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Need a budget GFX card to watch 4K movies without buffering on playback.

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I have a PC with no graphics card, I rarely play any video games.

I use the built in CPU graphics (i3-3225 CPU @ 3.30).

When watching 4K movies on PC, it buffers a lot when fast forwarding playback etc.
However, I do not get this problem with a PC with a graphic card installed.


Any suggestions of a budget graphic card to solve my problem.
 
Soldato
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Yep, I have one in my HTPC, a good choice these kind of duties. You can get fanless models which run silently.

The only gotcha is that Netflix 4K requires a graphics card with 3GB and so for that you have to go for the next model up, the 1050.
 
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Try running it by using the cpu to decode it with software instead of hardware. Install madvr and set up the lav video filters to use the none option and it should if I remember right use the cpu instead of the gpu. But if you really want to watch 4k movies properly you need a decentish higher end card so you can utilise their up-scaling, hardware decoding and hdr options properly, you want something at least the power of a gtx 1060 but i'd suggest an rtx2060. If you're serious about image quality and high dynamic range there is nothing that compares to this software.

http://madvr.com/
rIBrWP6.png
 
Soldato
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you want something at least the power of a gtx 1060 but i'd suggest an rtx2060.
Why are you recommended these cards for 4K movie playback? The 1030 will happily play 4K HEVC & VP9 HDR videos @ 60fps with HW decoding. I believe it will work fine with madvr, although I think you have to be careful with settings. The 1030 only starts to choke with 8K due to lack of memory.
 
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Why are you recommended these cards for 4K movie playback? The 1030 will happily play 4K HEVC & VP9 HDR videos @ 60fps with HW decoding. I believe it will work fine with madvr, although I think you have to be careful with settings. The 1030 only starts to choke with 8K due to lack of memory.

although I think you have to be careful with settings.

You answered your own question, in the question lol. Yes a weaker card can run the bog standard settings, that's why I said if you want to watch them properly you need a high end card otherwise you cant make use of the advanced image processing settings. Open madvr settings and in the chroma upscaling set it to ngu sharp very high quality, then disable every option in the trade quality for performance and finally set set image upscaling to ngu sharp and change to high algorithm quality, for luma doubling, luma quadrupling and chroma. Then tell me how your 1030 gets on.
 
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Soldato
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You answered your own question, in the question lol. Yes a weaker card can run the bog standard settings
OK, fair enough. I don't use madvr, I guess it depends on if the OP wants to or not. I still use disc for the things I really care about. For everything else, the low-profile, passively-cooled 1030, ticks the right boxes for me. It is a shame that maxing out madvr requires a gaming-class card, if all you really want is something for HTPC duties.
 
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We are both right mate for most people the standard settings will be good enough for them, but yeah you can really push your pc to the limits with the software. The settings above will send a 1080ti to max usage with 80c temps, it's all about how obsessed you are with image quality, a bit like gaming I suppose.
 

ntg

ntg

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We are both right mate for most people the standard settings will be good enough for them, but yeah you can really push your pc to the limits with the software. The settings above will send a 1080ti to max usage with 80c temps, it's all about how obsessed you are with image quality, a bit like gaming I suppose.

Not to hijack OPs thtead but it's bang on relevant.

So which card is recommended to get the best 4k movie image quality, including hdr capability, for someone that wants to watch movies (think connecting pc to TV)?

I suppose using madvr will help get the most out of it, right? In short, I just want to watch movies at the best quality using my pc and my pq65 vizio TV.

Can you recommend both an nvidia and an amd option?

Also, if there is something that'd fit in a small form factor pc I'd be interested in that too.
 
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For small form factor, the Nvidia 1030 is the best option as it is half-height and passively cooled. I don't think AMD have an equivalent of this which ticks all the same boxes.

However, if you want to max out the quality setting in madvr then, as mentioned above, you need a midrange gaming card from Nvidia or AMD. This will most likely mean full-height and fans. Which will mean more noise but also adds the option of some light gaming.
 
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When watching 4K movies on PC, it buffers a lot when fast forwarding playback etc
Any suggestions of a budget graphic card to solve my problem.

Only watching 4k movies not making the next AAA blockbuster in 4k he doesnt need fancy this and fancy that read the post !!!
Nvidia 1030 card is more than enough for what you need. You dont need to spend more than £100 and can probably pick up a GT 1030 for about £65-£70.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pali...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-043-pl.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-19b-gi.html
 

R3X

R3X

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Good thread, I have been wondering for a few weeks now trying to get hold of a decent low end budget graphics card that can do 4K properly and when I say properly I mean with 4K @ 60fps with full HDR support with ALL the codec support in hardware and netflix 4K support (4gig+ required to be safe)

Its not easy, what AMD and nvidia have currently is old out of date technology cards such as the 1030 and 1050ti which is 3-4 years old they either lack 3 or 4gig to support netflix or don't have dual or decent outputs(DP 1.4+ or HDMI 2.0+), AMD have the RX550 2gig around £40-50 on flebay which is decent but again its 3-4 years old and does not support all the 4K hardware codec playbacks but its close, the one both Nvidia and AMD tend to miss is HEVC 4:4:4 full hardware playback.

see the Nvidia chart here:
https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-decode-gpu-support-matrix

Only budget card that seems to nail it properly is the Nvidia 1650 around £130-150 but Nvidia 1660 really does it all properly hardware video playback wise, AMD and Nvidia are releasing a set of new budget cards in the few weeks. So I am hoping we get some price drops or Nvidia 1650 super or AMD 5300XT pending release which hopefully supports all the full 4K video hardware playback codecs.

