4K UHD Movie streaming rig

MovieBuff

MovieBuff

MovieBuff

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Joined
19 Sep 2025
Posts
10
Location
Scotland
Hi, I'm looking for some advice, my pc is starting to show its age, I use it mainly for streaming movies to my Zappiti media player. I have started to notice that I'm getting a lot of jerky movie playback when streaming "wired Ethernet" most of my movie files are MKVs between 60GB TO 100GB.

This is my current setup:

Windows Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Case Fractal Design Node 804
Motherboard ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. MAXIMUS VI GENE (SOCKET 1150)
Power Supply MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 Power Supply Unit, UK Plug - 850W, 80 Plus Gold Certified
Ram 32.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24) /
ASUS PG329 (2560x1440@59Hz)
Intel HD Graphics 4600 (ASUStek Computer Inc)
CPU Intel core i7-4700 3.50ghZ
Cooler Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2
Ram 32.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)
Hard Drive

1863GB Western Digital WDC WD20EARX-00PASB0 (SATA ) 33 °C
11176GB Western Digital WDC WD120EDAZ-11F3RA0 (SATA ) 36 °C
223GB Crucial_CT240M500SSD1 (SATA (SSD))
18627GB Western Digital WDC WD201KRYZ-01BBDB0 (SATA ) 33 °C
9314GB Western Digital WDC WD100EFAX-68LHPN0 (SATA ) 35 °C
9314GB Western Digital WDC WD100EFAX-68LHPN0 (SATA ) 34 °C
9314GB Western Digital WDC WD100EFAX-68LHPN0 (SATA ) 32 °C
9314GB Western Digital WDC WD100EFAX-68LHPN0 (SATA ) 37 °C
2048GB Covecube Virtual Disk (SCSI )
1862GB Western Digital WD My Book Duo 25F6 USB Device (USB (SATA) )

I want to keep the build in my Fractal Design Node 804, the power supply is new also, I'm trying to keep costs down and future-proof it as much as possible. I will also be looking to add a few mor 3.5" drives in the near future.
 
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MovieBuff said:
I have started to notice that I'm getting a lot of jerky movie playback when streaming "wired Ethernet"; most of my movie files are mkv's between 60GB TO 100GB.
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Did it previously play them fine? Maybe the cable is bad? Have you looked at task manager to see what part of your PC is stuck at 100%?
 
Tetras said:
Did it previously play them fine? Maybe the cable is bad? Have you looked at task manager to see what part of your PC is stuck at 100%?
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I've always had a few that have been jerky. I also stream 4k UHD Movies from my son's server; they are still a bit of jitter there, but not as bad when streaming from my PC. around 60 /70 % of my movies play fine, it seems to be mostly with the larger sized movie files.
 
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it could just be time to add in a GPU, the intel Haswell CPU's are missing a lot of new instruction sets.
the CPU will try to brute force its self out of treble with the missing instruction sets but with massive files it will struggle

do you have a GPU you can stick in to test
 
I was never a fan of the integrated GPU options, preferred a dedicated card.

If it worked before but less so now it's probably update/driver related or maybe even fragmented drives.

My own just never quite migrated from W7 to W10, not did I get around to copying 4k movies. Drives seem bricked these days and people want too much for flashed UHD drives..

I would be tempted to try and clean up your current system and check the drives. But would still recommend a new build.

Asus Prime Z890M at £270 is the only Micro ATX motherboard I am aware of on modern systems with more than four sata ports. It has 6.

You will need an adapter card to add more data ports. Not sure what is recommended these days.

Core Ultra 5 245k with onboard graphics should be good enough for movies. £260

Of course you can get a cheaper motherboard and add sata adapters, but the cost of the adapters and availability of slots on the motherboard is another can of worms.
 
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WARburton said:
it could just be time to add in a GPU, the intel Haswell CPU's are missing a lot of new instruction sets.
the CPU will try to brute force its self out of treble with the missing instruction sets but with massive files it will struggle

do you have a GPU you can stick in to test
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Unfortunately, I don't have GPU, Is there anything you would recommend without gaming in mind, solely for 4k UHD movies?
 
