Computers & Electronics

Cheapest 4K60Hz movie graphics card.

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  • Dec 27th, 2021 6:19 pm
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Cheapest 4K60Hz movie graphics card.

I suppose I could build a new htpc with a newer igpu, but I really only need display out for watching movies.

Bestbuy and evga have old cards, but none of them seem to support 4k60.

My current CPU is from the Haswell era. Either an i3 or an i5.
It has Intel HD so it only goes up to 4K30Hz
Last edited by PerformingAzura on Dec 6th, 2021 8:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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The 1050 you already have seems to be it.

Anything less and it won't run 4k Netflix (if that matters to you).
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FYI: most 4k movies play at 23.976 or 24 FPS.

The nVidia 10xx series is good because it supports hardware decoding for h.265 and MBC-BE with madVR supports auto frame rate and range switching.
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if its local playback the s905x3 tvbox with coreelec for around 65 bucks and not go htpc at all.
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rugerty100 wrote: The 1050 you already have seems to be it.

Anything less and it won't run 4k Netflix (if that matters to you).
Stalker! Face With Tears Of Joy

I'm having issues with that 1050 unfortunately. Random black screens every now and then. I've tried DDU several times.

It's either overheating due to the tiny fan or dying. When I played Cyberpunk on it, it was at 1080p30Hz. The desktop was 1440P144Hz.
audit13 wrote: FYI: most 4k movies play at 23.976 or 24 FPS.

The nVidia 10xx series is good because it supports hardware decoding for h.265 and MBC-BE with madVR supports auto frame rate and range switching.
The HTPC is hooked up to a very expensive true 4K 60Hz projector.

But you're right. Looking at my content there's nothing that's 4K60Hz.

I suppose it might matter in games, but gaming on the projector has always been iffy to the the input lag.
lead wrote: if its local playback the s905x3 tvbox with coreelec for around 65 bucks and not go htpc at all.
This feels like a downgrade compared to having an actual PC. I also the PC for browsing the web, Youtube, Netflix etc. I'm not too confident an arm processor with 4GB of RAM would able to do it as well as my 7 year old x86 CPU.
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PerformingAzura wrote: Stalker! Face With Tears Of Joy

I'm having issues with that 1050 unfortunately. Random black screens every now and then. I've tried DDU several times.

It's either overheating due to the tiny fan or dying. When I played Cyberpunk on it, it was at 1080p30Hz. The desktop was 1440P144Hz.


The HTPC is hooked up to a very expensive true 4K 60Hz projector.

But you're right. Looking at my content there's nothing that's 4K60Hz.

I suppose it might matter in games, but gaming on the projector has always been iffy to the the input lag.



This feels like a downgrade compared to having an actual PC. I also the PC for browsing the web, Youtube, Netflix etc. I'm not too confident an arm processor with 4GB of RAM would able to do it as well as my 7 year old x86 CPU.
I stopped htpc-ing when epg's became subscription based after microsoft dropped free support way way back.

Lets be honest no one browses the web on their tv its 2021! That's done on phones and tablets and no one keeps those out of arms reach anyway. Those are faster to search and see stuff than on a clunky tv. If people didn't do it that way casting wouldn't be such a desired thing.

Youtube and all subscriptions sub/iptv were swallowed up by google and apple and fireos for improved and simple navigation. They make it easier faster to navigate thru their tailored os's. Those all do the subscriptions subs better and quicker with their voice browsing and all with cec support too which natively htpc doesn't support without flirc adapters which is added extra cost

Arm based like s905x3(s905x4 supports av1) can bit stream audio and support 4k local playback with auto refresh in linux. So Combine chromecasts or the firetv's for your subscriptions and s905x3/4 etc for local playback. Its quicker to navigate load and much cheaper to run 24/7. Both use the same power as an htpc would in standby and you switch hdmi inputs on your tv's remote to use either as they are always on. Together on sale your paying around 50 for the brand sticks and around 65 for the s905x3. You can't buy a competent 4k video card for that price? Heck the the latest 4k max and s905x4's support av1 now.

I would say try shield since the shield is cheaper than an htpc but still in my opinion its too expensive for something running only android which is inflexible if you need to run non android programs. But I mostly can't recommend it because its limited to 1080p for youtube as it lacks vp 9.2 codec support.

here is one for 65 at amazon freeshipping
https://www.amazon.ca/2018-Android-7-1- ... als&sr=8-1

only one left tho probably be gone right after I post it. I have that exact one too. I bought it at banggood a couple of years ago for 45 bucks. Blame the soc shortage and covid for prices. Ran jellyfin off it in docker while sharing off its ubs 3 an external multi bay drive ever since.
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Pretty sure any of the 7th Gen+ iGPUs (UHD630) can do 4K60 (Depending on the encoding). Incase you want to build a new HTPC which might cheaper than a new video card.

