Performance issues with new server build

[Ladiesman0217 14]

After seeing multiple recommendations for using a Beelink N100 for a dedicated server I purchased one and set it up but it's constantly running at 100% CPU and Memory usage and Emby streaming performance is terrible.

For those of you who use these mini PCs for Emby, how do you have it configured for good performance? Do you only run Emby on it and nothing else?

I currently have the following services all running on this server:

Sonarr, Radarr, qBitTorrent, Jellyseerr, Nginx proxy manager, Emby.

Do you guys run everything on an N100 or am I doing too much on this tiny machine?

It seems to work ok with just 1 or 2 streams but it really struggles with 5+ simultaneous streamers.

 

Thanks!

Edited December 2, 2024 by Ladiesman0217
Typo

[Luke 42077]

Hi there, please attach the emby server log from when this happened:

How to Report a Problem

Thanks.

[Ladiesman0217 14]

Hi Luke, I will do that, but I am also looking for general advice on if I should be running all these services on an N100.

[Ladiesman0217 14]

40 minutes ago, Luke said:

Hi there, please attach the emby server log from when this happened:

How to Report a Problem

Thanks.

@Lukeis there a place to privately attach log files? I don't want to expose my server URL in a public forum, thanks!

[seanbuff 1313]

1 hour ago, Ladiesman0217 said:

@Lukeis there a place to privately attach log files? I don't want to expose my server URL in a public forum, thanks!

Send Luke a PM with your logs, or you can use the built-in Log Anonymization before you download them from the Web app.

[Ladiesman0217 14]

44 minutes ago, seanbuff said:

Send Luke a PM with your logs, or you can use the built-in Log Anonymization before you download them from the Web app.

I'll send a PM. I tried the Anonymizer but the downloaded logs still include my full server URL in them.

[Damien_ 30]

5 hours ago, Ladiesman0217 said:

After seeing multiple recommendations for using a Beelink N100 for a dedicated server I purchased one and set it up but it's constantly running at 100% CPU and Memory usage and Emby streaming performance is terrible.

For those of you who use these mini PCs for Emby, how do you have it configured for good performance? Do you only run Emby on it and nothing else?

I currently have the following services all running on this server:

Sonarr, Radarr, qBitTorrent, Jellyseerr, Nginx proxy manager, Emby.

Do you guys run everything on an N100 or am I doing too much on this tiny machine?

It seems to work ok with just 1 or 2 streams but it really struggles with 5+ simultaneous streamers.

 

Thanks!

They have a newer release intel chip with quick sync which is great for playing local video play and might even a little  remote transcoding. The flips side it doesn't have a ton of processing power or thread speed. Run it as dedicated as a plex server (or no while having applications running simultaneously). Even with the newer IGPU that's capable of playing it beautifully and relieving the CPU of  most of the heavy lifting, it still has to do some and my guess higher bitrate files/remuxes might choke but that's a guess.

[RanmaCanada 494]

On 01/12/2024 at 20:51, Ladiesman0217 said:

After seeing multiple recommendations for using a Beelink N100 for a dedicated server I purchased one and set it up but it's constantly running at 100% CPU and Memory usage and Emby streaming performance is terrible.

For those of you who use these mini PCs for Emby, how do you have it configured for good performance? Do you only run Emby on it and nothing else?

I currently have the following services all running on this server:

Sonarr, Radarr, qBitTorrent, Jellyseerr, Nginx proxy manager, Emby.

Do you guys run everything on an N100 or am I doing too much on this tiny machine?

It seems to work ok with just 1 or 2 streams but it really struggles with 5+ simultaneous streamers.

 

Thanks!

I think you're running far too much on that beast. Remember the N100 is only as powerful as Skylake mobile at most. It has a passmark score of 5489, which is pretty weak. As a stand alone Emby server it would be fine (until subtitles come into the picture), but adding all these other items to it will make it work far too hard. Also remember it has a base speed of 0.7GHz, and a boost of 3.4.GHz so to even get that 5489 passmark score, it needs to be in boost constantly, which with how the cooling on these units usually are, won't be enough to keep it at full bore constantly. Thus it might be fair to say that the real world passmark score of the unit is probably 2000ish when the unit is not in boost mode.

[Ladiesman0217 14]

1 hour ago, RanmaCanada said:

I think you're running far too much on that beast. Remember the N100 is only as powerful as Skylake mobile at most. It has a passmark score of 5489, which is pretty weak. As a stand alone Emby server it would be fine (until subtitles come into the picture), but adding all these other items to it will make it work far too hard. Also remember it has a base speed of 0.7GHz, and a boost of 3.4.GHz so to even get that 5489 passmark score, it needs to be in boost constantly, which with how the cooling on these units usually are, won't be enough to keep it at full bore constantly. Thus it might be fair to say that the real world passmark score of the unit is probably 2000ish when the unit is not in boost mode.

That's what I was afraid of.  I'm thinking I'll probably return this N100 and build an actual server that can handle all of these services.  Thanks for the feedback!

[Ladiesman0217 14]

I did some pc parts picking based on various threads I've seen on here and came up with a Micro-ATX build that I think should be a solid media server PC that can run all my services smoothly. Any thoughts on this list?
 

• Intel Core i5-13500 CPU (from what I read, this can handle all the transcoding I need, so no need for a separate GPU)
• MSI MAG B760M MORTAR WIFI II Micro ATX motherboard
• 32gb DDR5 6800mhz RAM
• micro atx tower case
• Thermaltake smart series 500w PSU (PSU calculator says I need around 350w for this potential build)
• 512GB NVMe for my c:\ drive and all running services

I already have all my storage on a DAS with around 50TB of storage.

Thoughts?

[RanmaCanada 494]

The 13500 is a great choice. To save $$ I personally would go with a ddr4 board, but that's just me being cheap ha.

[Ladiesman0217 14]

I hear ya but I'm just gonna go with what is the latest so I don't have to touch it for a decade  thanks for the feedback!

[Damien_ 30]

On 12/4/2024 at 8:34 PM, Ladiesman0217 said:

I did some pc parts picking based on various threads I've seen on here and came up with a Micro-ATX build that I think should be a solid media server PC that can run all my services smoothly. Any thoughts on this list?
 

• Intel Core i5-13500 CPU (from what I read, this can handle all the transcoding I need, so no need for a separate GPU)
• MSI MAG B760M MORTAR WIFI II Micro ATX motherboard
• 32gb DDR5 6800mhz RAM
• micro atx tower case
• Thermaltake smart series 500w PSU (PSU calculator says I need around 350w for this potential build)
• 512GB NVMe for my c:\ drive and all running services

I already have all my storage on a DAS with around 50TB of storage.

Thoughts?

that's a really good chip and as far as transcoding, a newer gen IGPU is more effective than using a dedicated card (for transcoding video, obviously not for gaming).