What ULV CPU for smooth 4K 60Hz video streaming in W10?

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Hello,

I have a 6 year old Intel Celeron Z3736 tablet connected up to the 4k TV in my lounge which I use for couch internet browsing and video streaming but now it won't play 1080p video smoothly.
Looking to replace it with a low power device like a mini PC or USFF Winterm style PC.
Considering a cheap refurbed USFF but after a good few hours spent researching I've found the back catalogue of Intel ultra-low voltage i3-i5 U/G CPU models a wee bit confusing.

Could anyone please tell me the minimum CPU/iGPU model needed for a smooth Windows 10 experience @4K 60Hz, desktop and video playback?

Grateful for any advice you can give.

Cheers,
 
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I've tried an Asus PN41 Mini PC with an Intel Pentium Silver N6000 CPU/iGPU but the performance is not quite up to it so if I was to stay with the Mini PC form factor I'd probably have to go for one with an Intel i5-8279U or AMD Ryzen 5 3550H which are quite a bit more expensive.

But if I was to go for something like a barebones kit (Asrock X300/A300) or a SFF PC built around a full fat desktop CPU, would it be possible to build a system that will run 4k 60Hz video smoothly for under £300?

Thanks
 
Not sure how many times you can be the only one posting in a thread you started before it becomes really sad but I'm going to go with four.

In the end I bought an MSI DP20Z mini PC.
The AMD 5300G model I got doesn't have the ultra low power usage I was after at 65W (still much lower than the 120w of my i7 5930K) but as far as size, about two thirds the size of a shoe box, price and performance goes it's ideal.
Have had it a few months now and found it's pretty much silent, fits under the living room TV unobtrusively and plays 4k/60 streamed video perfectly fine.
Doesn't play newer games at 1080p and a solid 60fps but the only ones I'd play on it worked fine on the old Celeron.

If the 5300G was available to retail customers and not just manufacturers I'd probably have built my own system around it but I paid £250 for the mini PC including APU/WiFI/BT plus £86 for 16GB of RAM and a 512GB M.2 drive, which I couldn't beat.

At a very rough estimate I'd say my electricity usage has gone down by around £10 a month by using the mini PC as an entertainment hub instead of a full size desktop with clocked 5930K, 980Ti and 5 mechanical hard drives.

So basically I've reversed global warming and saved the planet.
 
I'm after someting simmilar,

I found this 'geo mini' for £150

Intel Celeron N4020
graphics UHD600
CPU Cores Dual Core
CPU TDP 6 W
Processor Turbo Speed 2.8 GHz
Memory
4 GB
Wifi AC


but I think it might struggle a bit, as above somthing that can do av1 decode would be good but for sensible money?
 
This looks good,

but will it be able to do 4k with HDR without melting?

​

​

Intel NUC 11 Essential Kit, NUC11ATKC2, Atlas Canyon, Celeron N4505, DDR4 SO-DIMM, M.2 SATA, Wi-Fi ac/BT, Barebone​

 
mattyfez said:
I'm after someting simmilar,

I found this 'geo mini' for £150

Intel Celeron N4020
graphics UHD600
CPU Cores Dual Core
CPU TDP 6 W
Processor Turbo Speed 2.8 GHz
Memory
4 GB
Wifi AC


but I think it might struggle a bit, as above somthing that can do av1 decode would be good but for sensible money?
Click to expand...
Bought this for myself, knowing I would be installing Linux onto it, and using it as a fanless file server. (to replace a aging HP Microserver N54L, with 4 spinning HDDs, whose noise and 70-80w "idle" power was bugging me).

It came with Win11 out of the box, installed onto the soldered on 64Gb eMMC "hard drive".

It struggled to even open edge or chrome, yet alone getting to to load up youtube and view any content at 1080p at anything I would consider reasonable times. It faired much better once an SSD was installed (SATA M.2) however. But by that point I was checking out ubuntu over windows.

4k 60hz might be alittle too much hope for that N4020, unfortunately. 1080p, sure, every day of the week.
 
SuBo said:
Bought this for myself, knowing I would be installing Linux onto it, and using it as a fanless file server.

It came with Win11 out of the box, installed onto the soldered on 64Gb eMMC "hard drive".

It struggled to even open edge or chrome, yet alone getting to to load up youtube and view any content at 1080p at anything I would consider reasonable times. It faired much better once an SSD was installed (SATA M.2) however. But by that point I was checking out ubuntu over windows.

4k 60hz might be alittle too much hope for that N4020, unfortunately. 1080p, sure, every day of the week.
Click to expand...
I had an MSI N5000 mini PC and Windows 10 was unusable. I believe the Jasper Lake N6005 NUCs are much more powerful though and run 4k video with ease.
 
I think my current laptop i3 10110u will do the job, so I might just buy another cheap laptop, seems silly to spend £200+ on a NUC which is essentailly a laptop but without the benefit of a built in screen and keyboard.
 
mattyfez said:
I think my current laptop i3 10110u will do the job, so I might just buy another cheap laptop, seems silly to spend £200+ on a NUC which is essentailly a laptop but without the benefit of a built in screen and keyboard.
Click to expand...
i3 10th gen and below only support 4k @24/30Hz via HDMI so it all depends on what graphics output you have. DP supports 4k @60Hz but you would need an active DP to HDMI converter to keep it at 60Hz.
 
maklabouhlel said:
i3 10th gen and below only support 4k @24/30Hz via HDMI so it all depends on what graphics output you have. DP supports 4k @60Hz but you would need an active DP to HDMI converter to keep it at 60Hz.
Click to expand...


Thanks, food for thought. Seems there's a bit of a gap in the market.. basically I dont care as long as it can do 60hz or better at 4k with HDR.

So basically I was thinking it might be better to just buy a cheap laptop (cheap ass intel gen 11/12 or AMD equivelent) rather than a NUC
 
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