Topic: Recommended Hardware?

Hi All,

I am in the process of speccing out an SFF HTPC to use SVP 4 Pro on my 60" plasma (It is currently only on my desktop PC). I have not found any solid recommendations on the forums with regard to the optimal hardware required for 1080p@60fps with most/all settings maxed out. The only link in the wiki is this graph from 2011 for SVP 3 which seems outdated: https://www.svp-team.com/wiki/File:Gpu_speed_fhd.png

My desktop specs are the following:
i5-4670k
8 GB RAM
Radeon 7950
Windows 10 Pro
- The above mostly works for running SVP through Plex Media Player/MPV - I'm not sure how much decoding is being done in hardware here. Maybe you guys could help with identifying that as well?

My requirements in order of importance:
- Play high bitrate (20+mbps) 1080p video files encoded in h.264/h.265 @ a rock-solid 60fps with minimal artifacts (to pass the wife test)
- Runs Windows 10 / Plex Media Player
- fits in an SFF case (mini-itx?)
- NVMe SSD to save physical space
- Quiet/cool (As much hardware decoding as possible to lessen load)
- best bang for the buck

- link up to a home theater system for audio
- future-proof for 4k UHD videos (not necessarily through SVP)

My questions:
Should I wait for Ryzen? I'm totally open to AMD processors as an option. Do the AMD APUs do a good job?
I keep reading that the Kaby Lake processors are great for video decoding efficiency, but I also saw a thread here saying that the i7-7500u was having problems. Is this still the case?
Is a separate graphics card an absolute must-have? or can the cpu-based graphics handle it nowadays?

Any and all input appreciated smile

Re: Recommended Hardware?

The more cores the better when it comes to SVP. If Ryzen is priced nicely it will be great for SVP (and it should be priced nicely), but I am not sure it's necessary for your needs. If your priority is rock solid 60FPS with minimal artifacts, I recommend you use the settings I have provided in the image below, you can change the "Do Frame Rate Conversion" option at the top to "To Screen" option instead of "Movies X3", which is just for me.

As for future-proofing and 4K UHD. I am still waiting for my 4K HDR Sony TV (should arrive any day now), but back in the days I had a 2560x1440 monitor, and up-scaling content to higher resolution had very little (if not nothing) to do with SVP, which means it's not CPU bound. I use MPC + Madvr for optimal quality in up-scaling, and thus it requires a good GPU once that's combined with SVP. Because not only are you scaling every frame up to the desktop resolution (which will be 4K in the future), but you're creating multiple frames at a time to feed them to SVP to do 60FPS motion interpolation on the fly.

Your 4670K should definitely be strong enough right now to run the settings below with SVP 4 PRO, in fact, it shouldn't affect if you're making the jump to 4K too, as aforementioned. Don't forget to right click on SVP and enable GPU Acceleration on your AMD HD7950.

Important note: It's not the HIGHEST settings that are the best with SVP.

http://i.imgur.com/AMXQ7ts.png

3 Reply by ThaVerge (edited by ThaVerge 03-01-2017 00:09:41)

Re: Recommended Hardware?

@Blackfyre Thanks for your input and settings for my current machine. This is very similar to what I have already, and I have noticed replicable choppiness only in one scene - Planet Earth birds ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0WBz5bOTEo ) edit: I have the motion vector grid at a more aggresive setting.

However, I apologize if my question was not clear. I am looking to build a second small HTPC to correct directly to my plasma which will allow me to stay @ 1080p/60fps. This is where I am unsure of what hardware to buy. I know you mentioned Ryzen might be good, but not necessary. So, what would you recommend as necessary from a CPU/GPU perspective for the new box?

Re: Recommended Hardware?

Umm would anyone have any further input on recommended specs for my new machine?

Re: Recommended Hardware?

OK just FYI for anyone reading, I ended up buying the Intel Skull Canyon NUC on sale, and it works beautifully for my needs.

Re: Recommended Hardware?

> I ended up buying the Intel Skull Canyon NUC on sale, and it works beautifully for my needs.

Well, as long as it doesn't throttling because of overheating - good for you wink