But for most people, a GPU is overkill and adds to the final cost of building and maintaining a media server. Yes, a GPU can offer hardware transcoding and could be a viable option if you’re looking to repurpose an older build or want to transcode many high-resolution streams simultaneously. When it comes to a media server, a GPU isn’t typically necessary. Primarily, they still lag considerably when it comes to video transcoding, meaning if you use an AMD CPU, you’ll probably need a graphics card. However, with modern Intel processors offering Quick Sync, you can do hardware transcoding without a GPU, meaning you’ll generally want to consider a Quick Sync compatible Intel CPU.Īs for AMD CPUs, they’re not usually a good choice for media server builds. And to put that into perspective, an Intel Core i5-3770 has a PassMark score of 4664. For software transcoding, Plex recommends a CPU with a PassMark score of 2000 for transcoding a 1080p stream. When choosing a CPU for media server usage, you typically won’t need anything too powerful. But if you want to build a new machine to take advantage of the power and efficiency of modern hardware, then making a new machine for the job is an excellent way to go. Technically, you can use just about any computer as a media server, from your daily driver PC to an old office computer to a Raspberry Pi. But to do that, you’ll want to set up a media server. Thanks to popular streaming software like Plex, you can run your private streaming service in your home. Home media servers are nothing new, but they’re all the rage today.

Plex media server build