I'm setting up a dedicated media center PC in my living room using some old parts from my upgraded gaming rig. It will be connected to a 4K TV via HDMI, and I'm planning on streaming movies and shows. I have an Intel i7-7700K CPU with integrated Intel HD Graphics 630, and I'm wondering if I should use my old EVGA GTX 1070 GPU for this build. Will the dedicated GPU make a difference for just streaming video content, or is the integrated graphics sufficient? I want to highlight that my goal is to watch streaming services and play local media files in both 1080p and 4K, with no other computer tasks involved.
3 Answers
It really depends on what you need. The i7-7700K does support hardware decoding for nearly all major codecs except for AV1, but make sure your motherboard has the right HDCP support. Keep in mind that the HDMI version only allows 4K at 24fps. If you want to watch YouTube or play local 4K files, you should be good with integrated graphics!
I've been using a similar setup with an i7-6700 and the onboard graphics as a media center, and it's handled 4K video without any issues thanks to having 16GB of RAM and an SSD. It wouldn't handle gaming well, but for streaming, it's been just fine!
Interesting, thank you for sharing! It's good to know that your setup works well for streaming.
Honestly, 4K playback with commercial streaming on HTPCs can be tricky. While the GTX 1070 can help with 4K files, you might face challenges with most 4K content unless it's DRM-free like YouTube. But don't forget, the 10 series GPUs do support HDCP 2.2, so they should handle 4K60 playback for Netflix and Prime effectively!
Exactly! The GTX 1070 can definitely handle those streaming services, so it's a solid choice if you have it available.
Good points! I definitely want to stream from Netflix and Hulu, so that HDCP support will be important.