Budget graphics card for a home server

[KristN]

Hi, I have a home sever with the following specs
CPU: Ryzen 5 4500

MEMORY: 16GB (2x8) ddr4-3200 CL16

PSU: 350W (pci 8pin (6+2))

 

and I have installed jellyfin recently but the performence is not great since the 4500 does not have an igpu so I was thinking about buying some fairly cheap gpu for video encode.

I have looked at the 1060 (both 3gb and 6gb version) and the 2060 but I am not sure if a consumer/gaming gpu is the best to go with. I am aware of the quadros but I have no idea which one to get as I have not been following those at all. Ofcourse I am also open to radeon but as with the quadros, I have not been following as much, especially older cards.

 

So I would like to ask what would you recommend, I am probably going to buy second hand to save money so I am practically limited only to the 8pin pci power connector and the 350W capabilities of the psu.

[SignatureSigner]

Are you trying to game on it or is it for media encoding?

 

used 10 series and 16 series are dirt cheap on ebay.

[Agall]

6 minutes ago, KristN said:

Hi, I have a home sever with the following specs
CPU: Ryzen 5 4500

MEMORY: 16GB (2x8) ddr4-3200 CL16

PSU: 350W (pci 8pin (6+2))

 

and I have installed jellyfin recently but the performence is not great since the 4500 does not have an igpu so I was thinking about buying some fairly cheap gpu for video encode.

I have looked at the 1060 (both 3gb and 6gb version) and the 2060 but I am not sure if a consumer/gaming gpu is the best to go with. I am aware of the quadros but I have no idea which one to get as I have not been following those at all. Ofcourse I am also open to radeon but as with the quadros, I have not been following as much, especially older cards.

 

So I would like to ask what would you recommend, I am probably going to buy second hand to save money so I am practically limited only to the 8pin pci power connector and the 350W capabilities of the psu.

Intel Arc A380

[KristN]

18 minutes ago, SignatureSigner said:

Are you trying to game on it or is it for media encoding?

No, only for media encoding/decoding

18 minutes ago, Agall said:

Intel Arc A380

That was my initial idea but I scraped it for 2 reasons;

1) I have not found many second hand a380 so I would have to buy for a stock price which is not that terrible tbh

2) I am not sure if I want go with arc since even though most of the issues have been resolved I do not really want to just go troubleshooting especially on linux as of right now

[Agall]

2 minutes ago, KristN said:

No, only for media encoding

That was my initial idea but I scraped it for 2 reasons;

1) I have not found many second hand a380 so I would have to buy for a stock price which is not that terrible tbh

2) I am not sure if I want go with arc since even though most of the issues have been resolved I do not really want to just go troubleshooting especially on linux as of right now

I personally own one that will end up being a surveillance server/media server encoder. Its the cheapest dedicated encoder you can get and its really a xx60 tier card for $140. Usually have to get to that tier to get multiple display outputs and a dedicated encoder.

[Needfuldoer]

I use a Quadro P400 for my home server's encode card. It works fine and they're very inexpensive (and low power).

[Theguywhobea]

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

 

1050Ti can do up to 5 encoding sessions at once, and supports H264, H265 and HEVC. Those should be pretty cheap these days and don't need external power.

[YoungBlade]

The Quadro K620 is available for just $20 on eBay right now. It has NVENC (an older NVENC, but it checks out) and you probably won't find anything cheaper that uses as new of an architecture. It's Maxwell based (the K is a lie - it's not Kepler) and so still supported by Nvidia's drivers. It also draws a meager 45W.

[Wardus]

I run a GRX 1650 super and it handles everything just fine. They can be had on ebay for next to nothing.

[KristN]

Yea I will probably go with the 1050ti or 1060 looking at the encode/decode capabilities chart

[applegrcoug]

I have an emby box.  I started with a 1050ti but for some reason it always seemed just a little bit off...some stuttering here and there.  Then I replaced it with a 1080ti (overkill) and it is a lot smoother.  I'm not sure what the difference is exactly...by the book they should both be able to handle a stream.  

 

I made an offsite emby backup box (if you've ever had corruption take out your rips, you get it) and it has a 1070ti and it also seems smooth.

 

I wonder if the added vram is doing something to just smooth it out.  Or maybe it is my 1050ti only wants to run at x4 instead of x16. That is all I can think of causing the difference.  

 

I'm happy with my 1080ti...it can handle a 4k rip no problem.

 

Also, with the standard consumer nvidia cards, you can easily mod the driver to allow as many streams as the card can digest.