Microserver Gen10 Plus and Intel Quick Sync

[randman]

I'm running Plex Media Server on my old HPE ML30 Gen9 on an ESXi VM with Ubuntu 18.04. I don't need to transcode 4K  videos, since I only ever direct play 4K, and I have a 1080p version of every 4K video that I have in case Plex clients can't direct play the 4K (in which case they automatically and transparently use the 1080p version of the video). So, my VM transcodes 1080p source videos just fine for a couple of simultaneous streams or so, which in general was all I need. My HPE server had other VMs running on it simultaneously as the Plex VM. But, it was nice, for extra headroom (to allow for other busier VMs or more Plex streams) , to have more horsepower in case the ESXi server gets busy. So, I was interested in upgrading hardware.

I've been looking to upgrade hardware for a while but quite a bit of a rabbit hole when looking at what it would take to integrate the hardware (GPU, and which one out of many dozens of options? Quick Sync?) and software (ESXi, Ubuntu, drivers, etc). 

So, thanks to @KevinSpringPM for mentioning the P1000 and P2000 Nviida Quadro cards, which led me to the right path.... Nvidia also has the P2200 card, which is slighty newer than the P2000 and has the same or better performance (and basically same or maybe even cheaper price).

The P2000 and P2200 cards are full length cards, so they won't fit in the HPE MicroServer Gen10 Plus. Since I already have an HPE ML30 Gen9, I decided to install the P2200 in it. It works great. I get hardware encode and decode (note: there's lots of old information saying that Plex doesn't support hardware decode on Linux, but that's old info.; starting September 2019, Plex now supports hardware decode on Nvidia cards in Linux [in addition to hardware encode, which it's already supported for a while]).

I looked at the specs of the Nvidia P1000 card, and it should fit the HPE MicroServer Gen10 Plus just fine. The main difference between the P2000 (and higher numbered P cards) is that they support an unlimited number of streams. Cards lower than the P2000 (like the P1000) only support a maximum of 2 simultaneous streams. For many folks that should be suffiicent most of the time and would be a nice addition to a server.  Note that there is an unofficial way (mentioned on many sites online) on how to bypass the 2 stream limit for cards lower than the P2000 (entails modifying the Nvidia driver). 

Anyway, I still find the HPE MicroServer Gen10+ interesting for other (non-Plex) use, and if I didn't already have my ML30 Gen9/P2200 would be considering using it for Plex as well. But at least now, I know that upgrading its CPU to a QuickSync compatible CPU (like the Intel Xeon E-2246G) wouldn't help in terms of QuickSync functionality (and this CPU isn't that significantly cheaper than a good Nvidia GPU). But for other functionality, I'm still interested in an upgraded CPU like the Intel Xeon E-2236 (6 cores, 12 threads).

If one doesn't care about QuickSync, is there any advantage of the Intel Xeon E-2246G over the Intel Xeon E-2236?

Would be nice if HPE had a stock version of the MicroServer Gen10+ that came with a 6-core/12-thread CPU!

[bogwoppit]

I decided to go the GPU route too, my experiment is actually with a really old K2000, just need to figure out how to get it to pass through on ESXi 7 so I can test. Possibly just because I don’t have a dummy plug yet and haven’t got around to finding a cable to hook up a monitor. The thing about Plex is that it always encodes in H.264 and even Kepler GPUs support that, it’s the H.265 decode they lack compared to M2000/P2000 et al. But decoding is not all that taxing for a CPU, even for a basic E-2124 so it might still work fine. Just have to see what effect the limited RAM has or if there are other gotchas. If it doesn’t work no big deal, they are cheap and can always get a P2000.

The main problem I have with the ML30 is that I hadn’t appreciated how LOUD it would be. I mean, I didn’t expect it to be like a desktop but still... absolutely has to be relegated to the utilities cupboard. Kept my daughter awake in the next room during provisioning. May end up running a separate Windows SFF desktop with GPU and running Plex on that along with the occasional game and just haul the files over the network.

[randman]

My ML30 is in the basement. iLO is very nice since I don't have to go down there, and I don't have to hear it. My ML30 Gen9 doesn't seem loud, but I have other hardware near it so I don't notice. Maybe if it were in my office where I like it to be totally quiet I might notice.

[randman]

FYI, interesting article regarding assignable hardware in ESXi 7:

https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2020/03/vsphere-7-assignable-hardware.html

Sounds like it would be useful if you have two (or more) servers that have similar (though not necessarilly identical?) GPUs. 

[randman]

So, I was considering getting the Intel Xeon E-2236 as an upgrade CPU (6 cores, 12 threads). Another possibility is the Intel Xeon E-2246G (also 6 cores, 12 threads, but supports Quick Sync). As discussed, the HPE Microserver Gen10+ doesn't support Quick Sync, so the non-Quick Sync Intel Xeon E-2236 should be fine, and save a few $$. However, it's actually not easy to find online, at least at this time, while the Quick Sync chip is easier to get.

I assume that the Intel Xeon E-2246G (with QuickSync) should work just fine on the HPE Microserver Gen10+ plus (albeit w/o Quick Sync functionality)?

[KevinSpringPM]

Yep