Question 1070 isn't handling my 4k content. All CPU. Why?

[eno]

I have added some modern low end cards in this last year to get smooth 4k playback on these Media centers. My dual core G3258 paired with a Nvidia 1030 has made that system be able to handle even 8k 60fps youtube no problem. I just did a upgrade on another media PC that couldn't handle 4k playback. I added a 1050ti to it and now it's smooth as butter with a older i3 CPU. Both systems the GPU gets plenty of utilization while playing heavier files in 4k.

Now my concern and question. I just bought a used 1070 ($140) to replace a pair of R9 290's on a old 2nd Gen i7 2700k OC 4.7ghz. This system barely could play 4k files with those old R9 290's. I was thinking one of the perks to going with a 1070 would be the hardware acceleration benefits like I have seen on my other systems. This 1070 installed with latest drivers is running these files no better than my older 290's. What gives? Youtube videos or my local 4k 60fps GoPro videos barely run with mostly all CPU utilization. GPU isn't doing much at all? Why does my 1030 / 1050ti in weaker CPU systems handle these videos with ease while this 1070 is acting like it's not even there on my i7 system.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Are those different systems running the same OS and software loadout? Chances are, they're not.

 

[Golgatha]

Might check the software settings. They could've reset when you changed video cards or maybe they're set to the old video card still? I agree with your summary though, the 1070 should have better decode support than the 290s it is replacing. And yes, the 1030 is an amazing media PC card. It enables my 2nd Gen Nehalem (Xeon X3470) to playback anything I throw at it.

 

[eno]

Are those different systems running the same OS and software loadout? Chances are, they're not.

Yes, they are all Windows 10 64bit. Some are Home some are Pro version.

I did turn on a chrome setting to not use software encoding and it appears to be working better at least with youtube 4k /60fps. My CPU is barely working now and even my GPU shows only 1% or so.

 

[eno]

I did find in the Windows display settings where I could increase hardware acceleration and I told PHOTOS to run at max acceleration. Now my home videos in 4k 60fps are playing better with far less CPU. I didn't have to make these setting changes in those other 2 systems though. Maybe left over AMD driver corruption... not sure. At least it's working better. Thanks fellow ancient Anandtech users for taking the time to respond.