GPU for video transcoding on Ubuntu 18.04

[leodaniel]

Hi all

 

I m updating my plex media center pc and switching to ubuntu for that headless system.

I m interested in a decent GPU for hardware accelerated transcoding (no gaming at all).

What kind of GPU should I consider? I m not on a tight budget, but have no experience with GPUs on Ubuntu in general and know idea what to look for.

Any advice for that? 

[Kaicer]

I would recommend any RX580, but, I would go for an XFX GTS Black Editon. It has a higher clock and a switchable bios for mining.

 

This is if you want a decent card for a decent price.

[leodaniel]

8 minutes ago, Kaicer said:

I would recommend any RX580, but, I would go for an XFX GTS Black Editon. It has a higher clock and a switchable bios for mining.

I m currently thinking about buying a Quadro P2000
I won't be using it for mining either

[Electronics Wizardy]

14 minutes ago, Kaicer said:

I would recommend any RX580, but, I would go for an XFX GTS Black Editon. It has a higher clock and a switchable bios for mining.

 

This is if you want a decent card for a decent price.

well amd video encoding isn't supported on linux, and the quality is worse than nvidia anyways.

 

Id get a gtx 1660. You get the newer better turing video encoding block, and there is a mod for linux to allow for unlimited streams on a gtx cards, so the quadro won't help.

 

How many streams though? The cpu should be fine for most uses.

[Turtle Rig]

I agree with all of the above.  Just a solid video card and a powerful CPU.  You really don't need a Quadro or a Workstation video card.  A fast 580 or 2060 or 1660Ti as mentioned above will suffice.

[leodaniel]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

well amd video encoding isn't supported on linux, and the quality is worse than nvidia anyways.

 

Id get a gtx 1660. You get the newer better turing video encoding block, and there is a mod for linux to allow for unlimited streams on a gtx cards, so the quadro won't help.

 

How many streams though? The cpu should be fine for most uses.

Would need to support 3 4k h265 transcodes. I m switching to 4k media and currently have a load of 3-4 simultaneous streams. 
 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, leodaniel said:

Would need to support 3 4k h265 transcodes. I m switching to 4k media and currently have a load of 3-4 simultaneous streams. 
 

Do you really need transcoding then? Id just convert your media when you add it and then direct play.

[leodaniel]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Do you really need transcoding then? Id just convert your media when you add it and then direct play.

Thats right, this would also be a solution... 

[leodaniel]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Do you really need transcoding then? Id just convert your media when you add it and then direct play.

But also then, probably an Nvidia 10xx series would be the way to go...

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, leodaniel said:

But also then, probably an Nvidia 10xx series would be the way to go...

If you aren't transcoding, the gpu won't help.

 

What format is your media now? What are the clients?

 

If you get a gpu, id get a 16xx gpu as the encoder is a bit better in turing.

[leodaniel]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

If you aren't transcoding, the gpu won't help.

 

What format is your media now? What are the clients?

  

If you get a gpu, id get a 16xx gpu as the encoder is a bit better in turing.

Most of my current media is in h264, i now started using h265 4k media which is of course hurting.
Clients are mostly iOS devices, Chrome and Apple TV (and some smart tv os)... we are a family of 6 people and so at some times I get 3-4 transcoding sessions

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, leodaniel said:

Most of my current media is in h264, i now started using h265 4k media which is of course hurting.
Clients are mostly iOS devices, Chrome and Apple TV (and some smart tv os)... we are a family of 6 people and so at some times I get 3-4 transcoding sessions

Are you clients actually watching in 4k?

 

What are the specs of the current server?

 

Id just stick with h264 media and not transcode for the 4k clients.

[leodaniel]

57 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Are you clients actually watching in 4k?

  

What are the specs of the current server?

 

Id just stick with h264 media and not transcode for the 4k clients.

The thing is more to stream like to an iPhone which is using cellular network... you need to transcode depending on the network anyways

Actually we have 2 4k TVs all together, but like I said, it s more about transcoding because of limited bandwidth (and device capability)

Currently: I have an i7 4930k (6 core) CPU with a GTX 1070ti (but that GPU will come into another system, because i ll use it for gaming on windows)
I ll update my plex server anyways I want to switch to linux, saves quite some electricity (less overhead and no UI)   

[Electronics Wizardy]

8 minutes ago, leodaniel said:

The thing is more to stream like to an iPhone which is using cellular network... you need to transcode depending on the network anyways

Actually we have 2 4k TVs all together, but like I said, it s more about transcoding because of limited bandwidth (and device capability)

Currently: I have an i7 4930k (6 core) CPU with a GTX 1070ti (but that GPU will come into another system, because i ll use it for gaming on windows)
I ll update my plex server anyways I want to switch to linux, saves quite some electricity (less overhead and no UI)   

But when your streaming over wan, your only streaming in 720p or 480p, so you won't need that much cpu power to encode.

 

Id get a 1660 if you want a gpu.

 

Switching to linux won't save you power, but it will be a bit faster.

 

Id try the cpu only on linux first, its probalby enough, your not transcoding 4k here, just lower res it seems.

[leodaniel]

6 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

But when your streaming over wan, your only streaming in 720p or 480p, so you won't need that much cpu power to encode.

 

Id get a 1660 if you want a gpu.

 

Switching to linux won't save you power, but it will be a bit faster.

 

Id try the cpu only on linux first, its probalby enough, your not transcoding 4k here, just lower res it seems.

Yes as long as the video is in h264... and on WAN i m streaming up to 4k... my server is not in the same place as most of the devices. 

Probably it will save some power as it has way less overhead than windows, but you re right mainly transcoding will be faster  

 

Yes i ll do that (and probably just transcode all media when i m importing it to h264) and then check if a GPU is needed thx for your advice 

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, leodaniel said:

Probably it will save some power as it has way less overhead than windows, but you re right mainly transcoding will be faster  

You might actually use more power in linux as there is more power optimizations in windows, but its gonna be pretty close.

 

1 hour ago, leodaniel said:

Yes as long as the video is in h264... and on WAN i m streaming up to 4k... my server is not in the same place as most of the devices. 

The encode load is much easier if your only doing 720p, your cpu should be able to do a few transcodes from 4k to 720p