So up until fairly recently, for the past 6-7 years I've been running a pretty low-spec HTPC machine to run Kodi for local content off my NAS, and occasionally some YouTube content, and it has been pretty flawless for the most part (all of my personal encodes were all h.264 up until recently).
However, now that YT has a lot more of their content encoded in HEVC & AV1, my HTPC system is no longer able to smoothly play any of that content. It works fine for stuff on YT that is still h.264, but completely chokes on either HEVC or AV1. I also recently went back and re-ripped & re-encoded all by blu-ray discs that I've purchased over the years (both 1080p & 4K) into HEVC as well, in order to maximize space on my NAS storage, so I can't play any of that stuff on this system either.
I started looking at replacing just the GPU so it would be capable of smooth HEVC/AV1 decoding/playback, and according to the nVidia Video Encode and Decode GPU Support Matrix, the lowest-spec card that can do both HEVC & AV1 10-bit decoding is the RTX 3050, which currently runs around $290 - $300. AMD isn't a whole lot better...their RX 6600 is the lowest-spec card that does HEVC/AV1 decode, which runs around $240. Either of those is a ridiculous amount to spend on a single component just to watch some video, especially considering the ENTIRE REST OF THE SYSTEM only cost $10 more than the AMD card alone would cost me (granted, the CPU was free from a decommissioned system from work, and the SSD was repurposed from an old system of mine from many, MANY moons ago). And neither of those cards has a fanless, single-slot option available to fit in the tiny Mini-ITX cube case.
The GPU I have in there now cost me $43 way back in Sept 2012, and I carried that over into this build. What in the actual Fv<K is going on here, WHY isn't there an affordable, low-power, FANLESS, single-slot, HEVC/AV1-decode-capable GPU available for HTPC and/or low-end PC use?
Anyway, what I want to know is, including previous-gen CPU's, what is the minimum CPU required to use software-only decoding for HEVC & AV1 10-bit (up to 4K resolution)? I still have an old i7-2600K kicking around, as well as the i7-4790K in my sig that's about to be replaced with a Ryzen 9 5950x tomorrow (but neither of which are currently available so I can test them to see if they will work). I'm guessing it's probably too much to hope for that either of those work for this purpose? I'd really lke to get my HTPC back into actual, FULLY usable form as inexpensively as possible, and without requiring a whole new case, because I really like the one I have now.
This is my HTPC system as it stands now:
Free: Intel Core i3-2120 (Sandy Bridge)
Free: 60GB OCZ Vertex 2 SSD
$48.99: ASRock H61MV-ITX LGA 1155 Mobo
$29.99: Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600
$42.99: PowerColor Go! Green Radeon HD 6450 1GB
$87.93: Rosewill Lepton 500w PSU
$39.99: DIYPC HTPC-Cube-BK Case
Total Price: $249.89
Luckily, I do have a 2019 nVidia Shield TV Pro that handles 4K HEVC with no problems, and I've been using that for the local content & HEVC-encoded YouTube, but once YT completely switches everything to AV1, even that will choke because there is no AV1 hardware decoding support in any of the existing Shield products.
However, now that YT has a lot more of their content encoded in HEVC & AV1, my HTPC system is no longer able to smoothly play any of that content. It works fine for stuff on YT that is still h.264, but completely chokes on either HEVC or AV1. I also recently went back and re-ripped & re-encoded all by blu-ray discs that I've purchased over the years (both 1080p & 4K) into HEVC as well, in order to maximize space on my NAS storage, so I can't play any of that stuff on this system either.
I started looking at replacing just the GPU so it would be capable of smooth HEVC/AV1 decoding/playback, and according to the nVidia Video Encode and Decode GPU Support Matrix, the lowest-spec card that can do both HEVC & AV1 10-bit decoding is the RTX 3050, which currently runs around $290 - $300. AMD isn't a whole lot better...their RX 6600 is the lowest-spec card that does HEVC/AV1 decode, which runs around $240. Either of those is a ridiculous amount to spend on a single component just to watch some video, especially considering the ENTIRE REST OF THE SYSTEM only cost $10 more than the AMD card alone would cost me (granted, the CPU was free from a decommissioned system from work, and the SSD was repurposed from an old system of mine from many, MANY moons ago). And neither of those cards has a fanless, single-slot option available to fit in the tiny Mini-ITX cube case.
The GPU I have in there now cost me $43 way back in Sept 2012, and I carried that over into this build. What in the actual Fv<K is going on here, WHY isn't there an affordable, low-power, FANLESS, single-slot, HEVC/AV1-decode-capable GPU available for HTPC and/or low-end PC use?
Anyway, what I want to know is, including previous-gen CPU's, what is the minimum CPU required to use software-only decoding for HEVC & AV1 10-bit (up to 4K resolution)? I still have an old i7-2600K kicking around, as well as the i7-4790K in my sig that's about to be replaced with a Ryzen 9 5950x tomorrow (but neither of which are currently available so I can test them to see if they will work). I'm guessing it's probably too much to hope for that either of those work for this purpose? I'd really lke to get my HTPC back into actual, FULLY usable form as inexpensively as possible, and without requiring a whole new case, because I really like the one I have now.
This is my HTPC system as it stands now:
Free: Intel Core i3-2120 (Sandy Bridge)
Free: 60GB OCZ Vertex 2 SSD
$48.99: ASRock H61MV-ITX LGA 1155 Mobo
$29.99: Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600
$42.99: PowerColor Go! Green Radeon HD 6450 1GB
$87.93: Rosewill Lepton 500w PSU
$39.99: DIYPC HTPC-Cube-BK Case
Total Price: $249.89
Luckily, I do have a 2019 nVidia Shield TV Pro that handles 4K HEVC with no problems, and I've been using that for the local content & HEVC-encoded YouTube, but once YT completely switches everything to AV1, even that will choke because there is no AV1 hardware decoding support in any of the existing Shield products.