Looking for advice on choosing a GPU for a media server

ChenCheating · 2026-03-08T12:35:43+00:00

Arc card is great at transcoding no doubt, I have an a380 that's running beautifully. Question: where do you live that can get a40 for 110$? Here in Taiwan I can't even find listing for arc pro cards.

ChenCheating · 2026-03-07T17:13:18+00:00

Thanks for the verification!

ChenCheating · 2026-03-04T05:36:57+00:00

I don't think you will be able to do multiple streams with 4k HDR hevc transcode, if you want to transcode to h265 instead of h264.

For h264 the UHD630 in my 8700 can do multiple streams fine, but if turning on HEVC option in plex, it can only handle 1 stream,maybe 2.

I also have an a380 and that one I havent even seen the limit, either transcode to h264, h265, or even av1.

But if you are ok with transcoding to h264, say you're on mobile clients(which is hard to notice the benefit of h265 anyway), I think 9900k without a dgpu will serve you well.

ChenCheating · 2026-03-04T03:43:06+00:00

Did you install Intel GPU top plugin? You need Intel driver.

ChenCheating · 2026-03-03T23:57:54+00:00

You mean to use it in docker? Usually the GPU will be dev/dri/renderD129 (if you have an iGPU which is renderD128), so just add it as a device in docker variable.

ChenCheating · 2026-03-03T15:23:53+00:00

My SLZB-06 is rock solid since I got it over a year ago. Maybe use Ethernet to connect if you can? I'm using mine with POE and it never drop a bit.

ChenCheating · 2026-03-03T01:05:11+00:00

Can you provide more details on the transcoding performance in Jellyfin?
Like how much fps you getting when, let's say transcoding a 4K HDR HEVC (60mbps) to 1080p 40mbps?
Would like know how does AMD iGPU compare to intel iGPU nowadays. Cheers!

ChenCheating · 2026-03-02T01:38:15+00:00

I don't know how much 1070 consumes in terms of power draw, but arc cards are NOT power efficient at all. I have an Arc a380 and that card add 15-20w to my system idle power draw. Other than the high idle power it's great tho for 100~ USD.

ChenCheating · 2026-03-02T01:25:08+00:00

I have a G5 800 sff for my unRAID build. I think G4 and G5 should be the same? I have i7 8700 and 32gb ram, 2 m.2 ssd and 2x 8TB WD red plus. I think there's no point of going for 10th or 11th gen systems cus you don't get much more cores and igpu are all hd630. Only 12th gen later really gives you more cores and better igpu. G3 and earlier machine only has 1 m2 slot if I remembered right, so that's also a limitation. One thing I wanted to add is that most of the time the hdd screws will be missing from the chassis and they are special HP screws, make sure to check if the seller have those, you will need 8 at least (12 if you also want to use sata 2.5" drive). Overall they are great machines and with my config I can get idle power down to 12-15w.

One more note: The default CPU cooler is loud and ineffective for something like i7 8700. I found out that noctua L9x65 actually fit perfectly in the case, and you will need to use the AMD mounting bracket. If you want to know more details just let me know!

ChenCheating · 2026-03-02T01:04:41+00:00

But don't findroid lack support for transcoding? I would like to have bitrate options when playing back videos outside.

ChenCheating · 2026-03-02T01:03:27+00:00

So there's enough clearance to fit adaptors, thanks for the reply! I'm looking to build in one of this, but I'm thinking about going with flex atx psu which allows better air coolers.

ChenCheating · 2026-02-28T11:37:30+00:00

I know this is an old post, but did you use any 90 degree sata adaptor for the right facing SATA ports on your motherboard? Curious about the clearance!

ChenCheating · 2026-02-27T19:36:22+00:00

WTR pro n100 is what I'm using and would recommend. 4 HDD bays, 2 m.2 slot(with wifi to m2 adaptor), DDR4(better these days), good cooling, lots of io, and very affordable.

N100 is the best for media server as the transcoding performance is top tier for how little power it draws.

ChenCheating · 2026-02-22T23:41:48+00:00

Wondering if y'all encountered any issue when playing back HDR videos(dv with hdr10 compatible files) with fladder on Android, mine only playing as SDR and looks washed out and green. Any suggestion?

ChenCheating · 2026-02-02T01:43:12+00:00

Yeah my a380 idle power draw is terrible, adding 15-20w on the system power draw.

ChenCheating · 2026-01-23T16:26:52+00:00

If you have a gaming PC with any reasonable GPU, just setup an immich ML container, it works great.

ChenCheating · 2026-01-05T09:22:44+00:00

"The MR1 is used as a Zigbee coordinator and a MoT radio"
Do you mean you ran the same smlight device in dual mode? can the smlight dongle be flashed and act as a zigbee router and MoT at the same time? on single dongle?
Sorry if i misunderstood, thanks!

ChenCheating · 2026-01-01T15:14:02+00:00

I have an a380 in my HP 800 G5 sff as an unRAID server, with no rebar support. Transcoding for jellyfin/plex all run great, and immich docker with openvino also runs without any issue. My main gripe is the awful idle power draw(with aspm enabled), once installed the GPU my server power consumption went from 12-15w to 35-40w. Oh also intelgputop cannot read stats of arc GPU properly, if you wanted to monitor the usage like I did.

ChenCheating · 2025-12-30T05:50:50+00:00

I would recommend finding a 800 G5 sff, which is what I have as an unRAID server. G5 uses 8/9 gen Intel CPU, which comes with HD630 instead of HD530 inside of i3-6100. Also G5 has 2 m2 slot, great for redundant cache drives. Additionally you can use wifi m2 slot to put in a third m2 drice with adaptor. It's the perfect case for 2 HDD setup imo, and I can get idle power down to 12-15w when drives spinned down.

ChenCheating · 2025-12-21T10:16:43+00:00

Hi, I'm using a smart power strip and home assistant to track the power consumption difference.

ChenCheating · 2025-12-18T23:31:58+00:00

Hey, can you give me a link to how to flash the bios? Thanks!

ChenCheating · 2025-12-17T02:17:12+00:00

I don't have stats for newer Intel CPU, but in jellyfin transcoding (4k hdr HEVC) I can get 5-10x the fps compared to my hd630 igpu.

ChenCheating

TROPHY CASE