Need a cheap, but "modern", GPU.

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fleggett

Gawd
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Nov 30, 2004
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Hi guys. My beloved Samsung 67" DLP finally kicked the can recently, so I had to get a quick replacement. My local Costco had a good deal on a QN75Q6DRAFXZA with white glove shipping, so it's now sitting in my house.

Thing is, it's FAR more modern than the motherboard to which it is attached (an ASRock Z97 Extreme6). According to the manual, this particular ASRock has an undisclosed HDMI spec that can only output 3840x2160 @ 30 Hz. It also has DisplayPort 1.2, but that doesn't help much since the TV only has HDMI ports and the 1.2 spec in and of itself is also fairly old. Besides, I'm sure I need to completely bypass the Intel HD 4600 graphics subsystem.

So, it looks like to take full advantage of the TV, I'll have to get a dedicated GPU. Can anyone recommend a card that has the latest HDMI spec for HDR viewing? I won't be gaming on this system, as it's my HTPC, so just a minimum-spec card will do just for watching 4K content. Either green or red is fine. Prefer something around $50, if possible.

Thanks in advance.
 
The GT1030 is a pretty cheap card, and has HDMI 2.0, which should be able to do 4K @ 60hz. Of course, your TV has to support HDMI 2.0 also. If your TV has to fall back to HDMI 1.4 for compatibility reasons, then you will be limited to 4K @ 30hz.

I will say though, if this is just an HTPC and you are just watching movies and TV shows, 4K @ 30hz should be just fine. Most movies are only 24fps. You might just give it a try using your motherboard video and see if it's actually a problem for you before you spend any money.
 
Any gpu made in the last 3 or 4 years is going to have at least one DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.0b port.

It's good advice to avoid DP to HDMI converters. Going the new GPU route is the smart move.

HDR should be fine, but you should do research to ensure your particular flavor is supported. The Nvidia 10 series can handle 8k 10bit HEVC and 12bit vp9. That should cover most sources.

The GT 1030 checks a lot of boxes, but some streaming apps (i.e. Netflix) use DRM that doesn't play well with it. You'll need to spend a little more for the 1050 if you care about 4k Netflix.
 
Yep! Absalom has a great point on the GT 1030 being an issue with Netflix, friend just had to upgrade from one because of the mentioned issue. You really need a minimum 4GB GTX 1050 for 4K Netflix. Or a 7th gen Kaby Lake CPU for good integrated performance....
 
Thing is, according to this MS HDR article, you have to have HDMI 2.0 in order to achieve HDR playback. And the TV is HDR10 certified, so I'm 99.9% positive the TV has HDMI 2.0 inputs. I've got some HDR content I'm itching to try, as right now, everything has that washed-out look since I'm currently only sending an SDR signal to the (new) TV.

I'll take a look at the 1030. I don't care all that much about Netflix, but if I can swing the 1050, I might go for it anyway just to future-proof (I'm assuming I don't have to splurge for the Ti). I'm sure there's someone around here looking to offload a relatively cheap one on Craigslist.

Thanks for the recs!
 
Wouldn't put too much into the whole future proofing right now with HDMI 2.1 video cards about to come out later this year. Regardless, the 1050 (and others like it) should serve your current TV rather well.
 
What were you connecting your PC to playback on that DLP?

Games? videos? Basic desktop use?

If you were just using it for media playback, you can try the built-in streaming apps in new smart TVs. They will even enable HDR playback on services that support it. If you go Windows for your streaming media, your only available HDR-capable service is Netflix.

Most TVs also include a DLNA media player, for streaming your own video collection over the network (one less reason to keep it connected to the tV)

And if you're just using it for basic desktop use/playing back your existing media library, these $20 adapters will give your DP 1.2 to HDMI 2.0 (without HDR, but should function fine at 60 hz):

https://www.amazon.com/Club3D-Displayport-1-2-HDMI-CAC-1070/dp/B0775Z57H9?th=1

Games will definitely need an upgrade.

If you're just playing back Juarez HDR content, the 1030 will be just fine. Nvidia just placed the restriction on 3GB ram to cover the increased cost of getting their cards certified for Netflix HDR protected content.
 
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The HTPC was (and still is) directly connected to the TV via HDMI. I know next to nothing about networking, hence why the HTPC itself is beside the TV, otherwise I would've put it in a closet somewhere and streamed things via a simple head unit. It's an el-cheepo Norco box that I changed-out with much quieter fans and an AIO liquid cooling loop, so it barely puts out any dBs.

Assuming I have a free adequate PCI-E slot (the machine already has two Supermicro cards), I'll just do the 1050, as I really am curious to see what HDR content looks like. No gaming or productivity will happen on this TV, just brainless vidiot watching.

I actually have no idea what sort of embedded streaming solution comes with the TV. All I know at this point is that it's running some form of Android, as I came across an optimization screen that's almost identical to my phone (an S7). It does have an Ethernet port, though. It would be neat to send video files to the TV via it from the HTPC and let the TV itself handle all the decoding and playback, but my lack of brain cells probably precludes such a cool solution. I also have no earthly idea how I'd interface with the TV since all it came with was a tiny remote that only has around 10 buttons (unlike the DLP remote which had around 50).
 
My daughter has been using an AMD 1600 AF paired with an RX 580 8Gb in HDMI 2.0 with the display being 43" Samsung 7 series 4K as in TV and it's doing 60Hz desktop .. she does Sims as I know that because it was ramping the fans on the RX 580 up and I made a quite profile for her and that game .. not peep from her I over a month or more lol ..

If it was me , find a used RX 570 and call it a day .
 
crazycrave said:
My daughter has been using an AMD 1600 AF paired with an RX 580 8Gb in HDMI 2.0 with the display being 43" Samsung 7 series 4K as in TV and it's doing 60Hz desktop .. she does Sims as I know that because it was ramping the fans on the RX 580 up and I made a quite profile for her and that game .. not peep from her I over a month or more lol ..

If it was me , find a used RX 570 and call it a day .
Click to expand...
AMD is a bit behind on their codec support at this time, that's why you see the Nvidia recommendations.
 
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