4k youtube bottleneck

[gepowr]

I am using my HTPC to watch youtube or general movie content on my tv. 

Specs:

Athlon 2 x4 630 (2.8GHz)

4Gb DDR3 1066MHz

HD 5450 1Gb

 

While FHD 60fps works just fine, this pc struggles to keep a solid framerate even at 1440p, 4k is a terrible slideshow. I am using a wired 100Mbit/s connection on this pc, which should be more than enough. I am wondering what's the bottleneck in this system. I have a Gtx 650 lying around, could this card boost the 4k performance paired with the athlon ? Or does youtube generally relie more on the cpu and a better gpu wouldn't do any better ? If it's the cpu, i still have my old fx 8320 but i'd rather not use it in a HTPC since it's very power hungry and tends to need much better cooling than the athlon. If the athlon just isn't capable of 4k video playback, what would be the cheapest option (cpu wise, new or used)?

[Guest]

 Is hardware acceleration enabled in your browser? Try changing it's setting and then try again.

[tikker]

What is your actual internet speed? Is hardware acceleration enabled in the browser? What browser are you using?

It may well be the CPU just isn't up to it anymore, it is 7 years old already after all.

[Lenovo1984]

Wow, that's quite an old system for 4K. My 5th Gen i5 (integrated graphics, but it should be enough) only barely handles 4k, and that's only on a 1080p display. 

[Spotty]

I don't think the HD5450 supports 4k playback. 4k@60 requires HDMI 2.0 or higher, or DisplayPort 1.2 or higher. The GTX650 might support 4k@30 though. Check what HDMI and DisplayPort revisions are on your models of cards.

CPU is almost 9 years old (2009 release) so it's probably struggling pretty hard to keep up.

[gepowr]

13 minutes ago, tikker said:

What is your actual internet speed? Is hardware acceleration enabled in the browser? What browser are you using?

It may well be the CPU just isn't up to it anymore, it is 7 years old already after all.

Actual internet speed is 99Mbit/s (i am getting about 12MB/s) download. Hardware acceleration is activated, i am using chrome. For now i want to be able to play 4k movies and videos which then are downscaled to my tv (upgrading tv later on). I guess an i3 550 (also laying around) couldn't do any better right?

 

1 minute ago, Lenovo1984 said:

Wow, that's quite an old system for 4K. My 5th Gen i5 (integrated graphics, but it should be enough) only barely handles 4k, and that's only on a 1080p display. 

I know :D. It has served me well over the years. I am currently using a 1080p TV but i want to be able to downscale the content i watch. Since chrome and therefore youtube is hardware accelerated, i thought slapping a more powerful gpu in there could solve the issue. I can't test my old Gtx 650 right now due to p.su limitations. i am aware that i would need a Gtx 950 or better for 4k60HZ

[gepowr]

2 minutes ago, Spotty said:

I don't think the HD5450 supports 4k playback. 4k@60 requires HDMI 2.0 or higher, or DisplayPort 1.2 or higher. The GTX650 might support 4k@30 though. Check what HDMI and DisplayPort revisions are on your models of cards.

CPU is almost 9 years old (2009 release) so it's probably struggling pretty hard to keep up.

Yes i know and you're right, the athlon is struggling pretty hard. 97% usage during 4k (slideshow). I am not sure though if my HD 5450 is accelerating anything at all, my smartphone's gpu is probably more powerful. I am still wondering if a better gpu could reduce the cpu usage while watching 4k on youtube und result in a smoother experience.

[TechyBen]

What browser? Chrome has an extension to force hardware swap from Youtube. Youtube forces one of their codecs in 4k, but you can force it to an alternate one. Try that.

[tikker]

21 minutes ago, gepowr said:

Actual internet speed is 99Mbit/s (i am getting about 12MB/s) download. Hardware acceleration is activated, i am using chrome. For now i want to be able to play 4k movies and videos which then are downscaled to my tv (upgrading tv later on). I guess an i3 550 (also laying around) couldn't do any better right?

