This is not Plex on your GPU

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nvidia/30153594058/

I hadn’t really thought Plex Media Server could massively benefit from a GPU, to be fair its not really a thing you put in a headless server? But after reading about it, I gave it a try by borrowing a Nvida Quatro PCI-express card and after some small issues getting the propitery drivers working gave it a try.

I thrown together a shell script to log the CPU and GPU heat to a text file called heat.txt

while true; do date >> heat.txt ;
 nvidia-smi -q -d temperature |
 grep 'GPU Current Temp' >> heat.txt; sensors |
 grep -e 'CPU Temperature' -e 'CPU Fan Speed' 
-e 'MB Temperature' >> heat.txt; sleep 10; 
done

I know theres a better way but it was quick and dirty.

From the short tests I did, it seemed the CPU kicked into high gear for a minute or two before it hands off to, what I thought was the GPU. However… During a stream encode of 4k h.264 content to 1080p h.264, while directly streaming at the same time. I got these results.

Thu 20 Dec 20:23:51 GMT 2018;
> GPU Temperature: 33.0°C
> CPU Fan: 1650 RPM
> CPU Temperature: +71.0°C
> MB Temperature: +34.0°C
Thu 20 Dec 20:24:01 GMT 2018;
> GPU Temperature: 33.0°C
> CPU Fan:: 1599 RPM
> CPU Temperature: +68.0°C
> MB Temperature: +34.0°C
Thu 20 Dec 20:24:11 GMT 2018;
> GPU Temperature: 33.0°C
> CPU Fan: 1261 RPM
> CPU Temperature: +59.0°C
> MB Temperature: +34.0°C
Thu 20 Dec 20:24:21 GMT 2018;
> GPU Temperature: 33.0°C
> CPU Fan: 1167 RPM
> CPU Temperature: +54.0°C
> MB Temperature: +34.0°C

A while later once the transcoding stops

Thu 20 Dec 20:37:40 GMT 2018;
> GPU Temperature: 33.0°C
> CPU Fan: 725 RPM
> CPU Temperature: +37.0°C
> MB Temperature: +35.0°C
Thu 20 Dec 20:37:50 GMT 2018;
> GPU Temperature: 33.0°C
> CPU Fan: 724 RPM
> CPU Temperature: +37.0°C
> MB Temperature: +35.0°C
Thu 20 Dec 20:38:00 GMT 2018;
> GPU Temperature: 33.0°C
> CPU Fan: 725 RPM
> CPU Temperature: +37.0°C
> MB Temperature: +35.0°C

As you can see with proper testing it was clear the GPU isn’t being used for transcoding (unless the CPU magically is doing something else, but looking at Htop, its clearly Plex transcoding). This was confirmed when doing more research on the issue.

Seems the problem I got is the AMD processor and if I was to swich it to a Intel one it should work with the Nvidia GPU?

So this brings me to the idea of maybe changing parts of my server.

Si pointed me at PC part picker which is alright but I don’t really understand why some Linux operating systems are not listed under operating systems? I listed most of my parts here and to be fair changing the CPU, motherboard, case and of course getting my own GPU might be a good idea?

The call of the Barcelona sun mix

One of my mixes from Barcelona I didn’t upload first time, so I re-uploaded it for the collection. Lots of familiar tunes mixed together with some classics such as Tears and Hello. At just over the hour mark, its a nice energetic mix to add to the collection.

Enjoy!

  1. Helsinki Scorching – Super8 vs Dj Tab
  2. Against the flow (Astuni & Manuel Le Saux Extended Re Lift Dub) – Stine Grove
  3. Hello (Jerome Isma-Ae remiix) – Above & Beyond
  4. Avenue – Paul Van Dyk
  5. Labyrinth (Paul Keyen remix) – Lee Cassells
  6. Embrace (Ferry Fix) – Embrace
  7. Nebula One – Warren K
  8. Frosted (Foreign Force remix) – Kyamoto
  9. Shelter (Photographer remix) – Dash Berlin feat Roxanne Emery
  10. Ecstasy – Eddie Makabi feat Einat
  11. Tears (Protoculture remix) – Markus Schulz presents Dakota
  12. Nailed (James Dymond remix) – Paul Webster
  13. Valhalla (tonerush remix) – OneBeat
  14. Its time (ferry corsten’s flashover mix) – Ferry Corsten
  15. B29 (extended mix) – Attila Syah & LTN

Cruising at 35000 feet mix

I was able to rescue one of my mixes from a flight from Helsinki. Its a little rough and ready in parts but theres some excellent tunes and mixes. This one needed a lot of work because the crossfader was in the wrong place for critical parts of the mix.

