Microserver Gen10 Plus and Intel Quick Sync

[dahamsta]

@bkp_duke's posts in general.

[randman]

Regarding @KevinSpringPM previous post - Like me, I think other folks looking to use an HPE ProLiant server to run Plex is precisely because of the HPE servers' advanced server features. I've worked in environments with hundreds/thousands of VMs running on ESXi and HPE servers. It was great being able to build software, and deploy and manage the VMs without ever actually having to be anywhere close to where the actual physical servers reside (in fact, all the HPE servers were hundreds of miles away).

To me, having IPMI access like HPE iLO is a must-have for servers, whether for work related or even for home use servers (especially for software that's not desktop-type software and especially for servers that's best kept out of site where space and noise is not a factor). IMO, Plex to me is a "server type" software, that's intended to run 24x7x365 reliably (or suffer the wrath of other household members), so I wouldn't want to run Plex on a desktop PC that other folks normally use or that's not as reliable. IMO, running it in a server that supports "advanced server features" is ideal. I've gotten spoiled by HPE's iLO and to me is a major plus in getting an HPE. Looks like the Intel NUC 9 Pro has vPro (haven't used vPro but looks like it could work for remote management). But the NUC is a lot more $$ than I'd like to spend at this time.

Having said that, being able to use Quick Sync would have been icing on the cake, but unfortunately, as mentioned, isn't supported :-(. Also a 6 core, 12 thread CPU option on the Microserver Gen10+ would be nice too. I noticed that VMWare's ESXi hardware compatibility guide has 2 line items for the MicroServer Gen10 Plus: a Xeon E-2200 4 or 6-core entry and  a Xeon E-2200 8-core entry. Hoping that a 6-core CPU option will be available as a stock model in the future. It's tempting to get the cheaper Pentium Gen10+ and replace it with the 6-core CPU, but that increases the price significantly. 

I agree, an M.2 slot would have been really nice to have. I wouldn't want to use up a PCI slot to hold a PCI card for an NVMe. Granted, I wouldn't use the Microserver as a storage device (I have external NAS's), so a plain old SATA SSD, while not as good in performance as an NVMe would be something I can live with.

@KevinSpringPM''s suggestion regarding the Nvidia P2000 is very intriguing (before then, I had looked at the Nvidia Tesla, and found the $$ too intimidating). I'm not aware of a half-length p2000 though, so unless there's a half-length version, it won't fit in the MicroServer Gen10+. 

I do have an HPE ML30 Gen9 though, which I actually use for running Plex on an Ubuntu ESXi VM (in addition to other VMs). I just noticed that the P2000 is actually on the HPE ML30 Gen9's officially supported list!!

The Nvidia P2200 is newer than the P2000 and has better performance in general than the P2000. Although the P2200 is not in the HPE ML30 Gen9's hardware compatibility list (not surprising since the P2200 is relatively newer), I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work on the ML30 Gen9, do you?

[KevinSpringPM]

True on size, I was speaking generically about the ML30 or Microserver, but the P2000 won't fit in a microserver gen10+, but the P1000 may fit.

[dahamsta]

Again pardon my ignorance, more of a software guy, is that because of height or length? I looked into cards earlier and saw a thread on Reddit about cards, and thought I could use a GTX 1650, but I'm not sure now. I assumed low-profile was low-profile, and that would be ok.

[KevinSpringPM]

it's primarily around height on the Microserver, the one general purpose PCIe slot is low-profile, so that's the immediate restricting factor that excludes the P2000. There are low profile 1650's and P1000's

[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)?