server upgrade thoughts

[zach1008 0]

I am currently running Emby on a windows machine that has an AMD Ryzen 5 3400G with 16gb of ram.  I have been reading and it sounds like an intel chipset will result in much better performance especially when remote users are watching and transcoding is taking place.  I am considering a completely new machine with an Intel Core i5-12450H processor or just swapping my motherboard and CPU to an Intel i7-12700K.  I realize the i7 is newer and therefore probably better, however, the whole pc is less money than just a motherboard and cpu.  

Any thoughts or recommendations?  I have a couple of remote users watching live tv, recorded shows and movies as well as 2-3 devices in network watching the same. Looking around the $300-350 price point. 

[Luke 42077]

Possibly relevant discussion here on the same cpu: 

 

[Sammy 790]

My Ryzen 3700X works just fine on a Gigabyte X570 MoBo with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6Gb, a 1TB m.2 Boot Drive, 32 GB RAM and 17 TB data in a pool.

I built it new in December 2019 and it's my everyday driver too.

[justinrh 259]

19 hours ago, Sammy said:

My Ryzen 3700X works just fine

This is with transcoding?  CPU or GPU doing the work?

[rbjtech 5282]

It's not necessarily about better overall performance, but Intel with built in quicksync (gen 10 onwards) has a much more efficient power > transcoding performance than a AMD+Nvidia Combo.    You are effectively getting the iGPU for a fraction of the cost (and using a fraction of the power) of what you would need to reproduce the same transcoding performance with a discreet Nvidia card.

Another perhaps more cost effective option is a Intel ARC A380 card - this will give you quicksync on a discreet card - without the extortionate cost of an Nvidia Card when you are only using a fraction of it's capabilities for transcoding anyway - the rest of the card (for 3D) will be sittling there idle...

Edited June 25, 2024 by rbjtech

[Sammy 790]

20 hours ago, justinrh said:

This is with transcoding?  CPU or GPU doing the work?

I use hardware acceleration for all but Live TV which works better with software transcoding.

Edited June 25, 2024 by Sammy
Dang spell check picked the wrong word.

[Sammy 790]

6 hours ago, rbjtech said:

It's not necessarily about better overall performance, but Intel with built in quicksync (gen 10 onwards) has a much more efficient power > transcoding performance than a AMD+Nvidia Combo.    You are effectively getting the iGPU for a fraction of the cost (and using a fraction of the power) of what you would need to reproduce the same transcoding performance with a discreet Nvidia card.

Another perhaps more cost effective option is a Intel ARC A380 card - this will give you quicksync on a discreet card - without the extortionate cost of an Nvidia Card when you are only using a fraction of it's capabilities for transcoding anyway - the rest of the card (for 3D) will be sittling there idle...

This is definitely what I have come to know but wasn't the case when I built my machine over 4 years ago. It works fine for my needs even today but in the tech world things change rapidly. When I eventually build again I will go whatever route provides the best bang for the buck. Currently it is intel iGPU for this use case.

[RanmaCanada 494]

I agree with @rbjtechthat probably getting an Intel Arc card is your best route. Just get an A310 or an A380. Both are available with no power adapter requirements.