Need cheap graphics card for 4K at 60hz , No gaming

[GeezerMan]

We have three Ryzen computers around here. I should probably sell one of them since it's just not used that much anymore. I built them all, but none for gaming.

I found an old GT-720 card I pulled from a workstation. Forgot I had that one. I put it into a rig with 2600X. This card can only handle 30Hz. Playing 4K video and hardware acceleration on in Chrome, it maxes GPU at around 60%. And it adds about 20% more work for the CPU. The 4K Night Walk in Tokyo Shibuya video is pretty smooth, better than the NVS-510 card, but I do have adapters on the 510 card that may not be up to 4K workload

Turning off acceleration in Chrome, it really does not add much work to the 2600X CPU, with an overall workload of 25%, and a flash max on one core of 45%.

4K video is smoother when the card handles it rather than CPU

I was thinking that if hardware acceleration is turned off, and the CPU has plenty of reserves, then 4K video should be butter smooth, but it's not in my experience here

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Since you have Ryzen systems, sell or trade one of the CPUs away for an APU = problem solved? I bought a Ryzen 5 pro 2400G on Ebay last week for $50 shipped to put in a ASRock Deskmini. I just played that 4K Shibuya vid with it using VP9. Dropped 7 frames as the vid loads and buffers. That's normal BTW. After that it played flawlessly with Vega11 having a steady 40% usage, the CPU mostly around 3-5% but fluctuating as high as 15% for a second or so here and there. Zero dropped frames after the initial load, and I let it play for over 20K frames.

Depending on which Ryzen you would trade or sell, you'd probably make money on the deal. By the time AV1 takes over GPUs that decode it should be dirt cheap.

 

[GeezerMan]

If hardware acceleration is turned off, and the CPU ( 2600X, 3700X )has plenty of reserves, then the 4K video should be butter smooth, correct?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

If hardware acceleration is turned off, and the CPU ( 2600X, 3700X )has plenty of reserves, then the 4K video should be butter smooth, correct?

That's a good question. Let me try it and report back. I know I have brute forced it that way before, and it worked well. A few dopped frames here and there but you'd never know without stats for nerds info. You are reporting playback issues so that's a lot more frames getting dropped.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Okay that was interesting. It took a good 15 seconds to settle down, it dropped a 174 frames in that short period and was hitching and jittery. Then it played smoothly, with Vega11 at a steady 27% and the CPU using as much as all 4 physical cores/50%. If I so much as moved the mouse, it would drop frames hard enough to hurt playback. With my 5600 and 5800 systems I recall that not being an issue. They'd just power through.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Alright. Have it running on my 5700G and it runs flawlessly. Vega sitting basically idle at 4-7% CPU between 15-20%. Youtube defaulted to 1080p on this system and switched to 4K. Subsequently, it hasn't dropped a frame yet, not even during the load and buffer.

 

[tcsenter]

Well delivery estimate is now Saturday. Went with the free 'best way' shipping of course.

Delivery now pushed out till Monday the 27th. Sheesh!

 

[GeezerMan]

so, on a 5700G CPU, can you choose no hardware acceleration? and let just the CPU side do the work?

I would have to move our 5600X rig since it's attached to a 1440p monitor, and attach it to a 4K TV and turn off acceleration and see what happens. 1440 and 1080 is nice and smooth with cheap video cards and cheap displayport to HDMI adapters

Most info on the web says 4K CPU rendering should be smooth unless the CPU is too loaded up. That's not my experience with the 2600X and 3700X computers here

 

[GeezerMan]

OK tcsenter, you are fired. Don't these people know we are doing high level research here

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I have to admit I am surprised the 2400G took so long to smooth out, or was affected by just moving the mouse. Weird stuff; not certain why that is either. It did play fine when left alone though.

And yes, disabling hardware acceleration in Chrome puts the load on the CPU. With the 2400G too of course. With H.A. turned on either breeze through 4K playback.

