Is there any issues installing GPU after setup?

[Flyboy]

Hello friends,

I have previously modded a Dell Optiplex 5050 MT for my first ever NAS. It has a Intel Core™ i5-7600 @ 3.50GHz and I had upgraded it to 16gb RAM instead of the 8 I had bought with it. I also upgraded to a replacement dell 460W power supply as when I purchased the 5050, I seemed to be noticing some power issues. I also threw in some new thermal compound and noctua fans as you can see from the photo. I believe the part number for the motherboard is Angelfish MT 16509-1 MF1G8$HA?

I have been only running Immich, Plex, and tailscale for over a year now and  I have not had any serious issues other than a drive failure at the begining, though I have not been doing much plex streaming.

That being said I have been thinking about adding a GPU for better plex streaming to my TV with blu-rays/4k Video/ one day, (though I own no 4K now.).

 

1. My main question is this, Are there any issues just dropping an Intel A380 or Nvidia T400/600 into my system? (other than clearance issues) Or do you have to configure anything? Overall this is my first NAS and I am not super familiar with TrueNas (the whole reason I went with HexOS)

 

2. Secondly, does a GPU make much of a difference? Or when do people feel like their NAS needs a GPU? The AI overlords seem to be telling me if I ever turn on subtitles while streaming plex I might have issues with the CPU being hit too hard?

Thanks in advance.

Edited May 6 by Flyboy

[melle]

My Nvidia gpu worked out of the box with jellyfin. 
Note if you drop in a gpu after installing a app like jellyfin you might have to go in to the trunas ui to enable it . 
However during updates it tended to bork out leaving me frustrated trying to get it "reset".  Which involved going in Trueness and clicking the uninstall Nivea drivers and reinstall button a few times. 
I like to not run plex beacuse jellyfin has allot of customization plugins etc that give me the feeling of control.  Also the cost.

However You dont always need a gpu for transcoding at all. During these down time (Aka i forgot to reenable the drivers) i did not notice at all that my streaming was degraded. Most media servers can and will just stream to your device in the original encoding/codec when bandwidth allows it.  
Since i watched using a full fledged browser substiles are also not a problem because jellfin had no need to "bake" in subtitles.   which is only done for players that dont support subtitles. 

So a gpu is not needed for a nas. Most "clients" handle codecs perfectly. anything stronger a raperpie 3 can playback full hd perfectly. 
Note If you dont have a Plex pass a gpu wont even work with your plex isntance. 

Imich also has a option were it can borrow a dekstop GPU. So for workloads that require a gpu you can just give it access to your home dekstop for a wile and then disable it.