Energy efficient GPU for transcoding/watching streams

[norritt]

I'm planning a  NAS/VM Host/Plex server build based on an AMD platform.  Currently I ponder about what would be the best GPU choice, the CPU will have at least 8 cores that means iGPUs are off the table. I will attach a TV or monitor directly to the server via HDMI or DP for TV/Movie steaming only. There will be absolutely no gaming or video editing going on on that machine. So basically the GPU needs to excel in the following areas:

• Very low power consumption (especially when idle)
• H.264, VP-9, WMV tanscoding capabilites (for Plex)
• in expensive (this will be a low end GPU so it should not come in at a premium price tag, everything I can save on the GPU will go towards more and/or faster storage)

[Mateyyy]

Used 750Ti?

[norritt]

6 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

Used 750Ti?

This is one of the options that comes to mind but what would be the advantage of a 750 Ti over a GT 710 for instance? I'm especially considering the GT 1030 because it has hardware support for VP9 encoding. But I'm not sure if there is another VP9-capable card that is suited better for my build.

[Mateyyy]

51 minutes ago, norritt said:

This is one of the options that comes to mind but what would be the advantage of a 750 Ti over a GT 710 for instance? I'm especially considering the GT 1030 because it has hardware support for VP9 encoding. But I'm not sure if there is another VP9-capable card that is suited better for my build.

https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-decode-gpu-support-matrix

So, according to Nvidia, the GTX 750 (non-Ti) and 950 support 8-bit VP9 encoding, as they're both 2nd gen Maxwell. Other than that, the 1030 would probably suit your needs.

[norritt]

Thanks for the suggestions, also the support matrix link is *really* helpful. I guess then it is gonna be either a 750, 950 or 1030 depending on which is the cheapest available.