GTX 1060 worth using?

[SubsBware]

My server is (currently) running a 2600k. And it shows when trying to stream something to less capable hardware (the new N97 mini pc i got is really having difficulties playing HD/4k movies).

While im still hunting for a motherboard for my 3950x cpu thats currently collecting dust, and while i wait for the new Arc B580 Gpus to get back in stock and for people to see how well it transcodes, I also am sitting on my old GTX1060 (6GB) gpu. What gave me pause in putting it in was two fold.

1. I dont see it being recommended, and rarely ever mentioned as something people use... which is strange given how many of them are out there.
2. The hardware page lists something higher as the recommended.

Graphics: Intel Arc A series or newer, Nvidia GTX16/RTX20 series or newer (Excluding GTX1650)

So im wondering, is it even worth digging out the 1060? Will it make any difference?

I've also been keeping an eye on A380 gpus, but those have been out of stock for a while as well.

[TheDreadPirate]

The GTX1060 is still a very capable GPU for encoding. It has all the necessary codec support to handle HDR.

[SubsBware]

The GTX1060 is still a very capable GPU for encoding.  It has all the necessary codec support to handle HDR.

Got it installed, and thought i configured Jellyfin to use it, but it doesnt appear to be. Wondering if there is something i need to do within TrueNAS Scale to get it to work properly?

[TheDreadPirate]

Did you pass the GPU into the container? You also need to install all the Nvidia drivers and Nvidia Container Toolkit in TrueNAS.

[SubsBware]

Did you pass the GPU into the container?  You also need to install all the Nvidia drivers and Nvidia Container Toolkit in TrueNAS.

Nvidia drivers were already installed. But yeah I had to configure it in TrueNas Jellyfin settings under "GPU Resource (nvidia.com/gpu)" Set to "Allocate 1 nvidia.com/gpu GPU".

Threw me off a bit because of the Allocate #, but then i thought "oh, right, its a server.. you can have multiple GPU cards in it..if you had the PCIe slots for it". :P

It...'works'.. but not the way i expected. It only seems to use the GPU when I use a browser and not the dedicated app. So guessing it will only use the GPU when the client "needs" it, otherwise will do the proccessing locally.

Not sure if the N97 'nuc' ive been configuring is causing playback frame-skips, or my eyes are seeing things, but it 'feels' like it frame skips every so often. CPU output on it show it less than 50% useage when playing a 4k movie so it may just be me.

Either way, thank you for the assist.

[TheDreadPirate]

Correct. Video transcoding, and thus GPU usage, only happens when the client needs it. Otherwise the server just sends the file to the client unmodified.

[phaelax]

I use a gtx 1060, its perfectly fine for jellyfin. I'm also running it from truenas for the past year, never had any transcoding issues and have several remote users.