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[curiousMonkey]

I am currently gettting reasonable performance from my Intel core i3 4130 CPU with 16GB RAM and an NVidia GTX 1650 LP video card. However I noticed that when I stream a 4K movie, CPU utilization is around 100% and the system struggles to do anything else.

Should I rebuild my PC with something like an Intel Core i5 14600K or just upgrade the video card to the RTX 4060 LP? I am not sure that my current 380W power supply can handle that card so a  complete system update may be easier although more expensive.

[BryanC]

If it's consuming that many CPU resources for streaming it sounds like your hardware acceleration is broken or disabled. If that doesn't fix it, your CPU is quite old and bottlenecking so that would be the first thing I'd upgrade, but there's no reason why you would need a 14600K either, that would be overkill. Something like an i3-12100 would quadruple your CPU performance in about the same TDP for $100 or so (plus mobo & RAM).

[rec head]

I was in a similar situation and bought a NUC 13 to replace the HTPC. I don't ask for much in terms of video processing and the NUC is working well. Upgrading your MB and using onboard graphics might be a step up.

[hvac]

Along these lines, my NUC has Intel UAD graphics 630. I think it’s not a discrete graphics processor. I talked to the computer specialist who sold it to me. He thinks it should do the job but the picture sucks. Sound is good. I have it hooked up using Display Port as I’ve heard that might be better but it isn’t better..
There are many settings that I’ve played with. The PC, JRiver and the monitor all have their own settings.
Question is does the PC need a small form discrete card? I could go there but want to cover all my bases first.You’re my only hope Obi Wan Kanobi.

[eve]

Along these lines, my NUC has Intel UAD graphics 630. I think it’s not a discrete graphics processor. I talked to the computer specialist who sold it to me. He thinks it should do the job but the picture sucks. Sound is good. I have it hooked up using Display Port as I’ve heard that might be better but it isn’t better..
There are many settings that I’ve played with. The PC, JRiver and the monitor all have their own settings.
Question is does the PC need a small form discrete card? I could go there but want to cover all my bases first.You’re my only hope Obi Wan Kanobi.

"Picture sucks".... you're gonna have to expand on that one.

[hvac]

Picture is distorted. Grainy. Viewable but not what we, you or I, would consider viewable.

[JimH]

One video or all videos?

Only 4K?

Google "HDCP".  I don't think it's weak hardware causing the problem.

If it is an HDCP issue, the fix could be as simple as using a newer/better HDMI cable.

Antivirus?

[BryanC]

Also check the colorspace, Intel usually defaults to YCbCr when you probably want RGB.

[hvac]

For my situation, JimH asked me to look at handshake issues with my monitor and my NUC desktop. He was spot on. Turns out I have an audio video converter/extractor that splits the HDMI signal and sends audio to an analog output which I send to my multi channel amplifier. Then the video signal goes on to the monitor. Here’s where the issue occurred. Solving it was simple enough, send HDMI output directly to the monitor there by removing the converter from the video path. And audio via Display Port out to the converter for the multi channel audio as before.
Thanks Jim. I’m impressed by your ability to point me in the right direction so concisely. I’ve had handshake issues before but I didn’t recognize this one as such. . You rock.

[JimH]

You're welcome. Thanks for reporting the solution.

[curiousMonkey]

My issue was related to using a VNC login to the HTPC. When I took a closer look at Task Manager, I saw that the VNC consumed about 50% of the CPU. During 4k video playback without the VNC, Media Center uses about 13% of the CPU and the network traffic for the file is another 20-22%.

[curiousMonkey]

I ended up purchasing a Minisforum UM790 Pro for $500 and then added 32GB of RAM and a WD SN770 SSD for another $150. It gets a JRiver benchmark score over 9000 (about 3x my other system) and renders 4K video frames in between 7 and 10ms, which is about 2-3 ms faster than my other system.

It has 2.5Gb Ethernet ports which are nice, but I just ran a 10Gbe optical cable to my theater room so I would prefer something with SFP+ connections. So I may just keep the UM790 on my desk next to my M1 Mac Mini.

[craigmcg]

I have a UM 790-PRO in my bedroom as the HTPC; I really like it. Not sure if you saw it but Minisforum has a new pc https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-ms-01 that has two 10GbE SFP ports. I think that it might also be possible to convert one of the USB 4 connections to 10GbE but not sure about to optical.

In case it helps,

Craig

 

[eve]

I ended up purchasing a Minisforum UM790 Pro for $500 and then added 32GB of RAM and a WD SN770 SSD for another $150. It gets a JRiver benchmark score over 9000 (about 3x my other system) and renders 4K video frames in between 7 and 10ms, which is about 2-3 ms faster than my other system.

It has 2.5Gb Ethernet ports which are nice, but I just ran a 10Gbe optical cable to my theater room so I would prefer something with SFP+ connections. So I may just keep the UM790 on my desk next to my M1 Mac Mini.

If you need SFP, there's a minisforum linked that has it. There's also Fitlet which may have a SKU / config that fits your requirements

[curiousMonkey]

If you need SFP, there's a minisforum linked that has it. There's also Fitlet which may have a SKU / config that fits your requirements

Yes, I  saw the MS-01. But I was disappointed that they appeared to have downgraded the GPU performance since it has an Intel processor. It will be interesting to read the reviews when it is released in a month or two.