Cheap 4K Playback, Help !

[irrelevantspechhacks]

Hello,

So I'm wandering here wondering if you could help me.
I basically want to create a tiny build just to play 4K / HDR / 10bits / @60fps videos. Basically watching movies. Basically on H.265 codec.

I'm ready (my budget is small) to build something from the second hand parts I can find, so i'm here to find an alternative of the first solution I found :

In Win Chopin BQ696 case, with a Ryzen 5 2400G Apu, 2x8GB 3200mhz CAS 15 dual channel memory (i'm not sure dual channel change something for this APU but maybe), a good boot drive and a ssd (about that we don't really care).

This case is perfect. It's too small to fit a gpu, so it is really small. it have a small form factor power supply included, so it's perfect. But my limitation is that, mini itx mobo's are more expansive than micro atx. So i have to enter finally in something close to that first solution mentioned, or that first solution, and it end up too expensive for me.

Are you maybe aware of solutions that are close in size from this In Win solution but with cheaper boards, maybe the possibility to put a real gpu (a small one) inside, that would be cheaper ?

I would like ideally to find a cheaper solution same size as the In Win case, and not ideally would have to be smaller than the bitfenix prodigy m case.

If i found out that intel say the truth when they say kabby lake (7th generation) cpu all support 4K H.265 decoding without the need of a GPU, then a cheaper case solution comparable to In Win but where i can fit a cheaper motherboard than the mini itx ones, would make the deal. but i really doubt as some kaby lake cpu are 35$ new and i really doubt a 35$ cpu can decode 4K HDR 10BITS H.265 content @60fps.

 

[LeDelmo]

In-Win Chopin $100+ tax
AMD 2200G $99+ tax
Gigabyte B450i Aorus Pro Mini Itx $120= tax
Duel Channel 4GB DDR4 2400mhz/2666Mhz Ram Sticks SALE $70 end in 5 days Newegg

And the reason for the Gigabyte Motherboard is the front facing M.2 slot with a heat-sink. Allowing you to just buy a cheap 250GB or 500GB M.2 drive to use as your boot drive. So about another $75-$100 there atleast.

Totaling: $490= tax

I would think this set up would be just fine for what you are asking. Hope this gives you some ideas.

Good luck. Happy building.

For a budget build though. Sales will be your biggest friend. I would suggest putting together a plan.

EDIT:
Oh, I forgot to mention. If you are only doing 4K video. You could also check out the Gigabyte BRIX series.

Those things are TINY and are meant to do exactly what you are asking. PLUS they are rather cheap depending on which one you get.

 

[irrelevantspechhacks]

Thanks. And thanks for the recommandation of the BRIX series. definitely beat the in-win on space, but yeah no possibility to upgrade meaning when it's outdated it's outdated. i guess the in-win could be one day upgraded toward a better apu, even an other mini itx motherboard etc..

my current problem is that it seems too much money to spend on a second computer for me right now. i don't have money to throw away and i don't have a monitor. a good monitor in my country is arround 500$, meaning at least 1000$ total..

so i'm actually thinking of alternatives. look like there is no really ton of alternatives. but maybe some other cases cheaper than in-win that people are aware of here, as well as small form factor psu if not included in the case. even if the in-win have a respectable price.. it's still too expensive. and same problem with theses mini-itx board with display port + hdmi (what i want basically, to be able to create a multi monitor setup in the future).

cheap atx board can come to 50$ i think. 120$ seems a premium. i don't really need a m2 slot.. still look like (m2 slot) something high end to me. look like all arround mini itx configs is high end. no cheap solutions.

because the problem is all is not really expensive, but when you add up all it still make a solid 600$ after tax.. my last gaming pc, i bought it on my local craiglist page, paid it 350$, and it was I5 6500, gtx 1060 6gb, 250gb ssd, 16GB ram, ... now i have to pay 2x the price for 4x less performance just for it to be small seems unfair to me even if i know i made a good deal.

is there some aliexpress solution that are viable? like chinese motherboards, chineses small form factor psus, chineses cases and so on? so far i found they do make this but all included, and price seems to be around the same (shipping included) than my configs ideas before tax.

i want to tweak, to diy, but with a guide or something. could be finding a good deal on a gtx 1030, using an ultra cheap cpu, and finding a way to put all that on a cheap mini itx board in a -maybe- custom made case or something like in kit that cost almost nothing. i though maybe you guys have some circuit for that kind of things, etc.. (a bit like raspberry pie moders and builder, ..)

 

[Legion]

Forgive me for saying so, but it seems that you just don't have the budget to build PC for this.
All you want is 4k HDR@60hz .265 playback and nothing else? kind of a waste to build a PC for nothing more than that is it not?
Have you considered other options such as an Android Kodi box, Amazon fire tv (gen 3) and a dozen other boxes like these?
They do flawless 4k HDR .265 decode via hardware.

If you wanted to stretch a little further the Nvidia shield tv is still "arguably" the most premium of these solutions and "may" be in your price bracket!

