Running Jellyfin without a GPU

[Delath]

I'll build a small server to self-host stuff and i have a spare ryzen 5 3600 from my old pc build.

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
RAM: either 32 or 64 gb
Motherboard: either ASUS PRIME B450M-A II or ASUS PRIME B450M-K II
Storage: NVME 500gb

As you may have noticed i don't plan to place a gpu and my cpu will not have a igpu, i'm hoping one of those motherboards will be able to run headless.
Will Jellyfin work fine? (At maximum there will be 3 streams simultaneously, but almost everytime just one)
I may be wrong but from what i understood you can still transcode, but it will be more difficult, is the ryzen 5 3600 able to handle it?

[Efficient_Good_5784]

Since you don't have a GPU, you will be using CPU transcoding.
If all your clients will only direct play, that's fine. Direct play doesn't require much processing power.

However, if you ever need to transcode, depending on the content that's being transcoded, you might get one or two transcoded streams at once at a good enough framerate to not buffer.

If you're expecting to transcode multiple 4K files smoothly, that's not happening with CPU transcoding alone on the ryzen 5 3600.
Maybe like one or two 1080p videos at a good enough framerate max.

Also, expect your CPU to reach 90+% utilization when transcoding.

[Host-in-the-Shell]

If you can spare around 120 bucks (or less when it goes on sale), you could get yourself an Intel Arc A380 which would significantly improve your transcoding capabilities. Hell, you can probably go for an Intel Arc A310 and still have H.264, H.265, and even AV1 encoding and decoding, along with decoding for VP9.

[Delath]

If you can spare around 120 bucks (or less when it goes on sale), you could get yourself an Intel Arc A380 which would significantly improve your transcoding capabilities. Hell, you can probably go for an Intel Arc A310 and still have H.264, H.265, and even AV1 encoding and decoding, along with decoding for VP9.

I actually have a gtx 1660ti laying around, but i'm going for a low consumption build because the server will run 24/7

[Efficient_Good_5784]

Since you have an AM4 motherboard, you could get a 5600G. That has an iGPU and goes for ~$140 on Amazon.

Just make sure to update your motherboard BIOS with the old CPU first.

[TheDreadPirate]

The Ryzen 3600 will not be able to handle 3 concurrent transcodes at an acceptable quality. While the 1660TI adds idle power usage, the power usage while transcoding will be a lot lower than a maxed out Ryzen 3600 and the output will be much higher quality. And will be able to handle significantly more concurrent transcodes (you have to remove the artificial limit).

[Delath]

Thanks guys
Just wanted to add for anyone that stumbles on this thread for the same reason, ASUS PRIME B450M-A II works without gpu and igpu