PC Upgrades for 4K playback

Cory Dorning

Reputable
Jun 14, 2015
9
0
4,510
I built a PC back in 2015 basically as an emulator/rom station and for video playback with light gaming. I have since upgraded the tv it was hooked to with a Vizio P65 and Denon AVR-X3300W.

I primarily use Plex for playback (some Netflix) and want the PC to be able to play H.265 (HEVC) and VP9 (and AV1 if possible and not too costly?) I'd also like HDR10 support. Currently it is quite choppy and there's a noticeable stutter.

My current build is as follows and i'm thinking i'm gonna have to upgrade the mobo, cpu and video card, but i'm not sure which is why i'm here.

Intel Core i5-4690K
ASRock Z87 Extreme4 Socket 1150
G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) Ripjaws X Series DDR3 1600MHz PC3-12800
Sapphire Radeon R9 285 (2gb GDDR5)
EVGA 600B ATX PSU
WD Red 4TB 5400RPM HDD
Thermaltake V3 Black Edition ATX Mid-tower
Windows 10 64-bit

Recommendations are GREATLY appreciated! My budget is whatever it takes to achieve the above, as cheaply as possible.
 
Maybe a new GPU for better HDR support. Something like a GT 1030 would probably do if you don't game all that much. Otherwise something like a GTX1080Ti to push a 4K panel.

As for the stuttering, not likely to be CPU related, I suspect it is your slow hard drive. Look into a 7200RPM drive.
 
Enable Hardware acceleration. Don't know about your R9 285 but 4690K should have Intel Quick Sync. I can watch 4K with my 1060GB. You might wanna buy 1070 to stay future proof.

If your iGPU is disabled, enable it from BIOS + install Intel drivers.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/115002178853-using-hardware-accelerated-streaming/
https://forums.plex.tv/t/what-gpu-to-get-for-hardware-acceleration/227537
 
Solution