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Which GPU for 4K HDR transcoding to 1080p


jang430

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jang430

Hi.  Can GT 1030 do it?  GTX 1050 2 GB do it?  Or can GTX 1050 Ti do it?

I plan to get the lowest hardware that can do it.  GPUs are quite expensive now.  Another reason I prefer GT 1030, if it can do 2-3 streams, is because it only occupies a single slot, which is perfect for my setup.  For dual slot GPU cards, I have to make some workarounds on my casing.  BTW, I plan to use it on my Unraid NAS.

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1 hour ago, jang430 said:

Bump

HI, you only posted nine hours ago. Please be patient and give the community members a chance to read your question.

Anyway @generiq or @Gilgamesh_48 may have some thoughts.

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jang430

Will GTX-1050 even with 2 GB alone do?  Will it do HDR to SDR?  Sorry, not very familiar, but I see this term everywhere :D  

What should I be looking at in the link?  Nvenc encoding or decoding?  I 

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Both really but it depends on how you use your system.  Right now HVEC decode will be used when you have files stored on disc and need to be transcoded which can be done in hardware from HEVC to AVC.

At present (could change in the future) we don't encode to HEVC when transcoding so it's less important right now.  However if you wanted to re-encode files from AVC to HEVC to take less storage space then HEVC Encoding will be one of the most important things to have.

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jang430

So by the looks of it, any GTX 1050, whether 2 GB, 3 GB, GTX 1050 Ti will work?  I plan on getting the lowest price I can get, so I think it will be GTX 1050 2 GB.

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The amount of memory you have available may hurt you if you plan to tonemap HDR->SDR content.
If you plan on doing this I would look for a 4GB GPU.

I use a Turing 1650 in my main system with 4GB and it can handle 3 to 5 tone mapping sessions depending on the source files.  I use the Nvidia unlock on the drivers.

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jang430

Oh!  In that case, it means 1050 Ti is the only choice.  I need 3 streams the most.  Unfortunately, Ti is much more expensive.  I already have 1 on my Unraid nas, though used for gaming.  I'd like to have another GPU dedicated for transcoding.  Looks like Ti then.  

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If you have one already if possible "borrow" it for an hour or so and do some testing with it in your Emby Server to make sure it will do what you want.  Nothing worse than buying something new to find out you wish you had went a bit better.

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Gilgamesh_48
3 hours ago, Luke said:

HI, you only posted nine hours ago. Please be patient and give the community members a chance to read your question.

Anyway @generiq or @Gilgamesh_48 may have some thoughts.

Not me. I do not share and I almost never transcode and I am the only user of my system normally. (My dog lost his privileges some time ago.)

I keep my hardware as simple as possible but as powerful as I can afford. About a year ago I spent the needed time (actually it was one of my computers that spent the time) and got all my media in a form that could direct play or direct stream on all my devices. Since the I have never even seen "transcoding" on my server. Nothing needs it.

The one bit of "advice" I will give is that a server should never have any other regular duties except to serve and a few other tasks directly related to server support like DrivePool or other such programs.

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jang430
45 minutes ago, cayars said:

If you have one already if possible "borrow" it for an hour or so and do some testing with it in your Emby Server to make sure it will do what you want.  Nothing worse than buying something new to find out you wish you had went a bit better.

Actually, I didn't think of that. I will check if I can Do it, since the nas is always used for Gaming.

@Gilgamesh_48 Unfortunately, my nas is being used by a lot of people within the family. It's used for Gaming, streaming to iPad, another person steaming to desktop,  me watching on TV using android tv Box, it may also be downloading new shows  while everything is running. 

It is serving it's purpose, not just a regular nas, but somewhat of a server for the home.

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You're actually playing games on your NAS?

If so that sounds more like a normal PC then a NAS/Server. :)

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jang430

Yes. I'm using xeon e3-1650 v3 processor. Quite powerful. It has 6C/ 12T. 3C/ 6T are pinned to my VM, with gpu passed through. That keeps the gaming consistent and running fine. All the rest of the processor is used by Emby, and several other docker containers 🙂 

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pwhodges

My streaming machine has a 1050Ti - it was the most powerful card I could get with passive (i.e. silent) cooling.  It works fine, including HDR processing (which I do rarely, but helped with testing).   I don't think it's ever been asked to do more than two transcodes at once, if that, but I have the patch which removes the lock implemented just in case.