I would recommend waiting around a few more weeks if you can for the newer AMD and Nvidia cards, prices may drop or you may have better options and at least they will be up to date technology and hopefully more future proof, if you can't wait Nvidia 1030 or AMD RX550 cards of flebay for £50-60ish otherwise Nvidia 1650 @ £130 is close to perfect and Nvidia 1660 @ £180 which would do everything fully properly is a good option.
 

R3X

R3X

Soldato
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Not to hijack OPs thtead but it's bang on relevant.

So which card is recommended to get the best 4k movie image quality, including hdr capability, for someone that wants to watch movies (think connecting pc to TV)?

I suppose using madvr will help get the most out of it, right? In short, I just want to watch movies at the best quality using my pc and my pq65 vizio TV.

Can you recommend both an nvidia and an amd option?

Also, if there is something that'd fit in a small form factor pc I'd be interested in that too.

You can read my above post its quite detailed but it all depends what your budget and needs are, literally most modern cards in the past 3-4 years can do 4K playback........but if you see from my post they may not fully do it 'right' in terms of netflix 4K support or proper hardware video codec playback. Most replies here imo are right the 1030 is decent for price and does what it wants for the main part, but imo you may want to try Netflix 4K or Disney + streaming service or eventually find a 4K HDR video and well it plays back choppy since your graphics don't support the right video hardware Codec !

If you want it something that will be future proof and nails 4K properly the Nvidia 1660 @ £180+ is a good option, 1650 at a crunch around £130. You can of course go for Geforce 1030 but AMD RX550 4gig is a better choice and can be had for similar prices of flebay and at least support 4gig and netflix and other 4K streaming services in future. Most cards do a small form factor just try in the name of the card on flebay or rainforest or ocuk and type in example: Geforce 1030 itx , itx will call up the small form factor versions for both AMD and Nvidia cards.
 

R3X

R3X

Soldato
Joined
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Posts
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Try running it by using the cpu to decode it with software instead of hardware. Install madvr and set up the lav video filters to use the none option and it should if I remember right use the cpu instead of the gpu. But if you really want to watch 4k movies properly you need a decentish higher end card so you can utilise their up-scaling, hardware decoding and hdr options properly, you want something at least the power of a gtx 1060 but i'd suggest an rtx2060. If you're serious about image quality and high dynamic range there is nothing that compares to this software.

Just a random question but have you noticed a big difference with your MADvr set up ?

I only ask since for many years I used madvr + MPC-HC set up for 4K playback, it was only when I did a comparison recently between non madvr playback and with madvr that I noticed yeah the mad vr playback is a sharper and a bit more detailed, but I felt I was not really gonna notice the difference since I only have a 43" 4K TV and watch movies and tv shows from 3-4 metres back anyhow.

Madvr to me was not worth it, so just switched back to the D3D11 hardware playback.

Yesterday I actually downloaded all top 5 Video players, MPC-HC, VLC, Gom player, 5K player and KMplayer and tried a popular 4K-60fps-HDR 10bit jellyfish demo and was quite shocked with the results, I paused on one frame and flicked between all 5 opened video players with all default playback settings, 5K player bested them all on playback video quality. Maybe I need to tweak the MPC-HC settings but for now 5K is my software default player.
 

ntg

ntg

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You can read my above post its quite detailed but it all depends what your budget and needs are, literally most modern cards in the past 3-4 years can do 4K playback........but if you see from my post they may not fully do it 'right' in terms of netflix 4K support or proper hardware video codec playback. Most replies here imo are right the 1030 is decent for price and does what it wants for the main part, but imo you may want to try Netflix 4K or Disney + streaming service or eventually find a 4K HDR video and well it plays back choppy since your graphics don't support the right video hardware Codec !

If you want it something that will be future proof and nails 4K properly the Nvidia 1660 @ £180+ is a good option, 1650 at a crunch around £130. You can of course go for Geforce 1030 but AMD RX550 4gig is a better choice and can be had for similar prices of flebay and at least support 4gig and netflix and other 4K streaming services in future. Most cards do a small form factor just try in the name of the card on flebay or rainforest or ocuk and type in example: Geforce 1030 itx , itx will call up the small form factor versions for both AMD and Nvidia cards.

Perfect, thanks.

I'm buying at the end of the month (wanna see if black friday sales gets me any better prices) so I'll check if anything else comes out before then, otherwise hit an AMD rx550 4gig. I'd go nvidia but I suspect ill end up with ryzen cpu and mobo and I wanna try for maximum compatibility/reliability to reduce any headaches as much as possible.
 

R3X

R3X

Soldato
Joined
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Perfect, thanks.

I'm buying at the end of the month (wanna see if black friday sales gets me any better prices) so I'll check if anything else comes out before then, otherwise hit an AMD rx550 4gig. I'd go nvidia but I suspect ill end up with ryzen cpu and mobo and I wanna try for maximum compatibility/reliability to reduce any headaches as much as possible.


Same plan with wait and see approach, hopefully AMD 5300 or 5500 new card don't disappoint, I have an 2gig Rx5500 its decent and does the job well but I want something a bit more newer and future proof.
 
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