 

I know :D. It has served me well over the years. I am currently using a 1080p TV but i want to be able to downscale the content i watch. Since chrome and therefore youtube is hardware accelerated, i thought slapping a more powerful gpu in there could solve the issue. I can't test my old Gtx 650 right now due to p.su limitations. i am aware that i would need a Gtx 950 or better for 4k60HZ

Well the connection is definitely fast enough then. As for the i5 no harm in trying, it's a few years less old  My guess would be simply on age.

[Spotty]

Going off the reference specs for your two cards it looks as the HD5450 doesn't have the output bandwidth required to support 4k resolutions, while the Nvidia GTX 650 will support output only for 4k@30. Your specific card may vary from the reference specs, so without knowing looking up the exact models you have of each I can't say for sure what display outputs they have, but I doubt they would vary that much from the reference.

Spoiler

• Integrated dual-link DVI output with HDCP¹¹Max resolution: 2560x1600¹²
• Integrated DisplayPort output Max resolution: 2560x1600¹²
• HDMI® (With 3D, Deep Color and x.v.Color™) Max resolution: 1920x1200¹²
• Integrated VGA output Max resolution: 2048x1536¹²
  https://www.amd.com/en-us/products/graphics/desktop/5000/5450#

Spoiler

Maximum Digital Resolution
2560x1600
4096x2160³

_{3 - 3840x2160 at 30Hz or 4096x2160 at 24Hz supported over HDMI.}
https://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-650/specifications

 

37 minutes ago, gepowr said:

I guess an i3 550 (also laying around) couldn't do any better right?

Probably wouldn't be any better. The i3 550 is still 8 years old and is only a dual core CPU.

 

37 minutes ago, gepowr said:

I am currently using a 1080p TV but i want to be able to downscale the content i watch. Since chrome and therefore youtube is hardware accelerated, i thought slapping a more powerful gpu in there could solve the issue. I can't test my old Gtx 650 right now due to p.su limitations. i am aware that i would need a Gtx 950 or better for 4k60HZ

To get smooth 4k playback you could be looking at a CPU upgrade, new motherboard to support the new CPU, new DDR4 RAM as you won't be able to re-use the DDR3, GPU upgrade that supports HDMI2.0/DP1.2, and by the sounds of it a PSU upgrade to power the new system.

Wouldn't be worth it when you're going to be watching it on a 1080p screen in the end anyway. You'd probably be better off spending your money on a 4k smart TV and watching directly on the youtube app for the TV.


Edit: If the display connected is only 1080p, then the GPU will only be outputting at 1920x1080 resolution so the display output won't be an issue.

[dragonhart6505]

It's both a CPU/GPU problem. Neither are capable of handling 4k. I owned a 5450 and a 5770 and can confirm that they will not handle 4k playback. The CPU is also very much underpowered for 4k. Heavily overclocking my 4c/4t Phenom 955 would also cause stuttering in 4k, though 1440p was usually acceptable.

Time for an upgrade or stick to 1080p my friend

[gepowr]

6 minutes ago, dragonhart6505 said:

It's both a CPU/GPU problem. Neither are capable of handling 4k. I owned a 5450 and a 5770 and can confirm that they will not handle 4k playback. The CPU is also very much underpowered for 4k. Heavily overclocking my 4c/4t Phenom 955 would also cause stuttering in 4k, though 1440p was usually acceptable.

Time for an upgrade or stick to 1080p my friend

Alright, it's finally time to upgrade my beloved athlon then. Thanks for your help!

9 minutes ago, Spotty said:

To get smooth 4k playback you could be looking at a CPU upgrade, new motherboard to support the new CPU, new DDR4 RAM as you won't be able to re-use the DDR3, GPU upgrade that supports HDMI2.0/DP1.2, and by the sounds of it a PSU upgrade to power the new system.

Wouldn't be worth it when you're going to be watching it on a 1080p screen in the end anyway. You'd probably be better off spending your money on a 4k smart TV and watching directly on the youtube app for the TV.

Yes, but considering DDR4 is very expensive and i that i was basically fine with 4Gb DDR3 for this pc and its use case, i am thinking of using a DDR3 based system again. The fx 8320 should handle it (at least imo), if it`s to hot and noisy i will probably get a cheap i5 2500 in a few months. Thank you for the help.