Tiny boxes that do what you are looking for, for not a lot of money.
Seems like a no brainer to me.

 

[Choidebu]

The answer is to not go sff. Buy the cheapest atx board you can, buy secondhand intel proc, cheap chinese tower cases that includes an atx psu. You can prob build a decent one for 350$ or so.

 

[Choidebu]

Just go to a computer mall and start asking. You mentioned you need 'a guide'? So you don't know how to build a pc in the first place? Well there's a lot in youtubes and the whole big web, just google away.

 

[Choidebu]

my last gaming pc, i bought it on my local craiglist page, paid it 350$, and it was I5 6500, gtx 1060 6gb, 250gb ssd, 16GB ram,

That pc can def do 4K. What happened to it?

. could be finding a good deal on a gtx 1030, using an ultra cheap cpu, and finding a way to put all that on a cheap mini itx board in a -maybe- custom made case or something like in kit that cost almost nothing. i though maybe you guys have some circuit for that kind of things, etc.. (a bit like raspberry pie moders and builder, ..)

Edit: life's short. Sorry for whoever read that.

 

[irrelevantspechhacks]

That pc can def do 4K. What happened to it?

Edit: life's short. Sorry for whoever read that.

i got addicted to gaming and so preferred sold it and work.

about guide i mean step by step guide to mod a bigger case into a tiny pc for example. i just only very recently got knowledge of a big market already existing on that. (mini itx, etc..). i'm new to pc world.

Forgive me for saying so, but it seems that you just don't have the budget to build PC for this.
All you want is 4k HDR@60hz .265 playback and nothing else? kind of a waste to build a PC for nothing more than that is it not?
Have you considered other options such as an Android Kodi box, Amazon fire tv (gen 3) and a dozen other boxes like these?
They do flawless 4k HDR .265 decode via hardware.

If you wanted to stretch a little further the Nvidia shield tv is still "arguably" the most premium of these solutions and "may" be in your price bracket!

Tiny boxes that do what you are looking for, for not a lot of money.
Seems like a no brainer to me.

Yeah i was kind of also looking into this, but i really don't know sh** about that. seems that an usb stick is required, and that somehow i would transfert from my laptop to an usb stick that i will after plug into the nvidia shield that will finally stream the 4k content. seems weird to me. i don't know if i can stream from a non 4K capable laptop on the go on the shield that will decode it and playback. i just checked and compared hdmi 2.0 bandwith and wifi bandwith.. yes that's kind of not possible. But if the shield could work as if the laptop was a streaming source like netflix, maybe it could start the movie before the end of the full movie data received. but that would be tricky, as 4K content often use 40gb space, meaning that the shield would basically need to anyway save the movie on the usb stick plugged in it.

anyway yes i'm slowly considering there is no such things as cheap alternative if i want to stay small. unfortunately small mean no gpu, so expensive board because h.265 only supported by also recent cpu. because a cheap old second hand itx board could have been a solution (with an old cheap gpu that just do 4k playback and a crappy cpu).

maybe I should also simply considering a nas that do h.265 decoding. i already have a cheap nas (the first price synology), so that again would be not nice to buy a second one.. but anyway.. looking into solutions..

for me the real problem is my macbook. it's an early 2015 macbook pro retina 13", cost like 1400$ new and i can't even add an external gpu on it (only work on 2016 models), would have been a windows laptop i think i would have found a solution. grrrr

 

[Legion]

i already have a cheap nas (the first price synology), so that again would be not nice to buy a second one.. but anyway.. looking into solutions..

That's perfect to use for data storage and use an Android box, Amazon fire tv, or nvidia shield tv to pull the data off.
While I can't attest to other solutions, I have 2 Nvidia shield tv boxes at home and they decode 65gb+ rips perfectly, with no stutter, lock ups or any kind of loss off performance via gb lan on a Synology NAS. Streaming via Wi-fi is crap for big rips, you want a wired solution.

The problem here mostly is your "current" lack of knowledge, which can easily be solved by spending some time reading around various forums and watching some Youtube vids. You'll soon learn how other people are doing this

Edit: Without sitting here for hours and hours typing pages of text, this Youtube vid sums up quickly the "better" small, low power box solutions!

 

[Beardedswede]

Even a chromecast ultra can run that. Of course you need to store it somewhere.

 

[el01]

https://www.pine64.org/?page_id=7147

Even better.

 

[Saici]

An ASUS TinkerBoard S can probably do what you're trying to accomplish.
It's about $80.

 

[Stevo_]

Take a look at the Asrock J5005 embedded MB, review below for HDR/HVEC.265 etc 4K HDMI playback. Using one for a linux box at home, just need SSD, M.2 wifi, and some SODIMM RAM, got the MB for ~$125 Newegg. fanless and 33W max.

https://androidpctv.com/review-asrock-j5005-itx-j4105-itx/

 

[Choidebu]

Awesome find @Stevo_ . Looking around, I also found Beelink x55 - an NUC-like prebuilt that also has these j5005 pentiums in em and hdmi 2.0.