Usefulness of a GTX 1650

[awesome_sheep]

Hi all! 

 

I've managed to get my HEXOS instance up and running using some old parts that I've sourced locally. Currently, I'm rocking a i7-9700, with 32 gbs of ddr 4 ram, with a SSD and HDD pool. I have a GTX 1650 lying around. Would there be any use in plugging in the 1650, for hardware acceleration? Realistically, I'll only be running at most 2 streams on plex at any moment. Or would the extra power consumed be for nothing? 

[Todd Miller]

That is what I am using and for the same reason, it was just laying around.  I only really notice it working when I dump a bunch of movies or family videos into Plex.  I think Jellyfin would have value also but I use it very sparingly so I don't see the same bump.  I didn't get a power reading before I stuck it in so can't help there on electrical impact or cost.

As an aside, I am slowly buying four 8tb drives to replace the four 4tb drives I have connected now.  When I complete the set I am going to rebuild from scratch so I hope to have some solid number from that experience.  Might not be as helpful at that time but I have to do it anyway so why not track it all.

[Mobius]

On 12/7/2025 at 10:18 PM, awesome_sheep said:

Would there be any use in plugging in the 1650, for hardware acceleration?

Not really the 9700 is already quite good at transcoding video.

On 12/7/2025 at 10:18 PM, awesome_sheep said:

would the extra power consumed be for nothing? 

quite likely since just adding a gpu will be increasing idle power draw by 10-20w

 

You can always test a worst case scenario and if you think your intel cpu can't handle it then try the nvidia gpu.