Replacing Mac Pro (Early-2009) Plex Server

[Patrick1610]

Hi, I'm new here and hoping to find some information about a Plex Server Hackintosh.

I currently have a Early 2009 Mac Pro with a X5680 3.33GHz 6-core processor, 32 ECC RAM and 256 Samsung Pro SSD. Since this old machine uses a lot of energy, I am considering to build a hackintosh which is as powerful (or better) and saves me some energy-costs.

My needs are: at least 4 1080p transcodes should be possible, dual LAN port is desired, machine will be headless.
Any thoughts on what may be good parts for a build like this?

Also: can I restore the Time Machine backup from my current Mac on a Hackintosh?

Regards,
Patrick

 

[pastrychef]

According to Plex support:


Therefore, for four 1080p streams, you will need at least an 8000 PassMark score. Assuming that your server is on 24/7, it only makes sense to use the most energy efficient components as possible. The i7-8700T with a 35W TDP or an i7-855U with a TDP of 10W both meet the 8000 PassMark score requirement and would save you a ton of electricity when compared to your current Xeon.



If your current Xeon is enough for your transcoding needs, I think either of these CPU options would also suffice. The X5680 only scores 8550 in passmark. The difference between it and the i7-8550U seem negligible.

As for whether you can Time Machine to the hackintosh, I've personally never tried it, but others have reported success. But I think it's easier to just transplant the drives from your Mac Pro to the hackintosh. It's much easier and avoids having to do a clean install of macOS, reinstalling all the apps, and configuring everything again. This is exactly what I did when I transitioned from my old Mac Pro to a hackintosh. That was over 3 years ago and I continue to use the basic macOS installation, albeit updated from El Capitan to Sierra to High Sierra to Mojave.

 

[Patrick1610]

Thanks! That's a really helpfull start! It seems that when ever upgrading my media to 4K the transcoding needs will be extreme high.. Since I am changing from x264 to x265, the transcoding needs may already be more than 2000 passmark per stream?

Does it really matter what other hardware I use for that setup?
Is there a Hackintoshable motherboard with dual LAN?

When I just insert the Mac Pro drive, I guess I still need to do a Hackintosh procedure first?

 

[pastrychef]

Thanks! That's a really helpfull start! It seems that when ever upgrading my media to 4K the transcoding needs will be extreme high.. Since I am changing from x264 to x265, the transcoding needs may already be more than 2000 passmark per stream?

Does it really matter what other hardware I use for that setup?
Is there a Hackintoshable motherboard with dual LAN?

When I just insert the Mac Pro drive, I guess I still need to do a Hackintosh procedure first?

According to the Plex support page, transcoding 4K to 1080p will require 12000 to 17000 PassMark score per stream. Transcoding four 4K videos simultaneously, will require some really serious horsepower. Even an i9-7980XE (an 18 core CPU) only scores 27862 in PassMark and may still not be able to transcode two streams simultaneously. I don't know if Plex server utilizes Quick Sync for transcoding. As far as I know, the i9-7980XE doesn't have Quick Sync...

In such a scenario, you might be better off upgrading the Plex clients with hardware that can play 4K content without transcoding. Look for some low end, low power CPUs with Quick Sync and 4K should not be a problem.

Personally, I run Plex server on my NAS (Atom C2550 CPU) and use an Apple TV 4 (not the 4K version) as a client. The Apple TV plays everything without the need for any transcoding. If/when I decide to move to 4K content, I would just upgrade my Apple TV to a 4K version and, again, eliminate the need to transcode. My iPhone and iPad also plays everything without the need to transcode.


For your hackintosh, chipset choice is important. For example, as of today, people seem to be having more difficulty getting Z390 to work than Z370. Yes, there are motherboards with two LAN ports.