If you're having trouble on the 1050 only when you're trying to push 4K60 you need to make sure your cable is HDMI 2.0 Or DP 1.4. Otherwise it's only 1440 @ 60hz. The blinking black screen randomly during playback of 4K sounds like it's could be cable related.

On the Nvidia side of things only GTX 10xx cards had acceleration for 4K. The GT1030 doesn't.
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Ever since I've got a Firestick 4K, I've stopped using my HTPC. The Firestick is controlled by a Logitech remote. Push the movie button, the stick, projector, and receiver get turned on.
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tebore wrote: Pretty sure any of the 7th Gen+ iGPUs (UHD630) can do 4K60 (Depending on the encoding). Incase you want to build a new HTPC which might cheaper than a new video card.

If you're having trouble on the 1050 only when you're trying to push 4K60 you need to make sure your cable is HDMI 2.0 Or DP 1.4. Otherwise it's only 1440 @ 60hz. The blinking black screen randomly during playback of 4K sounds like it's could be cable related.

On the Nvidia side of things only GTX 10xx cards had acceleration for 4K. The GT1030 doesn't.
Yup. I'm stuck on HD, but need UHD.

The blinking happens even when browsing the web.
There's a long cable going to the projector. That cable is fine since the ps5 doesn't have this blinking issue.

But perhaps the short cable going from the pc to the receiver isn't 2.0
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PerformingAzura wrote: Stalker! Face With Tears Of Joy

I'm having issues with that 1050 unfortunately. Random black screens every now and then. I've tried DDU several times.
underclock and undervolt it and try again.
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PerformingAzura wrote: Yup. I'm stuck on HD, but need UHD.

The blinking happens even when browsing the web.
There's a long cable going to the projector. That cable is fine since the ps5 doesn't have this blinking issue.

But perhaps the short cable going from the pc to the receiver isn't 2.0
Try switching the cable and see. I had a similar problem with DP trying to run freesync with 1.2 it would black out as it lost sync switching to 1.4 fixed it. I'd imagine something like that could happen for HDMI
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lead wrote: Lets be honest no one browses the web on their tv its 2021! That's done on phones and tablets and no one keeps those out of arms reach anyway. Those are faster to search and see stuff than on a clunky tv. If people didn't do it that way casting wouldn't be such a desired thing.
lol I guess you'd be disgusted to learn to I browse the web and often post to RFD through Chrome on my gaming desktop that's connected to a 65" 4K HDR/DV display in my living room. I use that same PC for playing new games and playing back 4K HDR movies as well though
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ReeGee wrote: lol I guess you'd be disgusted to learn to I browse the web and often post to RFD through Chrome on my gaming desktop that's connected to a 65" 4K HDR/DV display in my living room. I use that same PC for playing new games and playing back 4K HDR movies as well though
not disgusted at all. I prefer the pc for web broswing too. I just don't believe you don't use your phone to browse especially while watching a flick/sports anyway. You use your phone like everyone else because its heads faster to do it in the moment than open a new screen. It is..... what it is these days. Maybe you don't use the phone to do work or applied searching for a project. I don't either most still use laptops etc.

But...... you browse mostly on your phone especially when your watching a movie or a game its easier to look down and search than have it interrupt your leisure activity. The whole surfing on the tv was always so cumbersome from the couch vs just a tablet or a phone.


the s905x3 its cheap. It works for local playback just as good for its niche maybe run some dockers like pihole/wireguard etc in the back ground. Its cheaper than a stick of pc ram these days. That way you don't have to spend extra to change a single thing on your pc. You change hdmi inputs instead when wanting to watching local playback flick. Swapping inputs is faster than starting the program on any medium. Becuase its always loaded plus at a fraction of power consumption.
heres a video of the odroid c4=s905x3 same soc

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ReeGee wrote: lol I guess you'd be disgusted to learn to I browse the web and often post to RFD through Chrome on my gaming desktop that's connected to a 65" 4K HDR/DV display in my living room. I use that same PC for playing new games and playing back 4K HDR movies as well though
I'm the same. We have a single 8 or 9" tablet that sees 0 use. I don't remember the last time I used my Chromecast. Maybe it's because everything I own is old, but I prefer looking things up on the PC over using my phone.
lead wrote: not disgusted at all. I prefer the pc for web broswing too. I just don't believe you don't use your phone to browse especially while watching a flick/sports anyway. You use your phone like everyone else because its heads faster to do it in the moment than open a new screen. It is..... what it is these days. Maybe you don't use the phone to do work or applied searching for a project. I don't either most still use laptops etc.

