Plex Server

[las]

Really that's really surprising. Thanks for the heads up. Do you think dual xeons or system still?

It all depends on your needs and video bitrate. Plex can be brutal on CPU. Especially with multiple transcodes + subs.
1151 is pretty much a dead end. Maybe the 8C/16T CFL will fit but I would not be suprised if it requires Z390... And 2C/4T more is not groundbreaking. Zen 2-3 should come with up to 16C/32T for AM4. There's also Threadripper if you want more than 8C/16T today (Intel HEDT is too expensive IMO but also an option)

I'd go all out and build a SERVER + Tier 1 Hypervisor.

 

[ddbtkd456]

It all depends on your needs and video bitrate. Plex can be brutal on CPU. Especially with multiple transcodes + subs.
1151 is pretty much a dead end. Maybe the 8C/16T CFL will fit but I would not be suprised if it requires Z390... And 2C/4T more is not groundbreaking. Zen 2-3 should come with up to 16C/32T for AM4. There's also Threadripper if you want more than 8C/16T today (Intel HEDT is too expensive IMO but also an option)

I'd go all out and build a SERVER + Tier 1 Hypervisor.

Thanks for all your input. The goal of this little project is to be a plex server for my household along with friends and family, and to be able to centralize everything in my house and also have a dedicated drive for backups of all electronics in my house. I was aiming for a raid setup at first, but after doing research I found out that unraid might be the way to go (I would go Freenas but I don't get along to much with linux). I want upgradability which is why the 8xhotswap bays are there. I could do threadripper but in a server style case it would be really hard to cool. My main pc is going to have a threadripper in it, however I could downgrade that build and pit the threadripper 1950x in my plex build or a i9 I suppose. And what is a hyoervisor?

 

[Jetster]

If you can set up Unraid you can do FreeNAS its just as easy. FreeNAS is not Linux. Its based on FreeBSD and ZFS
I have a freeNAS with an i3 and 16 Gb RAM and 5 - 6 Tb drives in a RAIDZ2 (RAID6). Its fast and streams the whole house. Plus a Plex server and multiple VMs
You don't need 6 + cores. But ECC ram would be nice
Plex for outside your network is easy. You dont have to do anything. Its all CPU transcoding as far as I know.
The plex pass gets you multiple accounts and Hardware-Accelerated Streaming, not GPU. Otherwise its just you that can log in
https://support.plex.tv/articles/115002178853-using-hardware-accelerated-streaming/
I will point out I don't use Plex in the house. Kodi works better for local and does not mess with the quality