GPU recommendations for a newbie

[Gobar]

Hello guys!

I started to set up my Jellyfin server on a Windows machine a few days ago, and I've been enjoying it, but I'm a complete newbie on this field. I use an old i7-3770 and a GT 1030, and if I recall correctly the 1030 can't do any transcoding. When I access my server from my phone on cellular network and start a playback, my CPU usage skyrockets to 100% immediately, so I'm thinking getting a "new" dedicated GPU. I wouldn't have more than 2 concurrent streams (at 1080p), mostly HEVC and H264.

I'm looking at buying a used GTX 1050Ti 4Gb (40-55$ in my country) or a GTX 1060 6Gb (65-90$), but I'm not sure if the price difference worth the extra 2 Gbs of VRAM. Is the 1050Ti more than enough for me, or the stronger the better? If I want to have two 4k streams concurrently in the future, are these cards sufficient?

Or alternatively, should I wait and hunt for a good deal on a P1000, or P2000 card? (I have about 2 months before the new ISP is available in my street, as my upload speed now is a staggering 3Mbps)

Thank you for your help guys!

[TheDreadPirate]

The GTX 1050 would be enough. IIRC, there is no difference in the encoder between the 1050 and 1060. VRAM only matters for tone mapping HDR to SDR. But the 1050 has enough VRAM for 2 concurrent tone mapped streams.

The primary advantage of the P1000 and P2000 would be a higher concurrent transcode limit. However, the 1050 and 1060 support up to 8 (driver limitation) concurrent transcode streams. So your needs are still well within that limitation.

[Gobar]

Thank you! I think I will stick to the 1050Ti then.
Another quick question if you don't mind, do I have to do anything on the windows Jellyfin server to recognize the card and use it for transcoding?

[TheDreadPirate]

You only have to select NVENC from Dashboard > Playback > Transcoding and check the appropriate boxes for the GPUs capability.

Nvidia has this nice little matrix that breaks down what their GPUs can decode and encode

https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encod...matrix-new

The list of codecs at the top of the Transcoding page are the codecs that will be DEcoded by the GPU. Boxes not checked in that list will be decoded on the CPU.

[Gobar]

You only have to select NVENC from Dashboard > Playback > Transcoding and check the appropriate boxes for the GPUs capability.

Nvidia has this nice little matrix that breaks down what their GPUs can decode and encode

https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encod...matrix-new

The list of codecs at the top of the Transcoding page are the codecs that will be DEcoded by the GPU.  Boxes not checked in that list will be decoded on the CPU.

Thank you for your help!