# Transcoder only uses VAAPI when Nvidia GPU is installed

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/transcoder-only-uses-vaapi-when-nvidia-gpu-is-installed/785661>\
**Category:** Plex Media Server\
**Tags:** server-linux\
**Created:** [April 3, 2022, 1:28am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/transcoder-only-uses-vaapi-when-nvidia-gpu-is-installed/785661 "2022-04-03T01:28:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![redairforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@redairforce](https://forums.plex.tv/u/redairforce)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2022, 1:28am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/transcoder-only-uses-vaapi-when-nvidia-gpu-is-installed/785661/1 "2022-04-03T01:28:42Z")

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Server Version#: 1.25.9.5673  
Player Version#: Any  
Nvidia: Driver Version: 470.103.01 CUDA Version: 11.4  
Ubuntu: Ubuntu 21.10

I have a GTX 1650 installed in my server using that uses an older Intel 6700k. I had hardware support running fine for a long time on that Nvidia card. Recently I noticed transcoding was taking forever and wasn’t all that good. In Plex dashboard I confirmed that I was transcoding (hw). But nvidia-smi showed no plextranscode process, only Xorg. Go through the [server logs,](https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/) it shows “encoder=h264\_vaapi” and transcoder stats log

“protocol=“dash” container=“mp4” videoCodec=“h264” audioCodec=“aac” audioChannels=“2” transcodeHwRequested=“1” transcodeHwDecoding=“vaapi” transcodeHwEncoding=“vaapi” transcodeHwDecodingTitle=“Intel (VA API)” transcodeHwEncodingTitle=“Intel (VA API)” transcodeHwFullPipeline=“1”\>”

I read something about the GPU being in use would make it unavailable so I turned the machine headless by systemctl disable gdm and restarted. Now nvidia-smi shows no running processes found, but Plex is still defaulting to Intel VAAPI

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**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2022, 3:51am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/transcoder-only-uses-vaapi-when-nvidia-gpu-is-installed/785661/2 "2022-04-03T03:51:29Z")

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If you have both the iGPU and an Nvidia card,

1. Check /dev/dri
2. You’ll see `/dev/dri/renderD128` for the iGPU.
3. You should see `/dev/dri/renderD129`. This will be the Nvidia when the drivers are installed and recognized.

To switch to the Nvidia,

1. Stop Plex
2. Edit `Preferences.xml`
3. Add `HardwareDevicePath="/dev/dri/renderD129"` before the closing `/>` on the last line.
4. Start Plex
5. Retest

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![redairforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@redairforce](https://forums.plex.tv/u/redairforce)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2022, 5:09am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/transcoder-only-uses-vaapi-when-nvidia-gpu-is-installed/785661/3 "2022-04-03T05:09:59Z")

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This worked. Thank you.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2022, 5:10am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/transcoder-only-uses-vaapi-when-nvidia-gpu-is-installed/785661/4 "2022-07-02T05:10:01Z")

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