MovieBuff said:
What's your full set up?
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It's just an MSI Cubi NUC 120U, I wanted something purely for Plex, as my old machine was struggling especially once subtitles were added or audio transcoding was required. Also wanted low power.

I know you wanted to rebuild yours rather than something new but it gives you an idea of what processor you need. Just get something as new as possible for all the codec support, and make sure it's the Quick sync version.
 
The more I'm reading and the information that I'm getting from Chat GPT, I'm thinking of building around an intel Core i5-13600K.
 
MovieBuff said:
The more I'm reading and the information that I'm getting from Chat GPT, I'm thinking of building around an intel Core i5-13600K.
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really not needed, a 12400 would be a massive upgrade over what you have.
if your thinking of a full system upgrade i think the Ryzen 8000 would be a very good option, but again massive over kill.
 
I would appreciate it if you guys could put a couple of systems together for me, utilizing my case and power supply, and anything else that you think I could salvage from my current setup..lol

As you guys can probably tell, I have been out of the loop for a very long time!
 
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MovieBuff said:
I'm thinking of building around an intel Core i5-13600K.
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The 14600K is usually the best price (~£160), but personally I'd go for the 245K if I was doing that (around £200), to avoid the 13th-14th gen shenanigans and to get a decent upgrade on the 14th gen IGP. These CPUs are overkill though, usually the IGP is barely indistinguishable for desktop use between the lowest and highest models, since Intel doesn't meaningfully cut their features.
 
I don't think the 245k is too crazy considering it is your GPU and CPU in one, but there isn't a lot of choice on the latest platforms.

Intel would certainly be the option for heat and power draw in the past. I still remember choosing the i3 for movie and music though the graphics were handled by a passive cooled HD5750. But I remember preferring the 4770k when ripping as it simply did the job quicker.

But what do you do about storage options if you are wanting to add multiple hard drives too with modern motherboards being so limited.
 
I would appreciate your thoughts on these 2 builds, I think it's going to be or the other, after doing a good bit of research!

ASUS PRIME Z890M-PLUS WIFI Intel Z890 LGA 1851 (Socket V1) micro ATX 6 sata ports £207.98
Intel® Core™ Ultra 5 Desktop Processor 245K 14 cores £210.00
Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S £50.00
SATA HBA (StarTech 8-port) £100.00
32 GB DDR5-6000 (2×16) £115.00
PSU £0.00
CASE £0.00


£682.98


ASUS TUF Gaming B760M-PLUS WiFi is an mATX board 6 Sata ports £135.00
Intel® Core™ i5-13600K £190.00
RAM: 32 GB DDR5-6000 (2×16) £115.00
Corsair iCUE H100i RGB Pro XT £50.00
LSI HBA: LSI 9211-8i refurb £30.00
PSU £0.00
CASE £0.00

£520.00



​
 
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MovieBuff said:
I would appreciate your thoughts on these 2 builds
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The performance of both CPUs is not that different (245K is more energy efficient and faster overall), though £190 is steep for a 13600K. The 14600K has been on offer around ~£150.

I would not buy any 13th-14th gen CPU without a receipt and warranty.

The IGP of the 245K is newer, with better performance, features and probably longer driver support.

I'd get the 48GB kit Corsair sell, for less money than the 32GB kits.

A peerless assassin is cheaper than the Noctua.

I can't comment on the expansion cards.
 
Tetras said:
The performance of both CPUs is not that different (245K is more energy efficient and faster overall), though £190 is steep for a 13600K. The 14600K has been on offer around ~£150.

I would not buy any 13th-14th gen CPU without a receipt and warranty.

The IGP of the 245K is newer, with better performance, features and probably longer driver support.

I'd get the 48GB kit Corsair sell, for less money than the 32GB kits.

A peerless assassin is cheaper than the Noctua.

I can't comment on the expansion cards.
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Do you have a link for the 48GB Corsair kit?
 
WARburton said:
both systems are very good but the CPU' are massive over kill
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I do a lot of video ripping and also a lot of multitasking. While I might be streaming to my media player, my family might be watching Plex Server / YouTube etc, in another rooms.
 
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