Server CPU for h.264 encoding

[pablo platt]

Hi,

I'm trying to decide what dedicated server to rent for transcoding video.
I have a gstreamer app that decodes several live VP8/Opus streams, mix and
encode them to a single MP4 h.264/AAC.

What features do I need to look for when choosing a dedicated server?
CPU clock speed
CPU cache
Number of cores
Integrated GPU
RAM
SSD

How do I know if a CPU is able to do h.264 hardware encoding? Does it need
integrated GPU or is hardware encoding a feature of the CPU?
Is vappih264enc the encoder I need?
What the difference of performance should I expect from hardware encoding
compared to software encoding?

I'm currently using a machine with old 2xL5420 CPUs and able to produce 2
or 3 MP4 files at the same time.

I'll need several machines so it doesn't matter if I have few strong
machines or more weaker machines as long as I have the best total
performance per investment.

Several models I'm considering:
E3-1230 v2
E3-1270 v3
E3-1275 v5 (has integrated graphics)

Please recommend other options if you have experience with them. I'm not
limited to the above.

Thanks

Thanks
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