Which GPU for encoding? (Upgrade)

[ITGuy1024 13]

Hey all - currently I have a P400. I have the opportunity to go P600 or a K5000. 

Is there any reason to entertain the K5000?

I'd like to step up my 4k streaming capabilities. 

[RanmaCanada 345]

It would possibly be cheaper and better to move to Intel.  If you want to stick with a discrete GPU, get an Intel ARC (unless you're runing Linux as driver support is behind), or upgrade your system to an Intel processor with an iGPU, preferable 12th or 13th gen.  Nvidia has fallen far behind in the transcoding game compared to Intel.  The 13700k can do 18+ 4k transcodes if bandwidth is not an issue, ie using nvme drives as storage.  

How old is your current hardware, other than your video card?  The K5000 is a decade old and based on Kepler, not worth the money.  The P600 is limited to 3 transcodes.

The other option, is what I've done, and that is get a laptop with a smashed screen that runs at least an 11th gen processor, and use that as your server.  My 1115G4 can handle 3 4k transcodes while using 15 watts of power.  Obviously if you want more, you would want to go with at least an i5 or i7, and probably a 12th gen.  Even an i5-1215u laptop is cheaper than getting a new video card and will out perform it in regards to transcodes, and use far less power. 

[ITGuy1024 13]

Ah that's interesting. Currently it's running on an HP z440.

[RanmaCanada 345]

3 hours ago, ITGuy1024 said:

Ah that's interesting. Currently it's running on an HP z440.

Well from what I can find your system is possibly a decade old, so replacing it will save you lots of $$ in power bills.  As the system also doesn't have resizeable Bar in the bios, and ARC GPU might be out of the question as they kinda need that for max performance, though I honestly do not know if that will affect it's quicksync features.  

I moved to a laptop as I was sick and tired of using my main rig as my Emby server, and I think it's the best decision I ever made.  Though some think I'm crazy, stupid or insane for doing that.

[ITGuy1024 13]

Eh, it sips power. I also have it on sleep mode until it gets a stream request which works great. Anyway power isn't really my top priority. 

I did some looking and it seems I can upgrade the cpu to something like a xeon e5-2699 v4 or xeon e5-2698 v4. 

[RanmaCanada 345]

Niether of those have discrete video, so I feel you would be better off to just replace the system in the long run.  And as for the laptop idea, my i3-1115G4 idles at 3 watts, and uses 15 or so when actively transcoding 4k content with tone mapping, hence why the cost to "upgrade" to a laptop I feel is something to look at.  

[Happy2Play 8296]

The K5000 would be out as a 2012 card (not even listed on Nvidia chart for encoding/decoding) vs your current 2017 card.  Don't really see too much upgrade from the P400 to P600 both with the same capabilities.

[ITGuy1024 13]

Not sure why this didn't post earlier. But looks like you confirmed what I found.

Actually (correct me if I'm wrong) but upgrading the CPU won't really do much for the streams because even the xeon doesn't support hardware encoding or intel quick sync.

So going to something like an i5-10500 might be a better move?

Edited April 2, 2023 by ITGuy1024

[Happy2Play 8296]

Just now, ITGuy1024 said:

Not sure why this didn't post earlier. But looks like you confirmed what I found.

Actually (correct me if I'm wrong) but upgrading the CPU won't really do much for the streams because even the xeon doesn't support hardware encoding or intel quick sync.

So going to something like an i5-10500 might be a better move?

Correct

If possible you will be better off with 12th-13th gen processors but really comes back to your needs.

[ITGuy1024 13]

I'm just going by what I have at my disposal for cheap / free.
I'd like to be able to have 1 stable 4k stream (locally) and 2-4 internet streams.

Edited April 2, 2023 by ITGuy1024

[GWTPqZp6b 41]

11 hours ago, RanmaCanada said:

Nvidia has fallen far behind in the transcoding game compared to Intel.

In terms of number of transcodes and/or quality of transcoded results? Any objective data to share too? 

[RanmaCanada 345]

1 hour ago, GWTPqZp6b said:

In terms of number of transcodes and/or quality of transcoded results? Any objective data to share too? 

A 13900k/12900k can do 18 4k transcodes if bandwidth is not a bottle neck (really any i7 and even i5 12th/13th gen would be able to hit it, and possibly even the i3 as the ASICS are the same across the entire generation).  Intel Quicksync is also better in regards to quality (Do I need to link the MSU tests? and doom9 tests?).  To come close to that magical 18 number, you need to buy a Quadro RTX 5000, which still only gets you to 13.  In terms of 1080p transcodes, it can do 72-90 streams where the Quadro RTX 5000 tops out at 26.

https://www.elpamsoft.com/?p=Plex-Hardware-Transcoding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsyV1j6mc1E <-- please watch the whole video.

 

[GWTPqZp6b 41]

Interesting blog post on AV1 hardware encoding. 
https://giannirosato.com/blog/post/nvenc-v-qsv/