At just under 2 hours it certainly a long musical ride into trance

Enjoy!

  1. Empty Cities, Dead Ghosts – Fictious Riceboy
  2. Big Sky (Agnelli & Nelson Remix) – John O’Callaghan Feat. Audrey
  3. Gallagher
  4. Bulgarian (Signum remix) – Travel
  5. Hello (Jerome Isma-Ae remix) – Above & Beyond
  6. J’ai Envie De Toi (protoculture remix) – Armin Van Buuren presents Gaia
  7. The Oblivious – Muhamed Sherief & WAAJII
  8. Journey (extended mix) – Iversoon vs. Alex Daf vs. Glus
  9. October winds (deep care november mix) – Six Senses pres Electric Nova
  10. Labyrinth (Paul Keyen remix) – Lee Cassells
  11. Please Save Me (Push Remix) – Sunscreem Vs Push
  12. Love stimulation (Pvd love club mix) – Humante
  13. Resound (Original Mix) – Thomas Bronzwaer
  14. Shadow World (Original Mix) – Thomas Bronzwaer
  15. Refused – Mark Sixma & Jerome isma-Ae
  16. Rapid eye (R.E mix) – Circa Forever
  17. Orange sky – Signalrunners presents Syndica
  18. The Pride in Your Eyes (Martin Roth Remix) – Tillmann Uhrmacher

Life status check-in?

I noticed Sarah, founder of the Girl Geekdinners added a post on her facebook. She asked for others to do it because it was an interesting to understand our friends.

So I did a quick copy and filled it in on my facebook.

I decided to add it here and add some comments.

💍 Marriages: 1
💔 Divorces: 1
🍼Children: 0 (Thankfully)
👩🏼‍⚕️ Surgeries: 3 (Arm burn, Nose and Brain)
Tattoos: 0 (No chance I count my burn as one massive one)
👂🏼Piercings:0 (No bloody way!)
✋🏼Quit a job: Yes
🚘What car you drive : None (But I do have my lovely Silverwing 600cc Scooter)
✈️Flown in a plane: Yes (geez luckily dooplr doesn’t exist anymore because I must have been on about 15+ just this year)
🍹Favourite Drink: Espresso Martini or Cosmopolitan (I’m torn between the two, depending on mood)
Fallen in love: Yes
🚑Rode in ambulance: Yes (a few times with friends and myself)
🎤Sang karaoke: Yes (and hated it, each time)
Ice skating: Yes (still not great but can do it)
🏄Been surfing: No (tempted in the past)
🚢Been on a Cruise: No (plus I get seasick easily so it sounds like a nightmare to me)
🏍Rode on a motorcycle: Yes (everyday, not a big deal for me)
🏍Owned a motorcycle: Yes (about 5 in total)
🐴Rode on a horse: Yes (Believe it or not, and not ever again please)
😲Almost died: Yes (#mybrushwithdeath)
🏥Stayed in a hospital: Yes
🍑Favorite fruit: Granny smiths apples
📲Last phone call: Restaurant in Manchester (I was checking the availability of a table)
📱Last text: To my partner
🍵️Coffee or Tea: Tea (I love coffee but I can’t drink it like I use to, Tea on the other hand I can drink all day no problem)
🥧Favourite pie: None! (Hate them, I’m all about the Cornish Pasties)
🍕Pizza: Pizza Express’s Padana, which is Goats Cheese, Caremlised red onions, Spinach and Olive oil
🐈 Cat or Dogs: Cats (although I’m allergic to them, they don’t like to bite & chase me like dogs do)
☃️ Favorite Season: Summer (Sometimes its too hot but I prefer it to the cold and wet rain of Spring and Autumn. Also love walking around with just a short sleeve shirt)
♥️: Favorite holiday: Tokyo Japan (although crazy and always under threat of eating something which is going to kill me, I did enjoy it a lot)
🏊‍♂️: Skinny dipped: Yes