[DSM 6.2 Loader]

8 minutes ago, flyride said:

 

I disagree with this generalization - Xeon does not offer any capabilities that desktop processors do not have. ECC RAM and improved security are Xeon's two main benefits, both which are irrelevant to DSM.  So I would not worry about using DS3617xs with a non-Xeon processor as long as it supported the needed instruction set, which is a function of processor generation, not server vs. desktop.  The final answer for your CPU should be discernible by reviewing the hardware capabilities as described in the Intel Ark pages.

 

How to summarize all this?  Basically, the DS916/3615/3617 DSM code base, AS COMPILED BY SYNOLOGY, seems to require a Sandy Bridge or later CPU.

DSM on DS918 appears to use instructions that appeared in Haswell and later, which includes Broadwell, Skylake, Kaby Lake, Coffee Lake, Apollo Lake, Gemini Lake.  The community is still compiling information about exactly which CPU's are supported, so don't assume this list is definitive.

 

Also note that the embedded Linux kernel for DSM DS916/3615/3617 is v3.10 (even on DSM 6.2) and the DS918 uses v4.4.  This may also turn out to be a threshold for CPU selection.

 

For hardware transcoding, QuickSync processor extension is required both for Synology native support (via Video Station) or third party (i.e. Plex).  QuickSync capability increases with each processor generation, so even if your processor has QuickSync support, it may not meet the specific requirements of the software you are trying to run.  Also, not every modern processor has QuickSync silicon (no Atoms have it, most desktop processors do, some Xeons do).

 

In addition to the above, DSM must support QuickSync with kernel drivers, and the required components are only available with DSM on the DS916 and DS918 platforms today.

 

Thanks a lot for your post. Very usefull information to understand the whole versions map.

[DSM 6.2 Loader]

Does the hardware transcoding work with 1.03b  x3615 and x3617 or the 918 is needed for that? Any feedback on this topic from someone who already updated and has a processor able to hardware transcode?