Looks like you are transcoding audio, which may contribute to the extra CPU usage. That will always be done via software, not hardware.
Looking to do some light 1080p gaming any suggestions
Has anyone tried a low profile 1050 or 1650 in a HP 290? Iām trying to see if itās been tried before I drop more on the card than I did the whole computer. lol
Iām using a GT 1030, it works great.
Iāve seen several posts and videos about the 1030 working, but the 1050 and 1650 pretty much max out the pcie specs wattage. Plus it will possibly push the power supply limit. I may just say F it and buy one to see what happens unless someone else has already tried it.
I went and ordered a 1030 to be safe
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Iām looking at either the Celeron or i3 build as a Plex server. Do I have to run Linux or can I use the version of Windows that it comes with for now?
You can use Windows and Mac I believeā¦youāll get better performance out of Linux.
Iām looking for 8-10 transcodes. I think even with the Windows hit, I should be good with that computer. Still trying to decide if the i3 is much faster than the Celeron (transcodes only).
Thereās no reason to use Windows. Start with the G4900, see if it works for what you need.
The i3ās now are basically the last gen i5ās from what I understand so itās probably a pretty good performance bump or even moving to the Pentiumās vs. Celeron.
Iāve never used Windows for PMS so I canāt comment other than to say I canāt possibly fathom it being better than Linux but like you say if you arenāt doing a lot of transcodes it probably wonāt matter much. I have a slow upload speed so I only share with my brother who really only uses it about once a month.
Iām using Manjaro and ssh into the server about once a day to do updates. Itās a rolling release so itās not like Ubuntu where you set it and come back in about a month to do security updates and other patches. You want to keep it up to day at least once a week or things can get weird.
Plex just put out updates on the server side today which supposedly fixed some Live TV issues. I quickly learned that every time it updates you have to tell systemd to restart plex. Sudo systemctl restart plexmediaserver otherwise youāll have issues. Windows I doubt has any such issues.
Hey, I just ordered my first HP290. The plan is to set it up as a quick sync box for my Plex server.
Iād also like to do DAS, with the option for up to 16 drives, was wondering if I could use this card;
It appears to be low profile, not sure if the length will be issue. Will this be a good option? Are there cheaper options for this build?
@JDM_WAAAT do you think that card will fit? Any issues?
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This is exactly what Iām looking for it seems. Iām admittedly a newb but set up my first Plex server on a headless Pi 4 but itās ability to do much of any transcoding leaves much to be desired.
Couple of questions:
Out of the initial list in the OP, whatās needed besides the 290? Thinking of upgrading ram with 1 of the 8GB and not sure if I need the NVMe of if thatās unnecessary.
Secondly, should I keep the hard drive attached to the Pi since I use it as a seedbox or should I attach it to the 290 (with my priority being better Plex performance)? If keeping it on the Pi, whatās the most efficient way to mount the drive for Plex to the 290 without a ton of performance issues?
Thanks so much, Iām looking forward to exploring more hardware tinkering vs the last couple months exploring linux and the CLI.
So I just got my new processor and ram in the mail and tested them in one of my 290s. I ordered 16 gigs of 2666 corsair ram and the guy sent me 3000 ram instead but it works just fine. I also got a i5-9400 cpu.
My passmark scores were better than expected.
https://www.passmark.com/baselines/V10/display.php?id=121506915727
I have a 16GB Optane that I pulled out of an Dell system. I put it into on of these HP 290ās and it recognizes it but Intel RST wonāt let me use it as a cache for the HDD, but the bios wonāt let me switch the SATA port mode. Iām trying to build this system for a light office work system and thought that the Optane RST cache would help since it worked quite nicely on the Dell.
Any way to get this to work? Any BIOS unlock hacks out there?
Spend a couple of days on it but couldnāt get the RST to recognize it - just like you describe. Hate to say but I gave up and returned the Optane.
Some updates here. This time I thought Iād update the BIOS via UEFI boot and just wasted about 5-6 hours and still not closer. I followed everything HP mentioned to a āTā and no go. Canāt revert to HD boot because I removed that and sold it a millisecond after I bought it 
This has been mentioned several times before in this thread but seriously, just boot into Windows, and use the assistant there to update. I donāt care how successful youāve been with UEFI on other machines.
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Unraid is a storage server NAS + docker/VM server software. You are very limited in internal storage + the processor only supports two threads. You can remedy by using external disk storage + HBA and upgrading the processor for more threads depending on what you are using the Unraid box for. If you are buying the 290 for quicksync, then you would have to determine how to make quicksync work with the applications you are running on the unraid box. If you are buying this 290 for plex transcodes, then you should follow the quicksync guide and use the OS specified. If you are looking to build an Unraid box for storage+hosting applcations using docker containers+VMās then you might be better off with one of the the other NAS killer guides.
Personally, I have a big Unraid server that manages storage + docker container + VM applications. The 290 is just a Plex server transcoder that specifically runs the Plex server application and uses the Unraid NAS to serve that content that is located on the Unraid shares. I am hoping to downsize my big power hungry dual CPU Unraid machine now that I have the 290 doing the transcoding/plex serving much more efficiently. Hope this helps.
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Two quick questions:
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I picked up the equipment listed in the OP but now Iām wondering if I should get a bigger SSD than the 16GB Optane. Iām going to run a Plex box with an external for the actual media to start. Is 16GB too small for an Ubuntu boot and running PMS?
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I jumped the gun and installed Ubuntu over Windows prior to upgrading the firmware explicitly through the HP assistant. I did update everything via Windows updater, which included several firmware updates. How do I check if this included the firmware update referenced in this thread? And if not, how do I get back to windows without a windows license separate the one it came installed with?
Thanks again all, itās been great learning!
You mentioned that you were running a Plex server. The 16GB SSD would be useful if you were running Pf Sense. For Plex you want a 500 GB M.2 Nvme at the minimum.
To restore windows 10 on your HP computer go here Download Windows 10 to create a bootable USB drive. Turn off your machine, stick the USB in and turn it back on while hitting esc to get you into the bios and choose the usb as the boot device. This will reinstall windows and it will be active because the key is embedded on the UEFI. After you boot into windows, go to the HP website and download the HP assistant and update everything including the BIOS.
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