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+--- Thread: Intel VS AMD VS Dedicated GPU (/t-intel-vs-amd-vs-dedicated-gpu)
Intel VS AMD VS Dedicated GPU - Dj3000 - 2025-01-05
I am looking to build a dedicated Server PC that will perform multiple functions on the Unraid Platform ( I have a 4U Rosewill 15-Bay chassis)
From everything that i have read Intel CPU's are better when it comes to Transcoding quality for Jellyfin. I was hopping to get the 15th gen intel CPU (Intel Core Ultra 7 265K 3.9 GHz 20-Core Processor)
But with the new 15th gen arrow lake CPU's being a letdown I am wondering if it is better to go with a more powerful AMD CPU and combine it with a dedicated GPU (Intel B580).
The need for extra cpu cores is for running Unraid VM's like: Various Debian and Windows VM's, Jellyfin, Plex, Bitwarden, OpenVPN, AdGuard, Wireguard, Active Directory.
I will have a dedicated GPU regardless but, will an intel CPU be better than having a more powerful amd CPU with a GPU to handle the transcoding needing?
RE: Intel VS AMD VS Dedicated GPU - Efficient_Good_5784 - 2025-01-05
Either option is acceptable for Jellyfin. The CPU for Jellyfin matters much less than the GPU.
Only time you need to get a good CPU is if you plan on only using the CPU to handle transcoding.
Using an iGPU or dedicated GPU will be good enough for a single user, but you may want to go with a dedicated GPU if you have a decent amount of users as I believe they offer better performance for transcoding.
Keep in mind that a dedicated GPU will always be using electricity, even when it's idle and not being used.
So if you care about your server's energy usage and want it to be at the absolute minimum, only using the iGPU and skipping installing a dedicated GPU would be the way to go.
You can check our documentation to see what hardware is recommended for Jellyfin: https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/administration/hardware-selection#detailed-guide
You state that you want to get an Intel B580 for Jellyfin. I would say you're better off waiting for when the lower-end B series Arc cards drop as a B580 seems like it's too much for Jellyfin.
When you're transcoding in Jellyfin, you're not rendering video like you do in a video game. You're using a dedicated section on the GPU that solely exists for processing (decoding/encoding) video.
So each GPU from the same generation should preform roughly at the same performance (unless purposely built to have better hardware for video processing by the manufacturer).
The same concept applies to the same generations of CPUs. The iGPU on CPUs are the same between chips on the same generation. Getting a faster CPU doesn't mean a faster iGPU usually.
Though one exception is having more GPU VRAM means you can handle more HDR tone mapping.
Also, try to avoid using AMD GPUs. While they do work and do a good job at transcoding, their transcoding quality usually is not that great when compared to Intel or Nvidia products.
AMD also currently has a physical bug present on their 7000-gen GPUs that can't handle properly encoding 1080p AV1 video without adding extra pixels to the video.
This is not fixable as it's a physical bug, but should be fixed in their new upcoming GPUs.
One thing I would also like to add is the following. I may be wrong as I don't have much experience yet with using multiple GPU devices on Linux.
I don't know how it works with Unraid as I never used it, but from my understanding, you can't guarantee that you select the correct GPU on Linux if you install both an iGPU and discrete GPU.
When adding the correct GPU device to Jellyfin, I've seen others recommend to disable the iGPU in the system's BIOS to make sure the discrete GPU is used in Linux.