I’m using my AMD PC as a Plex server as you may know most AMD CPU’s don’t have built in graphics.
I’m using unRAID and want a nvidia card what recent model? I’m paying for plex to get HW.
Edit: I don’t use unraid. There might be some unraid specific items you have to consider.
GTX 1050 or better.
See elpamsoft for transcoding performance. Note Nvidia limits their GTX cards to two simultaneous transcodes. Hacked drivers are available to increase this limit. See references to “session limits” on elpamsoft page.
See Nvidia support matrix for encode/decode capabilities of their cards. You’ll want a card that decodes HEVC 4:2:0 12 bit.
1 Like
I see you post sometimes on converting blurays for plex. I hoped you might be able to comment on a related topic.
The nvidia p2000 gpu often is played up as allowing a lot more transcodes out of a server at a time.
Does it also make encoding an mkv from a bluray with makemkv much faster?
I’m not sure supporting lots of transcodes translates into faster conversion of a large mkv to a smaller file with handbrake, etc. Thanks for any help.
makemkv doesn’t convert anything.
it just pulls audio/video streams and puts them into a mkv file.
it doesn’t use the gpu, its not changing any of the video/audio data. (ie lossless)
handbrake and similar apps can convert from one codec to another, these are what use alot of cpu and can use gpu to transcode faster.
converting/compressing is a trade off between file size, quality, and time.
1 Like
Regarding Handbrake:
The short answer is yes, it will be faster.
There are a lot of “it depends” as well.
Some functions in Handbrake, such as the filters, use the CPU, not the GPU, so you will have minimal gains, if any.
Also, Nvidia has their own pre-sets for H.264/H.265 transcoding (their own versions of fast/slow/very slow/etc). They cannot be overridden.
I have an older video card in my PC, and I don’t care for the Nvidia presets (the quality is fine, the compression is poor). I use my CPU for Handbrake. It takes much longer, but I don’t care. I queue up a couple of videos and let it run overnight. I put them in Plex the next day.
1 Like
gpu transcoding tends to be good for ‘on the fly’ transcoding that plex does. (they are temporary and not stored)
as FordGuy says, gpu transcoding can be faster, but possibly less quality and/or larger files.
If you are transcoding permanently to save space, then CPU might well provide better space (smaller size), without excessive loss of quality.
only YOU can decide if using cpu or gpu is good for YOU.
YOU will have to experiment and decide what quality/speed/size is good for YOU.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
