x265/HEVC Decoding - Min hardware

[bob4432]

Looking to put a HTPC together. My current display is 1080p unit. I do not see upgrading my display until this one dies and it is only ~6mos old. At this time and for the foreseeable this will be my display.
My question is what is the min hardware for decoding x265 @ 1080p. The hardware on hand is basically my rig in sig. I plan on picking up a htpc case for matx/itx m/b to fit it in with my 5.1/2 setup as that is all the room will handle. I will have GbE copper to the machine - no worry about bandwidth to the machine from the home server and have 65/25Mb/s reliably from my isp.
So, will the i2500K do the trick, if not what gpu would I need that is available in a low profile setup.
I want to stress there will be NO 4K or 3D videos watched, strictly at most 1080p.

Thanks in advance,
Bob

 

[Charlie98]

Your 2500K will be more than enough, but you need a GPU that will handle the h265 codec... and that means GTX950 or 960.

I just upgraded my HTPC with a GTX950... haven't had much time to fool with h.265 yet, however.

 

[Zodiark1593]

For hardware decode, the only thing on the market currently are the GM206 duo (GTX 950/960). For 1080P HEVC though, your CPU can probably just brute-force it until Polaris launches. The aforementioned cards are not what I consider worth it just for HEVC alone, unless you plan to game on the side as well.

edit: The above GPUs are not available in a low profile form as far as I'm aware. Thus your only choice for HEVC is to brute force it for now.

 

[bob4432]

For hardware decode, the only thing on the market currently are the GM206 duo (GTX 950/960). For 1080P HEVC though, your CPU can probably just brute-force it until Polaris launches. The aforementioned cards are not what I consider worth it just for HEVC alone, unless you plan to game on the side as well.

edit: The above GPUs are not available in a low profile form as far as I'm aware. Thus your only choice for HEVC is to brute force it for now.

Thanks, good news . No gaming on this machine, haven't gamed in some time and nothing looks interesting as I like fps and everything now just seems like a "Madden" upgrade. Have PS3 & 360, on this display but just use the PS3 as my BluRay player, not much use for the 360. Didn't go a newer gen console, just into other things - can thank the game manfs for that.

 

[Binky]

Nvidia Shield...

 

[Bryf50]

Just software decode it. Hardware decoding is a shit show for the first few generations anyway.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Just software decode it.

Good luck with that. Software decoding a 4k 10bit HEVC video on a i7-4790 can use up to 90% of all cores. There isn't a laptop/NUC CPU on the market that I would bet my life could do it consistently.

It's GTX 950/960 or bust for 4K content (if it ever gets liberated from the disk).

 

[Zodiark1593]

Good luck with that. Software decoding a 4k 10bit HEVC video on a i7-4790 can use up to 90% of all cores. There isn't a laptop/NUC CPU on the market that I would bet my life could do it consistently.

It's GTX 950/960 or bust for 4K content (if it ever gets liberated from the disk).

Thankfully for Op though, he intends to do 1080P HEVC according to his post, at least for the near term. By the time OP wants to do 4k, there will probably be way more cheaper options available, and until then, he should have enough brute for it.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Thankfully for Op though, he intends to do 1080P HEVC according to his post, at least for the near term.

If it is 10bit 1080p HEVC you still need around a modern i3 to software decode (or OPs 2500k). 8bit is a little more forgiving, and hybrid decoders on the market actually handle it OK.

 

[thesmokingman]

Be careful with choosing the bit depth, not a whole lot of mobile devices that I'm awareof can run 10bit and higher.

 

[bob4432]

Thx