 

[GeezerMan]

I have no doubt a G series has no trouble with 4K, or a cheap card that handles VP9. I have a thing about knowing why. Why does a 3700X or 2600X CPU act like a jerk ( pun intended ) when playing 4K

 

[jpiniero]

I have no doubt a G series has no trouble with 4K, or a cheap card that handles VP9. I have a thing about knowing why. Why does a 3700X or 2600X CPU act like a jerk ( pun intended ) when playing 4K

Might be too much for CPU decoding. It's tough to beat fixed function.

 

[GeezerMan]

I could see it would be too much work if it maxes a core out, but if the CPU is at an overall 25% use, with the most worked core below 50%, I would think it would be fine

 

[GeezerMan]

The plot thickens. On my rig with 3700X , NVS-510 grahics card, 16GB ram, I did a clean install of windows 10 due to unrelated problems. Now, youtube 4K videos are much smoother. Graphics card usage went down. It's still choppy using just the CPU to decode. I still will get a better graphics card that can handle 60Hz, and one with HDMI so I can toss the adapters which may not be rated for 4K. Or, get a 5700G CPU

 

[DAPUNISHER]

If you don't need all the threads, the 5600G is $129 on Amazon right now. It or its big bro can be set to ECO mode with a +200MHz boost clock for more performance in a smaller power envelope.

BTW what ram is paired with the 3700X? Did you make certain it is running its XMP profile? How are temps? Is it hitting its rated boost clock? I'd check all that, because it should not be struggling with 4K.

 

[GeezerMan]

If you don't need all the threads, the 5600G is $129 on Amazon right now. It or its big bro can be set to ECO mode with a +200MHz boost clock for more performance in a smaller power envelope.

BTW what ram is paired with the 3700X? Did you make certain it is running its XMP profile? How are temps? Is it hitting its rated boost clock? I'd check all that, because it should not be struggling with 4K.

5600G is 120.00 right now at MC, 5700G is 170.00. I always ram run at XMP. It's a Gskill Samsung B die 3600, only got the B die because it was a good price.

When playing 4K without hardware acceleration, overall CPU is at 25% max, no single core above 40%. I don't even use PBO because most of the time I don't need the horsepower and it saves about 20 degrees.
Playing 4K video causes temps of 40 degrees. When I test with a full load, with no PBO, temps go to just under 60 degrees

Now get this, the AMD prism HSF plastic lever broke. I never have seen that in 20 years of using AMD. So, I put a heatpipe HSF from an old AMD AM3 Phenom II X6 1100T . It's a lot smaller than a Prism. A bit more noise now and then, but it is rated for 125 watts and temps are fine. . Easy to put on too. I have a warranty claim on the Prism, so I will get a new one. A HSF from an old FX-60 socket 939 works too, but it does not have a PWM fan on it.

This old NVS-510 GRAPHICS card is rated for 3840 x 2160 @ 60 Hz , but I don't know about the mini displayport to HDMI adapters.They may not be rated for 4K, and may not be rated for 60Hz, and I highly suspect that is the problem. At 30Hz refresh, it's pretty good, minimal chop. Go up to 60Hz, and it gets real bad with the chop. I just want to get away from the adapters. Oh yeah, I want a card that I know can handle VP9 too.

Some 4K youtube videos are smoother than others.
This one is pretty good with the CPU doing the work .

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I can see where the lever could break. It has some serious tension on it when pushing it down.

The lack of PBO explains the playback issues. At 4.4GHz boost it isn't a problem IME. Maybe play around with Ryzen Master if you feel like experimenting, once the Wraith Prism comes back.

All you lucky people with MCs near you. Probably good the closest one is 8.5hrs away, I'd be divorced by now.

 

[GeezerMan]

why would I need the PBO boost if the CPU is loafing without it?

