4K Video Playback Set-Up

[CaptainMartldoo]

Hey. 
My Dad got for his birthday a 4K Monitor but his PC ain’t keeping up with that.

Currently he’s running on an Intel Pentium G860 CPU and a Radeon HD5770 GPU.  What would be a recommended build on a budget? And he is not a big gamer. Every once in a while Age of Empires but he’s mostly on YouTube etc. Would appreciate some tips on what hardware to pick. 
 

[AnirbanG007]

6 minutes ago, CaptainMartldoo said:

Hey. 
My Dad got for his birthday a 4K Monitor but his PC ain’t keeping up with that.

Currently he’s running on an Intel Pentium G860 CPU and a Radeon HD5770 GPU.  What would be a recommended build on a budget? And he is not a big gamer. Every once in a while Age of Empires but he’s mostly on YouTube etc. Would appreciate some tips on what hardware to pick. 
 

I could just make a list, but give us a figure to work with. Definition of budget varies a lot.

[CaptainMartldoo]

22 minutes ago, AnirbanG007 said:

I could just make a list, but give us a figure to work with. Definition of budget varies a lot.

Let’s say about 200-350

[Electronics Wizardy]

Basically a modem gpu is needed. Something like a gt 710 will work fine here. The gpu can do decoding for most 4k formats used(but depends on what 4k stuff you wanna watch)

[CaptainMartldoo]

15 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Basically a modem gpu is needed. Something like a gt 710 will work fine here. The gpu can do decoding for most 4k formats used(but depends on what 4k stuff you wanna watch)

 

[CaptainMartldoo]

He’s mostly just watching Videos on YouTube really. Maybe Netflix every once in a while

[Electronics Wizardy]

8 minutes ago, CaptainMartldoo said:

He’s mostly just watching Videos on YouTube really. Maybe Netflix every once in a while

netflix is pretty picky about 4k requirements, you probably want to just get a newer cpu here if you can and use the igpu, so something like a i3 10100.

[CaptainMartldoo]

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

netflix is pretty picky about 4k requirements, you probably want to just get a newer cpu here if you can and use the igpu, so something like a i3 10100.

I found a decent offer for a GTX 1060 Mini with 3Gb. For about 120€ 

what CPU would u recommend for that GPU?

[Alan G]

LOL, I just built a new PC for streaming.  The problem with 4K is that unless you get a high end Intel CPU, the integrated graphics won't run with a 60 Hz refresh rate using HDMI and most TVs do not have Displayport.  I used a the new G6600 Pentium in the build which runs Intel 630 graphics.  Our Microcenter has an Asus GT 1030 that will output HDMI at 60 Hz and it was selling for only $80.  I picked up one of those and put it in and things are fine.  Quite frankly it is probably over kill as there is not a lot of 4K content out there.  None of the TV channels output 4K to my knowledge and most streaming does not either.  I did get a new Samsung 43" TV that is 4K capable and I ran some YouTube 4K test videos to check things out.  There is not much difference to see.

 

AFAIK, you need Intel UHD Graphics 730 to get HDMI at 60 Hz and that is only on higher end CPUs right now. 

 

Whether any of this is visible on normal TV and streaming is arguable.

[Electronics Wizardy]

6 hours ago, CaptainMartldoo said:

I found a decent offer for a GTX 1060 Mini with 3Gb. For about 120€ 

what CPU would u recommend for that GPU?

You don't need a dgpu at all. Id just get. a i3 1000 and use the igpu. Its more than enough for 4k playback on yourtube.

 

1 hour ago, Alan G said:

AFAIK, you need Intel UHD Graphics 730 to get HDMI at 60 Hz and that is only on higher end CPUs right now. 

 

The old hd630 igpus can do 4k, but not over hdmi due to missing hdmi 2, and most tvs are hdmi only. YOu can get adapter from dp to hdmi 2.0 to get 4k60 on these older igpus pretty cheap.

[Alan G]

@Electronics Wizardy thanks for the tip on the DP to HDMI adapter.  That did not occur to me.  I did get a good deal on the GTX 1030 Phoenix GPU and i think the NVIDIA Control Panel is better than the Intel Graphics Command Center.  That being said, I'll keep this in mind if someone in the neighborhood wants a streaming PC.