call, an atom would struggle big time running plex, I have a Thinkcentre M92p which is tiny and silent, do wish it had a tiny bit more grunt but was pretty good value for $200.

mdip 9y ago
Have you ever tried an Atom processor for running Plex? I've always been curious how it would perform. I had an older Atom device running Plex server for quite a while, but back then I almost never needed full transcoding for playback -- usually 'stream direct' which just shifts the MKV container to MP4 -- relatively easy work. And when I did have full transcode, it was either from h.264->h.264 with slightly different profile settings or MPEG-2 -> h.264. I had to configure it for the lowest quality transcoding settings in order to avoid interrupted playback, but it worked. I upgraded to fastest i5 that was offered about two years ago and it's handled everything quite well -- though h.265 transcoding takes substantially longer to start-up and seek than h.264 full transcodes. I'm curious what modern Atom processors can handle. I know they've made some improvements to the chips, but is it enough, yet?
- voltagex_ 9y ago
  C2758 seems to handle one Plex transcode (H264->H264, maybe with AC3 to AAC) fine. If there's any particular benchmark you'd like me to run, let me know.
  - oneguynick 9y ago
    Can also confirm no issues with this transcoding on the C2758. I built a SuperMicro 4 drive NAS a few years ago based on this CPU and it has been very solid. Doesn't run well in Docker, but runs well baremetal.
- decryption 9y ago
  The Atom is fine for Plex, just don't try to transcode any video, hah - it sucks at that. 99% of everything I watch doesn't need transcoding though. Sometimes the audio needs transcoding, but the Atom 230 in the FX160 handles that.
  - scarface74 9y ago
    I have an old Core 2 Duo 2.66Ghz laptop that can handle 2 streams transcoding at once with Plex. You can buy a refurb Core 2 Duo for less than $200. Why bother with an Atom?
- LogicX 9y ago
  Atom 230 in the article: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Atom+230+%40+1.60GHz http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Atom+230+%40+1... Scores a 308 on passmark. Plex recommends a score of 2000 per HD transcoded stream.

by sams99 9y ago

That is a great call, an atom would struggle big time running plex, I have a Thinkcentre M92p which is tiny and silent, do wish it had a tiny bit more grunt but was pretty good value for $200.

mdip 9y ago

Have you ever tried an Atom processor for running Plex? I've always been curious how it would perform. I had an older Atom device running Plex server for quite a while, but back then I almost never needed full transcoding for playback -- usually 'stream direct' which just shifts the MKV container to MP4 -- relatively easy work. And when I did have full transcode, it was either from h.264->h.264 with slightly different profile settings or MPEG-2 -> h.264. I had to configure it for the lowest quality transcoding settings in order to avoid interrupted playback, but it worked. I upgraded to fastest i5 that was offered about two years ago and it's handled everything quite well -- though h.265 transcoding takes substantially longer to start-up and seek than h.264 full transcodes. I'm curious what modern Atom processors can handle. I know they've made some improvements to the chips, but is it enough, yet?

voltagex_ 9y ago
C2758 seems to handle one Plex transcode (H264->H264, maybe with AC3 to AAC) fine. If there's any particular benchmark you'd like me to run, let me know.
- oneguynick 9y ago
  Can also confirm no issues with this transcoding on the C2758. I built a SuperMicro 4 drive NAS a few years ago based on this CPU and it has been very solid. Doesn't run well in Docker, but runs well baremetal.
decryption 9y ago
The Atom is fine for Plex, just don't try to transcode any video, hah - it sucks at that. 99% of everything I watch doesn't need transcoding though. Sometimes the audio needs transcoding, but the Atom 230 in the FX160 handles that.
- scarface74 9y ago
  I have an old Core 2 Duo 2.66Ghz laptop that can handle 2 streams transcoding at once with Plex. You can buy a refurb Core 2 Duo for less than $200. Why bother with an Atom?
LogicX 9y ago
Atom 230 in the article: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Atom+230+%40+1.60GHz http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Atom+230+%40+1... Scores a 308 on passmark. Plex recommends a score of 2000 per HD transcoded stream.