The rep at AMD told me that the Prism had a larger than usual failure rate of the plastic lever, and if you search google, there are lots of posts about it.
I won't be using it again. My old AM3 heatpipe performs just as well, but with more noise. That makes sense because it is rated for a 125 watt CPU. I might try that assassin HSF that got good reviews.

 

[Pohemi]

I might try that assassin HSF that got good reviews.

Side topic:
I just decided between a few HSFs including a few different Thermaltake Assassin models. I ended up going with the BeQuiet! Pure Rock 2 black and I regretted it as soon as it came out of the box. I do NOT recommend it/them. It has the worst contact plate I've ever seen on the heatsink. Nowhere close to smooth and absolutely needed lapping before install.



Those grooves/pit lines are as bad or worse than they looked. I would avoid them if you had considered any of their options.

 

[GeezerMan]

OK, dapunisher said to turn back on da boost. I tried that and nothing changed except for some heat. I'm pretty sure the bottleneck is the adapters.
I will wait to hear tcsenter's experience with the AMD Radeon RX 550 2GB . It's only 40 bucks

 

[tcsenter]

All you lucky people with MCs near you. Probably good the closest one is 8.5hrs away, I'd be divorced by now.

Srsly, I went to the MC in Denver when visiting family several years ago, upgraded a couple PC while there and needed some parts. I was like WOW this place is the shiznit! Reminded me of the now-defunct Fry's Electronics, though we didn't have any of those too close to where I live, either (2 hours), I had been there a couple times before.

I will wait to hear tcsenter's experience with the AMD Radeon RX 550 2GB . It's only 40 bucks

My PC runs i5-4690K (default clocks) on H97 chipset, 16GB DDR3-1600 @ XMP settings, and SATA SSD, running W10. Give me links to apps or content you want me to test run.

 

[GeezerMan]

Srsly, I went to the MC in Denver when visiting family several years ago, upgraded a couple PC while there and needed some parts. I was like WOW this place is the shiznit! Reminded me of the now-defunct Fry's Electronics, though we didn't have any of those too close to where I live, either (2 hours), I had been there a couple times before.


My PC runs i5-4690K (default clocks) on H97 chipset, 16GB DDR3-1600 @ XMP settings, and SATA SSD, running W10. Give me links to apps or content you want me to test run.

The HP RX 550 2GB should have DDR5 , run 4K at 60Hz, and is supposed to decode VP9 with the better drivers. I am not sure how to test VP9

 

[DAPUNISHER]

It can sometimes look that way because of how few

The HP RX 550 2GB should have DDR5 , run 4K at 60Hz, and is supposed to decode VP9 with the better drivers. I am not sure how to test VP9

That Shibuya vid is VP9. Pull up stats for nerds and see how many frames drop.

BTW, everything I looked at says there is no VP9 support on the RX550. Perhaps it will remove the bottleneck though, as you speculated. Seems like a waste to buy another card that still doesn't decode 4K VP9. I'd pony up for an APU for similar money, or go with the 5600G and get a better CPU and GPU out of the deal. But it's your BBQ.

 

[GeezerMan]

BTW, everything I looked at says there is no VP9 support on the RX550. Perhaps it will remove the bottleneck though, as you speculated. Seems like a waste to buy another card that still doesn't decode 4K VP9. I'd pony up for an APU for similar money, or go with the 5600G and get a better CPU and GPU out of the deal. But it's your BBQ.

well, I have things going on medically that slow me way down. Congestive heart failure and cataracts now. I don't think I have left the house for several months now. Simple things exhaust me, and sleep is done about 3 hours at a time. I have turned into a real Geezerman. If I can throw 40 bucks at a problem, that's cool

 

[VirtualLarry]

well, I have things going on medically that slow me way down. Congestive heart failure and cataracts now. I don't think I have left the house for several months now. Simple things exhaust me, and sleep is done about 3 hours at a time. I have turned into a real Geezerman. If I can throw 40 bucks at a problem, that's cool

I know how you feel. I'm sorry that a fellow human being is experiencing those same problems.