I'm currently running an i5-14600 processor with an RTX 3070, paired with 32 GB of RAM and an MSI PRO B760M-E DDR4 motherboard. I don't face any issues when gaming, but when I try running media playback with Jellyfin on one monitor and streaming my work PC through Parsec on another, everything starts to stutter—especially the video playback and the streaming performance.
I've tried a few things, like software rendering for both Parsec and video, but that led to really poor performance. I also tried forcing Windows to use the integrated GPU of my i5-14600K for non-gaming tasks, but it still resulted in choppy playback, even when I'm not gaming.
Now I'm considering getting a low-power GPU, like the GT 1030, to connect to my secondary monitors and direct Windows to use it for non-gaming tasks. Would this setup help? Also, my motherboard only has a 1x PCI-E 3.0 x1 slot, so I'd need an adapter for that. Will this create a bottleneck?
2 Answers
Regarding the GT 1030, I wouldn't recommend it since NVIDIA no longer supports the 10 series. A better option might be the Intel Arc A310. It’s very affordable and excels at handling media tasks. I use an A310 for transcoding on my Plex server, and it works great!
As for using dual GPUs, I’ve done it before, but only with software that allows you to choose which GPU to use. I'm not sure how Windows manages this, though.
And yes, that 1x PCI-E 3.0 x1 slot will create a bottleneck, but for tasks that aren't very demanding, it shouldn't be a huge issue. My A310 runs off a 1x connection, and I've had no problems with Plex.
What’s the refresh rate of your main monitor? I’ve noticed many setups have stuttering issues when the primary monitor runs at a different refresh rate compared to the secondary one (like having one at 60Hz and another at 144Hz).
My main monitor is 180Hz, while my other two are at 100Hz and 60Hz.
You’re right; I completely forgot about the support issue! My Jellyfin server sends the transcoded media to me, but even at simple 1080p 3 Mbps, there's a noticeable performance hit while gaming, especially with Parsec involved.
As for choosing GPUs in Windows, it has options for setting which GPU gets used for certain apps; I just don’t see it working consistently.