Kaby Lake video decoding

[WildW]

Just upgraded my HTPC with a Kaby Lake Pentium G4600, and I'm currently using the built-in GPU which includes some fancy hardware video decoding magic. Tried some 4k 60fps VP9 video on Youtube and getting no significant CPU usage, which is exactly what I wanted it for.

Depending on what I read, this video decoder is part of the internal GPU. . . or part of Intel Quick Sync. . . or both? Would I lose this fancy video decoding magic if I were to install and use an older-but-still-capable video card to improve gaming performance? Has anyone experimented with this?

Edit: Here I go answering my own posts again. Experiment 1, add crappy GPU (Radeon 5450) and attempt to play 4k 60fps video. Result: Yuck, that's playing maybe half the frames, visibly speeding up and slowing down. CPU usage remained low however, so the GPU was doing (some of) the work. I guess that answers that then.

Also tried benchmarking the Intel HD630 (running with just 1 stick DDR4-2400) with Heaven, scored 259, placing it faster than Radeon 6770. Am impressed. The 5850 I was planning to slot in there would barely have been an upgrade.

 

[LTC8K6]

Dual channel ram would help the HD630.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yeah, if you're using an iGPU, you really want to utilize dual-channel RAM if it's available on the platform. (I'm looking at you, AM1, for lack of dual-channel support.)

 

[WildW]

Yeah, if you're using an iGPU, you really want to utilize dual-channel RAM if it's available on the platform. (I'm looking at you, AM1, for lack of dual-channel support.)

Was trying to keep costs low and a single stick was quite a bit cheaper on the day. I tend to think of integrated graphics as so poor that I didn't want to put any lipstick on that pig.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yeah, but you do need dual-channel on KBL for the 4K iGPU video decode features.

 

[WildW]

Seems to work fine as is.