My desktop has a 1650Super, because that's where I do my offline transcoding.  But it has fans, and was much more expensive (though I found one at well under the odds :) ).

Paul

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Quick question for you.  What part of the house is your Emby Server in?
Is it in the family room or similar?  Any chance you can move it to another location where it can be a loud as needed without you hearing it or being bothered by it?

The quest for a silent Server isn't always the best approach if you can move it to another location and have better cooling and fans running.

Everyone's needs are different of course.

A couple of companies make passive GPUs but they aren't cheap.  Here is one of them
http://www.palit.com/palit/vgapro.php?id=2823&lang=en

You can also mod a normal card as well to be passive if you have the skills.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-gtx-1050-ti-passive-cooling-mod,4837.html

I have not read that tomshardware article but found it via Google.  So "buyer beware" comes to mind.

 

Let me ask you this as strange as it may seem.  What do you want to do with the GPU?
Is it strictly for Emby transcoding?
What video codec do you use for your media?  Is your media mostly AVC/H.264 or HEVC/H.265?

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jang430

Currently, the NAS is inside the bedroom, where games are also being played, since the monitor, keyboard and mouse is in the bedroom.  The sound of the fan so far is bearable, at least for the Ti for gaming.  I assume the 2nd Ti for transcoding will more or less be the same, +- different brand, different fan noise, but should be minimal.  Cannot move it to somewhere far, as I tried to extend my USB, and video via Cat5E, to have the server located away, the keyboard and mouse keeps disconnecting.  Currently, tied up because of this.  I will do some more testing.  All my chassis fans, CPU fan is Noctua.  This helps as it's not noisy.  I'm using Fractal Design Node 804, with 4 fans at the back.  

To have a gpu that is passive is only a wishlist, and not a hard requirement.  So not very much of an issue.  Not very much into modding 🙂

The 2nd Ti will only be transcoding from 4K to 720p or 1080p, to tablets that don't play native.  Not a lot of media with H.265, I'd say 30%.  I've tried using handbrake to transcode them, it would take days since 3C/6T already dedicated for gaming, I'm left with 3C/6T shared by whole NAS.  It took me 2.5 days to transcode 40+ 45 minute episodes (series).

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OK so let me see if I got this straight.  Your using your XEON based PC for both running VsM and for game play and already have a 1050TI in it?

What host OS are you running to handle VMs?
What OS do you use for playing games?
Is Emby running on the host or in a VM?

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jang430

It is a nas :D. I'm using Unraid OS.  I'm using Supermicro X10SRM-TF serverboard, with x16 slot occupied by 1050 Ti.  I have 5x 8 TB, 3x 2 TB, 1 m.2 nvme ssd 1TB.  These are drives on my array, for storage.  

Unraid allows using containers, and at the same time, uses KVM to handle VMs.  Within the NAS os, it's easy to create VMs.  I have the existing 1050 Ti and SSD passed through directly to the VM, and I also pinned 3C/6T to the VM as well.  Meaning, all mentioned resources dedicated for gaming only.  The other 3C/6T handles the nas os, docker containers, emby, sabnzbd, deluge, sonarr, radarr, jackett, bazarr, handbrake, syncthing, soon, nextcloud.  

The VM has Windows 10, to play games.  

Emby running on docker container, running on the nas os.

  image.png.db1133f8b6db2c1d659b1246b1ea0a9c.png

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Have you tried allowing both Emby and gaming to use the GPU?

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jang430

The GPU is passed through to VM when VM is started, so Emby won't be able to use it. When off, it can be assiged to Emby.  Though I was told that it's not safe to do this, ask when 1 is started while the hardware is being used, it will cause some errors.  I don't want to try :D

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pwhodges
8 hours ago, jang430 said:

@pwhodges What brand of 1050 Ti has passive cooling?  I'm interested.  Thank you for the confirmation as well.  

I bought a Palit GEFORCE GTX 1050Ti 4GB KalmX Passive cooling two years ago; it cost me £115 from eBay.  I've no idea if it's still around.

Paul

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jang430

Didn't know such product existed.  You already made money hahaha.  Prices on ebay is even higher than when you bought it. 

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