I run a dedicated server on a windows 10 box with a ancient video card. I just plopped a 4090 in my every day/gaming rig and want to know if i slap this 6700 xt in the plex box if it would make a difference in ANY way cause if not I’m going to unload it.
Thanks
What card do you have in your Plex machine now? Do you use it for hardware transcoding?
Do you have an intel cpu with quick sync?
I think you can use an AMD card but they aren’t as fully supported like a Nvidia card is
From the Plex support article on Hardware transcoding
https://support.plex.tv/articles/115002178853-using-hardware-accelerated-streaming/
I don’t have any personal experience with that. Hopefully someone who has can weigh in
Put it this way, I wouldn’t throw your ancient card out for a month or two just in case
what i put in there now with it stuck in a corner (it’s a X299 board with a 7820X @5Ghz is a AMD r7 200 which is old as can be but i needed to use the 6700xt for a week untill my 4090 came (which is installed in my real rig and destroying everything i throw at it).
Will replacing that old card with the rx 6700 xt (12GB clocks at 2900) make a difference?
I have all the plex setting set to default except for remote which is a static port forward and up stream which is set to max.
i didnt mess with transcoding
The main reason for a dedicated GPU is to help with transcoding. It takes the load off the cpu for when you have to transcode your video.
This is very important to some people and not at all important to others.
For people who share their server with a lot of people remotely, who have lower end devices or poor internet speeds it’s important.
If you have been transcoding any video it’s been with the CPU only. A few of those streams and you are out of business
If you server has been performing ok as is, you probably don’t need it…BUT
You don’t have an intel cpu and that old gpu isn’t doing any hw transcoding. Personally I would put the 6700 in the Plex machine so you at least have that option as a backup but if you don’t need it you don’t need it
The other option would to unload the 6700 and put in a cheaper Nvidia card like a 1050ti
I can totally put the card in no problem. I didn’t have any bites on it anyway and I’ll keep it if I can’t get a fair price (without ebay, no one is biting for 280-300 and ebay takes 14% off the top)
If i put the 6700xt in do I need to change any settings in plex or will it just take over transcoding from being put in?
I would make sure your drivers are up to date on the 6700xt
https://www.amd.com/en/support
You just have to make sure Windows sees the new card and is using it
Inside Plex go to
Settings → Transcoder and turn these on
As a video is playing on another device drop the quality to trigger a transcode and verify you see (hw) inside the dashboard on the computer as it plays
Honestly, I have no experience running an AMD card for this. Because it’s not “fully supported” I don’t know if there’s any extra steps. Test it out and see if it works. If it’s not working I’ll try and ping someone to troubleshoot
I’ll try it, i need a displayport or hdmi adapter to dvi or vga (the server is sitting in a closet with a tiny monitor).
I only have 4 users but I was worried about the “quality may be reduced” part. But I’ll slap it back in after I order a adapter
ok, so i’m sticking the 6700 xt back in and just checking those boxes you point to and i’ll see what happens (there isn’t a hw+ right or am i thinking of android and mx player).
i’m also setting the cpu to “make my cpu hurt” since the computer is doing nothing but running plex. I also set the h264 thing to very slow cause well, its a 64GB server with a 8 core i7 over clocked to 4.6 with a newer amd card, the worst that can happen is stuff wont play…
nothing will overheat with the watercooling i got going on in that old system so f it, it is gonna sit there and do what it can i guess. if my 4 users complain then i’ll adjust things
got the 6700 xt iin there. transcoding is working i dont know if the video card is doing anything but the system is set to HW and to make my cpu hurt since it literally does nothing but sit there and serve 4 people.
I havent noticed any lower quality (seems better in fact) so I’m just going to leave it.
non related to plex i’m just irritated since i’m using a HDMI input now instead of display port it takes like 30 seconds extra before the windows logo pops up showing it’s booting (but it is booting at the hw screen, i think it’s just a HDMI thing, still boots same speed)
I really appreciate the quality of help and the caring of the other users on this forum who take the time to answer your questions and not treat you like a idiot for not knowing what to do and make you feel bad for asking for help. You guys are the best and I’ll report back in a couple weeks after my 4 users test hw transcoding
just another update, had to turn “hurt my cpu” and very slow off cause it was defaulting to that over hw. with automatic and very fast (the defaults) it defaults to (hw) and no one has complained and it’s going fast with the latest amd drivers so I’ll just leave it as is until something blows up that’s not storage related then replace in a couple years.
correct me if i’m wrong, but not everything will hw transcode correct?
seeing regular transcoding is still normal depending on what’s being transcoded, correct?
oh and my cpu is a i7-7820x 8 core intel…, only thing i have amd is the video card and it hw transcodes stuff but im assuming it depends on the file type and what it wants to encode to.
