# Hardware Transcode on the new Ryzen APUs? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussions\ **Created:** [February 27, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191 "2018-02-27T15:03:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cbc02009](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@cbc02009](https://forums.plex.tv/u/cbc02009)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/1 "2018-02-27T15:03:08Z")
Hope this hasn’t been asked, but I couldn’t find an answer yet. I know Hardware transcode only works on discrete GPUs and Intel integrated GPUs, so I assume that means you can’t hardware transcode with the new Ryzen APUs that were just released? Is that a feature that will become available any time soon? It just seems like such a great chip for a home server. ---
**Author:** ![Wiidesire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wiidesire](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Wiidesire)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 3:20pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/2 "2018-02-27T15:20:18Z")
H.264 + H.265 hardware decoding works for me on my Ryzen APU 2400G. ---
**Author:** ![playmake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@playmake](https://forums.plex.tv/u/playmake)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 9:46pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/3 "2018-03-05T21:46:41Z")
May I ask you pls a test of hw decoding / encoding with HEVC 10bit and HEVC 10 bit 4k to 1080p? Thank you so much. You can use jellyfish sample if you don’t have file to match my requirements. Thank you so much. ---
**Author:** ![Wiidesire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wiidesire](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Wiidesire)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 7:52pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/4 "2018-03-06T19:52:32Z")
> @playmake said: > May I ask you pls a test of hw decoding / encoding with HEVC 10bit and HEVC 10 bit 4k to 1080p? > Sure, I’ll try a UHD Blu-ray rip and a 1080p H.265 10-bit file on the weekend. ---
**Author:** ![playmake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@playmake](https://forums.plex.tv/u/playmake)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 1:29pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/5 "2018-03-07T13:29:48Z")
Thank you very much then I wait for your update! ---
**Author:** ![cayars](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/cayars/32/6296_2.png) [@cayars](https://forums.plex.tv/u/cayars)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 2:49pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/6 "2018-03-07T14:49:16Z")
> @Wiidesire said: > H.264 + H.265 hardware decoding works for me on my Ryzen APU 2400G. That’s decoding. How about ENcoding? ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 3:13pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/7 "2018-03-07T15:13:11Z")
> @cayars said: > That’s decoding. How about ENcoding? It is both. That (hw) for encoding sits on the next line. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Wiidesire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wiidesire](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Wiidesire)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 3:13pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/8 "2018-03-07T15:13:36Z")
> @cayars said: > That’s decoding. How about ENcoding? > Look at the graphs it’s both de- and encoding with the Vega GPU. You can also see it in PlexPy. ---
**Author:** ![cayars](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/cayars/32/6296_2.png) [@cayars](https://forums.plex.tv/u/cayars)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/9 "2018-03-07T15:22:52Z")
OOps my bad, I was just going by the wording in the post and didn’t look at the now playing screen. ☹ Thanks for the clarification guys and keeping me on my toes! LOL ---
**Author:** ![melrhombus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@melrhombus](https://forums.plex.tv/u/melrhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 5:31pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/10 "2018-03-14T17:31:17Z")
Wait wait… this isn’t on the Support page! I was about to pull the trigger on that exact APU but didn’t because I was under the impression plex h/w doesn’t support it Thanks @Wiidesire !! You just saved me a couple hundred bucks ---
**Author:** ![jjross](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/jjross/32/5936_2.png) [@jjross](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jjross)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/11 "2018-03-14T19:55:58Z")
Can anyone tell me whether you need to be logged into the machine for this type of transcoding to work? I have a headless windows server so I have Plex running as a service. I found that it wouldn’t do any hardware decode / encode unless I was logged into the console. ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 8:01pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/12 "2018-03-14T20:01:07Z")
When running as a service, encoding in hardware might work, but not decoding. ---
**Author:** ![melrhombus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@melrhombus](https://forums.plex.tv/u/melrhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 10:51pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/13 "2018-03-14T22:51:59Z")
I read for Windows you need to get an HDMI plug to trick it into thinking something is there ---
**Author:** ![Fuller\_Plex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5e925/32.png) [@Fuller\_Plex](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Fuller_Plex)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/14 "2018-04-21T01:39:23Z")
I’ve been on the fence between building a Ryzen APU system or and i3… or kiss all my money goodbye and do an i5 build… either way… I will go itx and have a mini case for it which will not hold a graphics card… how many hw transcodes can the Ryzen APUs handle vs the intel? I think for regular streaming, the graphics/picture will be a lot better with the Ryzen… just want to be sure how it does on the hardware transcode? Anyone have a youtube video… searched forever and can’t find one addressing this. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![cayars](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/cayars/32/6296_2.png) [@cayars](https://forums.plex.tv/u/cayars)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 11:12am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/15 "2018-04-24T11:12:57Z")
You are sort of going at it differently then some of us. I’d go for a big case that will hold option cards, SSDs, HDDs, etc to make the box a bit more future proof. I consider my “Media Server” a “Server” and build it that way. For me personally, I NEVER had enough PCI slots or HDD bays. 🙂 There really isn’t a right or wrong answer nor a perfect CPU/GPU. With that said, personally I’d go with the well established and supported QuickSync which is only available on the Intel CPUs. ---
