I’ve tried for quite some time to get a definitive answer to this.
I have a AMD Ryzen 9 3900X with 12 processors and 32 Gigs of RAM. I have several people who access my library remotely. All has gone well until I started adding 4K content (which of course works spectacularly well on my LAN since I don’t need to transcode it).
Except for low end 5Mbps 4K content stuff (which you can hardly call 4K), my users have a terrible experience when attempting to watch this content - even worse with subtitles turned on. Obviously there is no Intel Quick Sync built into my Ryzen processor. For my users with 4K TVs, the content plays fine. It’s my family members with low end TVs (where Plex needs to transcode down) where the problems occur.
I’ve read several places that I could add a compatible high-end graphics card to my PC and that my Plex server can use that for transcoding. But I can’t find anything definitive to tell me if this is true (on an AMD-based PC).
Since I don’t use the PC for watching content my current graphics cards are only business class graphics cards. If adding a higher-end graphics card could solve the Plex 4K transcoding problem, I’ll purchase one.
If this is possible, can you recommend which graphics card I could get that Plex could use to transcode 4K streams down to 1080p and 720p? Presumably it wouldn’t matter what connections are on the back of the card since I won’t be using it to output to my PC’s monitors. The card would be dedicated to transcoding plex. I have the empty slots if such a card would solve this problem.
Yeah I run a 3700x and was able to do about 2. But once I decided to run a dedicated GPU, everything was better. Also allowing the GPU to do all the primary transcodes for stored video and IPTV, gave the system less stress when I use it for other tasks.
I don’t think it’s needed, but for anyone building a server or looking to make it better, can with a GPU for pretty cheap. 1050ti works well and can get a used one cheap.
Thanks, yes I definitely have a plex pass. I went for the GTX 1660 since I’ve now seen several people recommend it as a reasonable option at a reasonable price. It arrives later today so we shall see.
Thanks, so the patch still works? I had read comments on various Youtube videos showing how to use the patch that it doesn’t work with the latest nVidia drivers? The GTX 1660 is supposed to do 5 streams without the patch. That might be enough for me. I’m assuming that when Plex hits the 5 stream limit the PC can continue to do software encoding on the CPU? At the moment I typically have a couple users watching 1080p stuff that my Ryzen can handle in software. Only occasionally one of them attempts to watch the 4K stuff where everything falls apart. I doubt I’ll ever have anywhere close to 5 people trying to watch 4K at the same time. I only have 6 family members that I share this with.
All that said, if the patch still works and I can figure out how to do it I’ll definitely try.
I’m the link I shared you can download the specific driver version and the patch for it. NvENC was limited to 2 but I think was increased to 3. Unlocking will allow as many as it can handle.
After the card is maxed, it will start using the CPU for transcodes.
I have tested 6 4k transcodes with mine and it works and they all get throttled after they are caught up. I increased my throttle buffer size, so it works more upfront.
This is from my personal experience. I usually never have more then 8 streams running at once and that’s rare. I have yet to have any issues with the 1660 being overloaded. But it’s also more like only 4 of those streams are transcoded.
Is there a link to somewhere that shows how to increase the throttle buffer size? I’ll be installing my 1660 this evening after Amazon drops it off. Thanks.
To bring this full circle, I installed the 1660. I had to buy an entirely new power supply because I couldn’t find my power supply cables. Ouch!
Anyway, it all works spectacularly well. I tested with my sister who has had the most problems over the years. She could watch EVERYTHING in my library from the biggest 4K movies to regular shows and everything transcoded down to her 720p TV hanging off a Roku stick with no problems.
Everything is faster. Even in my own internal LAN everything is faster. It was already fast. Now it’s almost as responsive as watching a TiVo used to be back in the day.
Also tested with my nephew who has a 4K TV and the little niggly issues he was having are solved.
It’s an across the board, hit it out of the park success! Wish I knew that adding this card would improve things so much years ago.
Thank you all and especially Angler082133 for your help. Haven’t attempted the patch yet JasPlex7, but hope to try that soon.