Ok, I misunderstood you. I thought originally you had an AMD cpu and gpu. The Intel chip has Quick Sync so that was probably doing your (hw) transcoding when you had the old AMD gpu running.
If you use an Intel cpu and Nvidia card it defaults to the gpu. Because the AMD cards “aren’t fully supported” I’m not sure what happens in your case. There may be something in Windows or AMD control panel you have to configure manually
To answer your question though, yes, there are certain things that cannot be (hw) transcoded and fall back to the cpu
Tone mapping and image-based subtitles are the main ones I’m aware of. There are others but they’re very specific and not as common
I don’t have enough knowledge about AMD cards to give you a good overview
@FordGuy61 is very good on this subject and can explain it way better than I can.
I hope he doesn’t mind the ping, I just don’t want to steer you in the wrong direction, if I haven’t already lol
Don’t mind the ping at all.
However, I’ve zero experience using AMD GPUs for transcoding. Best I can offer is to try it and see what happens. As @JaysPlex mentions above, it might work, it might not. The AMD web page says it supports HEVC decoding and H.264 encoding, so it might work (AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT)
You can monitor playback via the Plex Dashboard. You’ll see two occurrences of (hw). The first is for the decode, the second is for the encode.
The Intel i7-7820X does not have Quick Sync graphics according to ark.intel.com (link), and with a Passmark of 17266, it will not transcode & tonemap 4K HDR by itself (transcoding 1080p should not be a problem at all).
To get back to the original question of will a video card help:
It depends on your requirements. If you need to transcode & tonemap 4K HDR media, then, given your CPU, you will definitely need a GPU. If transcoding is needed only for 1080p and lower, then the CPU should be able to handle things.
I do not know if an AMD GPU will work. It won’t hurt anything to try it and see what happens.
If the AMD does not work and you need a GPU today, you’ll want an Nvidia 1050 Ti or better. That will give you HEVC 10-bit decoding and HDR tonemapping.
I’ve seen some posts where the new Intel ARC GPU boards are working with Windows 11 and beta drivers (example). Details are thin, and it is unclear if this includes 4K HDR transcoding & tonemapping. No idea when the cards will officially be supported by Plex (Plex rarely announces product schedules or plans).
Be aware of power draw by GPU cards. The 6700 XT draws up to 240 W according to AMD. It won’t be pulling that much for video transcoding, but it still may not save you that much power draw compared to just using the CPU, which pulls up to 140W according to Intel.
Also, be sure you are running the 64-bit version of Plex Media Server. It is more efficient at transcoding. It is required for hardware accelerated HDR tonemapping. If you don’t know if you’re running 32-bit or 64-bit, just check the install location. 32-bit is in Program Files (x86), 64-bit in Program Files.
Additional Info:
Nvidia Encode Decode Matrix - shows video formats supported by each GPU.
Elpamsoft - Info on transcoding performance for Nvidia GPUs (unaware of similar site for AMD GPUs).
@FordGuy61 well, here’s some news, it transcodes and tonemaps 4k hdr-10 to 4k h264 so I guess that’s a good sign.
I’m not worried about power draw, the system it’s in has a 1200W power supply and it’s hw encoding other stuff. It looks like it’s doing the job with HW.
It would appear the amd card can handle things, correct (see pic)
Thanks for the update. Nice to know AMD cards work.
seems to transcode fine along with the cpu, I’ll leave it be unless someone complains but like i said i only let 4 people use my server
Not all do.
AMD GPU’s range from working fine, partially working (with transcoding issues) to not at all (pushing it to the CPU).
My ageing 2700X handles things fine however whilst the also ancient RX580X sits quietly.
Note, I don’t get buffering with GPU transcoding enabled. It just garbles the output. I have another rig with a 5800X and same issue.
well here’s a update on my 6700xt, it’s HW transcoding everything that the page says will be transcoded and it’s not buffering, I have tested it on my android running 4k hvec h265 and saw it in HW mode and no buffering or anything, so maybe the newer cards work cause this card is doing HDR and x265 on the fly with no buffering
here’s a update, i see the (HW) at the very top line of the VIDEO box but it doesnt say it’s transcoding buti know it is with HW for dovi/hdr cause i have a guy watching a dovi remux on my server right now and it say’s “movie name” (hw) then transcode under it to 1080p with no hw and it’s transcoding it to sdr for the guy cause i called him and he was like “what? no it looks great”
so I guess AMD stuff got a little update as no one has complained with HW when i look and see.
Perhaps it’s just cause its a newer amd card, but yeah something reencoded DOVI to SDR and i know its not software cause when i tried before using this card in the server, dovi stuff looked all purple.
Just a update and i think its a good one since purple dovi is being reencoded with HW to sdr/hdr for people
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