But...... you browse mostly on your phone especially when your watching a movie or a game its easier to look down and search than have it interrupt your leisure activity. The whole surfing on the tv was always so cumbersome from the couch vs just a tablet or a phone.


the s905x3 its cheap. It works for local playback just as good for its niche maybe run some dockers like pihole/wireguard etc in the back ground. Its cheaper than a stick of pc ram these days. That way you don't have to spend extra to change a single thing on your pc. You change hdmi inputs instead when wanting to watching local playback flick. Swapping inputs is faster than starting the program on any medium. Becuase its always loaded plus at a fraction of power consumption.
heres a video of the odroid c4=s905x3 same soc

I have one of these chinese arm based boxes and it was a horrible experience (this was 2 or 3 years back when I purchased it). It had 2GB RAM and some octocore CPU but it felt like I back in 2011. The ROM was super clunky and xda community was tiny, so no chance of getting updates.
Just switching apps took an unbelievable amount of time. It's sole purpose was to run a single streaming app and even that it struggled to do well.
Perhaps things have changed since you're speaking so well of it. I'll need to seriously revisit my use cases to many sure I can do everything I'd want on this box.

Power consumption wise, the PC uses about 10W without the GPU. Will need to look into how much it increases with the GPU, however it goes to sleep when not in use so I doubt it's going to matter much.
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PerformingAzura wrote: Stalker! Face With Tears Of Joy

I'm having issues with that 1050 unfortunately. Random black screens every now and then. I've tried DDU several times.

It's either overheating due to the tiny fan or dying. When I played Cyberpunk on it, it was at 1080p30Hz. The desktop was 1440P144Hz.
u should be able to figure out if its overheating pretty easy. just fire up like gpuz and a stress test like furmark or heaven bench mark. if its overheating u should see the temp shoot up super fast and it crash. its pretty easy to pull the heatsink and swap the paste and give it good clean. if the fan is bad just find one the same size by a quality company like noctua or arctic something like that and swap it out.
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PerformingAzura wrote: I'm the same. We have a single 8 or 9" tablet that sees 0 use. I don't remember the last time I used my Chromecast. Maybe it's because everything I own is old, but I prefer looking things up on the PC over using my phone.



I have one of these chinese arm based boxes and it was a horrible experience (this was 2 or 3 years back when I purchased it). It had 2GB RAM and some octocore CPU but it felt like I back in 2011. The ROM was super clunky and xda community was tiny, so no chance of getting updates.
Just switching apps took an unbelievable amount of time. It's sole purpose was to run a single streaming app and even that it struggled to do well.
Perhaps things have changed since you're speaking so well of it. I'll need to seriously revisit my use cases to many sure I can do everything I'd want on this box.

Power consumption wise, the PC uses about 10W without the GPU. Will need to look into how much it increases with the GPU, however it goes to sleep when not in use so I doubt it's going to matter much.
thats generic sdk android its all crap. None of those china boxes came with decent android dev even still today. Until some guys have now stripped down mibox brand firmware and ported it to matching capable hardware. Those can run pretty good, but its still only non widevine based androidtv. So whats the point since its equally cheaper to buy brand that does.

This about running linux distros on arm devices because its cheaper and more capable for certain tasks than raspberry pi's. Like amlogic socs are with video playback. The s905x3 can playback equal or better than a shield as can the s922 in linux. These are the same socs that both amazon and google use for the latest chromecast with googletv and the firecube.Except they get full capability unlocked in linux and can bistream audio and auto refresh rate works and supports docker/portainer.
ES_Revenge wrote: Hmm, should I mention where I'm typing this from, on my couch in my living room? lol
do the same with a chrome book or tablet on my lap.

Its alot easier on my eyes since I sit far away from the tv and it was always to hard to read those small desktop pages print when on the tv.
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ES_Revenge wrote: Hmm, should I mention where I'm typing this from, on my couch in my living room? lol
Yeah, and I'm doing it from my lazyboy with my 75 inch tv....lol
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tebore wrote: Pretty sure any of the 7th Gen+ iGPUs (UHD630) can do 4K60 (Depending on the encoding). Incase you want to build a new HTPC which might cheaper than a new video card.

If you're having trouble on the 1050 only when you're trying to push 4K60 you need to make sure your cable is HDMI 2.0 Or DP 1.4. Otherwise it's only 1440 @ 60hz. The blinking black screen randomly during playback of 4K sounds like it's could be cable related.

On the Nvidia side of things only GTX 10xx cards had acceleration for 4K. The GT1030 doesn't.
I had my doubts but this worked.

Tried a few hdmi cables I had lying around and they all had the same issue. Changed the resolution to 4K30Hz and that still didn't fix it.

Purchased a 2.0 cable off PrimeCables for 3$ and haven't experienced the issue since.

Thanks

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