**Author:** ![Xeryx](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/xeryx/32/17078_2.png) [@Xeryx](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Xeryx)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/16 "2018-05-07T17:11:09Z")
I take it the 2400G would be the chip to go with? how many streams can be decoded with the APU (real world) and also how does it perform with Make MKV. I have 2700 build i just did and I can burn a blu ray in about 30 minutes as compared to the 40 with my I7 3820. If the 2400G is at least that fast I would like to downsize my case, because I found a smoking deal on a Highpoint 8 bay external Raid encloser. I don’t need to game on the HTPC, but the future possibility of UHD compatibility with maybe a future motherboard with hdmi 2.0 or higher would be fantastic. I thought about an I3 but it just doesn’t apeal to me right now. Anyway, any advice you can give me would be great, because there just isn’t much in reviews about Plex. PLEX needs to sponser some more videos on Youtube about this topic ---
**Author:** ![Jerky\_san](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8edcca/32.png) [@Jerky\_san](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Jerky_san)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 2:50pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/17 "2018-05-09T14:50:43Z")
Any update on this? Does anyone know how many streams a single 2400G can do with hardware decoding? ---
**Author:** ![Xeryx](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/xeryx/32/17078_2.png) [@Xeryx](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Xeryx)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 1:04pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/18 "2018-05-13T13:04:03Z")
What really erks me is the motherboard manufactures, they need to be putting 2.2 compliant hdmi’s on these motherboards. My LG TV that is 2 years old, has a 2.2 compliant input! So I can do 4K at 60fps. But what erks me even more is why hasn’t AMD gotten a certification or approval to run 4k on their APU’s and Video cards! It is 2018 not 2006!! Get with the program ! ---
**Author:** ![nigelpb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/919ad9/32.png) [@nigelpb](https://forums.plex.tv/u/nigelpb)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 2:02pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/19 "2018-05-13T14:02:43Z")
> @Xeryx said: > What really erks me is the motherboard manufactures, they need to be putting 2.2 compliant hdmi’s on these motherboards. My LG TV that is 2 years old, has a 2.2 compliant input! So I can do 4K at 60fps. But what erks me even more is why hasn’t AMD gotten a certification or approval to run 4k on their APU’s and Video cards! It is 2018 not 2006!! Get with the program ! > Stop using a HTPC to playback media & choose a much cheaper dedicated client with the correct hardware. Get with the program!.\> @cayars said: > You are sort of going at it differently then some of us. I’d go for a big case that will hold option cards, SSDs, HDDs, etc to make the box a bit more future proof. I consider my “Media Server” a “Server” and build it that way. > > For me personally, I NEVER had enough PCI slots or HDD bays. 🙂 > > There really isn’t a right or wrong answer nor a perfect CPU/GPU. > > With that said, personally I’d go with the well established and supported QuickSync which is only available on the Intel CPUs. Too many people concentrate on the server when setting up Plex when it is unnecessary. Choose the right clients that can Direct Play & your server hardware can be very modest indeed as it’s basically just a file server. I used to have a 4TB Seagate Personal Cloud as my PMS & never had any problems with either a Roku 3 or Amazon Fire TV 4K as the client that would Direct Play everything. They were hooked up to an AV receiver with audio passthrough so all the exotic HD audio formats were handled easily. Store your media on Google Drive & mount it on your local PMS if you have no remote users otherwise use a VPS. The absolute best value system for PMS is an ex-corporate desktop PC used on eBay. These are very well built, dirt cheap & even five year old systems will have plenty of CPU power for transcoding (if you really must transcode) & have QuickSync so Plex will transcode in hardware. I recently bought an i3-4130 system with 8GB RAM & a 320GB disk for just £70 & here is a similar one for £84.99 [https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-ProDesk-400-G1-SFF-Desktop-PC-i3-4130-3-4GHz-4GB-1TB-SATA-DVDRW-Win-8-Pro/112987195034?hash=item1a4e8fc69a:g:EGQAAOSwGV9a9ZjW](https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-ProDesk-400-G1-SFF-Desktop-PC-i3-4130-3-4GHz-4GB-1TB-SATA-DVDRW-Win-8-Pro/112987195034?hash=item1a4e8fc69a:g:EGQAAOSwGV9a9ZjW) or an i5-4570 for £135 [HP ProDesk 400 G1 SFF PC Intel Pentium G3220 3.0ghz 4gb RAM 500gb HDD Windows 10 for sale online | eBay](https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-ProDesk-400-G1-SFF-i5-4570-3-20GHz-8GB-RAM-750GB-HDD-DVD-RW/222951182215?epid=21006398129&hash=item33e8ed0f87:g:JXYAAOSwMm1a40Nb) ---
**Author:** ![cayars](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/cayars/32/6296_2.png) [@cayars](https://forums.plex.tv/u/cayars)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191/20 "2018-05-16T20:24:06Z")
I totally agree with what you said about the client. That’s why I use Shields since they play just about anything you can throw at them. Still I can’t always use the Shield and sometimes will be using Android phones/tablets. I’ve got family members like my daughter, son, x wife who access my system and they have Rokus & xboxes as well. Plus now that I had to move back to Comcast from Verizon I only get a 5Mb upload pipe so that means most everything played outside my home will require transcoding. Sometimes, some things are outside your control so it’s nice to have additional flexibility available when you need it. Regardless of client, it’s still always nice to have HDD bays for storage and PCI card slots available to help future proof the server. You never know when you might need to drop a 2nd LAN card in the machine or switch out to 10 Gb LAN cards or add a AMD/Nvidia GPU for transcoding or even another HDD controller or two as your storage increases. Maybe you might want to drop in a PCI tuner as well. As I’ve said a bunch of times, there is no right system for everyone. People have different needs for sure. What works for me might not for others and vice versa! Carlo [Next page](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcode-on-the-new-ryzen-apus/227191.md?page=2)