Any way to ignore GPU and only use CPU transcode?

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: 1.24.5.5160
Running on Windows 11 with Intel 11700k, 32 GB of DDR4 and an old Nvidia GTX 1060

Ever since I added the graphics card, any hw transcoding will use the gpu. Is there any way to ignore it and use Intel’s QuickSync, which was way better in this case?

Update:

I enabled the iGPU in UEFI and added PMS’ exe to the graphics settings and selected the iGPU. Still transcoding on GPU. I tried to add the transcoder’s exe as well and it still uses GPU when I look in the Task Manager. The search for a solution continues!

2

You can disable hw-transcoding in your server settings:

  1. Open Settings > [Server Name] > Transcoder
  2. Disable Use hardware acceleration when available and Use hardware-accelerated video encoding (or only the latter)
3

That’ll use Intel’s QuickSync for transcoding? I thought that was Intel’s iGPU hw transcoding as opposed to software.

4

In the bios set the default GPU to be Intel GPU.
or
Tell Plex which GPU to use: How to set default GPU for apps on Windows 10 • Pureinfotech

When selecting the program, set the whole directory ie “…\Plex Media Server\*”

5

This sounds great! I’ll test out the second suggestion for sure. I want to leave the Nvidia card as primary, though, for the gaming that I do on the same computer.

6

image
Looks like I don’t have both GPUs enabled in Windows. Let me see if I can find out how, if possible, to do that.

7

Update:

I enabled the iGPU in UEFI and added PMS’ exe to the graphics settings and selected the iGPU. Still transcoding on GPU. I tried to add the transcoder’s exe as well and it still uses GPU when I look in the Task Manager. The search for a solution continues!

8

I am a bit confused on why you want quicksync to be used instead of your video card. The only mention I saw was something about power savings. Why even have a video card installed, then? Is this a setup where your plex server is also your main desktop computer?

9

Device is my main setup and quicksync is better at remote 4k hevc transcodes than the gtx 1060. Ever since I added the card, I’m having transcode issues with 4k hevc whereas I didn’t before.

10

I would really look at fixing the transcoding on your discreet gpu. It is way faster than integrated graphics. If you just uninstall and reinstall your video drivers and make sure cuda is installed, you should be fine.

There may be more, but troubleshooting that shouldn’t be a big deal.

11

Yeah, I’ve got the latest driver version bundle installed (496.13) with GeForce Experience checking for updates.

12

as far as I remember, there must be a monitor or hdmi dummy plug plugged into the intel gpu hdmi port.

if that doesn’t work, then otherwise generally plex will use whatever gpu is the ‘default’ gpu for windows.

this means you must set the intel gpu as the desktop/primary gpu.

13

I’ll have to try this, it’s the one thing I’ve not tried yet.

14

While good, did you install cuda? Also, your logs when trying to transcode with the gtx would be helpful.

15

Not sure what you mean by install cuda…

16

Cuda is usually how Nvidia cards are able to transcode video files so quickly. You may want to uninstall, or at least do a reinstall, to do a custom installation where you can ensure cuda is installed. Or, you can go to your add/remove apps and see if cuda is there.

You really should want your video card to be doing conversions for 4k transcodes. If cuda is working, I would disable the igpu and see what errors happen in the logs.

17

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