New Hardware Recommendations

1st Official Post

    Hello All!

    I have been running LibreELEC (and previously OpenELEC) on the following hardware:

    • AMD A10-5700 APU
    • ASUS F2A85-M/CSM Motherboard
    • 8GB DDR3 RAM

    The above setup has worked flawlessly for the last 5 years. However, I recently purchased a 4K TV and would like to take advantage of this resolution, HDR content, etc. Would it be possible for me to just buy a new video card that supports 4K resolutions, HDR, HDMI 2.0, and HDCP 2.2? I can just add said card to a slot and hopefully disable the APU's graphics. If this is possible, would I be limited in any way vs buying all-new components or one of those android boxes? Also, any recommendations on a video card that would be able to achieve this?

    Thank you for your help and for such a great project!

    • Official Post

    Currently, the Android boxes have a better overall capability for video viewing.

    In the PC market, the only current affordable PCI video card would be the passive Nvidia GT1030. The biggest drawback however is that although it can do upto 8K video, it does not support 10bit video under Linux, thus LibreELEC included. Otherwise, it's Windows 10 + Kodi as an alternative.

    AMD cards could be(come) an option, but its video driver support for HTPC usage is still going at a very slow pace in Linux territory.

    Intel's Gemini Lake J4005/4105/5005 chip sets can have a promising future, but also there video driver development is still ongoing. The hardware is pretty new.

    HDR support is also a work-in-progress in Kodi Leia.

    IMO, the cheapest in-between solution would be a simple Android box for now.

    As an alternative source of info, have a look here: START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated February 2018)

    Thank you for the info Klojum. I will take a look at the link for potential boxes. When you say "HDR support is also a work-in-progress in Kodi Leia", do you mean in Linux/LibreELEC or also in the Windows 10 + Kodi alternative? Thanks!