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[JrPinto]

Hi, There.

I want to upgrade my HTPC, once it's not powerful enough to play 4K HDR 60Hz videos without stuttering.

Would a Rizen 7 or Rizen 9 processor with integrated graphics run the videos "smoothly", or do I need an external GPU?

If an external GPU is needed, could you tipp me off about the graphic card?

Thanx in advance.

[BryanC]

A 7000 series or better Ryzen iGPU with a "real" HDMI 2.1 port can do 4K/120hz so you might as well upgrade to that if you are getting new hardware.

[TimberWolf]

I have an i3-12100 in my HTPC, and it has no issues with 4k video.

[JrPinto]

Do you think this Mini-PC could make it good?

Beelink SER8 Gaming Mini PC, AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS(up to 5.1GHz), 32GB DDR5 1TB PCIe4.0 SSD, AMD Radeon 780M Mini Desktop Computer 4K Triple Display HDMI 2.1+DP+USB4, WiFi 6, BT 5.2, 2.5G LAN, AMD AI PC

[BryanC]

That would be really good, possibly even overkill unless you want to do some light gaming on it. One of the considerations I make for an HTPC is noise/power since I use mine as a media server and it's easier to have it running 24/7. Mini PCs aren't usually super quiet so I try to use the 15-25W TDP CPUs to keep fan speeds down. That CPU is a little hotter but the bios might have a cTDP setting to pin it at 35W, that's what I would recommend doing if you go that route.

[marko]

One of the considerations I make for an HTPC is noise/power since I use mine as a media server and it's easier to have it running 24/7.

Ours is super quiet because it's fanless. The case is the heatsink. It's brilliant. I got it from quietpc.com, who are also brilliant. A quick consultation to cover "what do you want to do with it?" and "what are your priorities?" and trust their advice. They couldn't offer me anything with built in infrared receiver, suggested FLIRC, but warned that I could well have problems achieving all of my goals with it.

I asked them to give me a week or two, took a punt and ordered FLIRC usb receiver. Plugged that into my old, dying, howling HTPC, and got it working acceptably using it as a new device for my Harmony remote. The guy at QuietPC was surprised when I placed my order, and asked me to confirm I was happy with the FLIRC approach. To me, this is very good customer service because, of course, he could have just taken my money without checking first. It's the second time I've used them. The first was back in 2017. As you can see in that thread, I was very nervous about this, but here I am, seven years on, no fans, and it's yet to let me down.

I'll dig up specs for the HTPC at the weekend if you're interested?

[BryanC]

There are numerous fanless industrial PC designs with hardware video decoding, but the limiting factor is full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1, which I've yet to find available for purchase (despite lots of advertising by ASUS, ASRock, etc). The next generation Intels should have wider HDMI 2.1 support, assuming they don't yank Quicksync out of their E-core only CPUs. For now it's relegated to newer Ryzens.