I recently grabbed an Intel Arc A380 GPU for $99. This was on a whim after learning from the forums that this card actually excels at transcoding, and popular among Plex enthusiasts. Decided to try it out.
The setting up of card and it showing up in Plex under Transcoding requires some driver installation, and configuration.
Here’s what I did on Ubuntu.
Step 1 – Install Intel Drivers
Client Intel Package Repository Configuration
wget -qO - https://repositories.intel.com/gpu/intel-graphics.key | \ sudo gpg --dearmor --output /usr/share/keyrings/intel-graphics.gpg echo "deb [arch=amd64,i386 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/intel-graphics.gpg] https://repositories.intel.com/gpu/ubuntu jammy client" | \ sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/intel-gpu-jammy.list sudo apt updateInstall Compute, Media, and Display runtimes
sudo apt install -y \ intel-opencl-icd intel-level-zero-gpu level-zero \ intel-media-va-driver-non-free libmfx1 libmfxgen1 libvpl2 \ libegl-mesa0 libegl1-mesa libegl1-mesa-dev libgbm1 libgl1-mesa-dev libgl1-mesa-dri \ libglapi-mesa libgles2-mesa-dev libglx-mesa0 libigdgmm12 libxatracker2 mesa-va-drivers \ mesa-vdpau-drivers mesa-vulkan-drivers va-driver-all vainfo hwinfo clinfosudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 sudo apt update sudo apt install -y \ udev mesa-va-drivers:i386 mesa-common-dev:i386 mesa-vulkan-drivers:i386 \ libd3dadapter9-mesa-dev:i386 libegl1-mesa:i386 libegl1-mesa-dev:i386 \ libgbm-dev:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libgl1-mesa-dev:i386 \ libgles2-mesa:i386 libgles2-mesa-dev:i386 libosmesa6:i386 \ libosmesa6-dev:i386 libwayland-egl1-mesa:i386 libxatracker2:i386 \ libxatracker-dev:i386 mesa-vdpau-drivers:i386 libva-x11-2:i386Install Development Packages
sudo apt install -y \ libigc-dev intel-igc-cm libigdfcl-dev libigfxcmrt-dev level-zero-devReboot your computer.
Step 2 – Install Linux Kernel 6.2+
For hardware encoding to work, you will need the latest 6.2+ Kernel.
First check, what version of Kernel you’ve by executing uname -a. If already 6.2+, then skip.
Download 6.2 Kernel Deb files
cd /tmp/
wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v6.2/amd64/linux-headers-6.2.0-060200-generic_6.2.0-060200.202302191831_amd64.deb
wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v6.2/amd64/linux-headers-6.2.0-060200_6.2.0-060200.202302191831_all.deb
wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v6.2/amd64/linux-image-unsigned-6.2.0-060200-generic_6.2.0-060200.202302191831_amd64.deb
wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v6.2/amd64/linux-modules-6.2.0-060200-generic_6.2.0-060200.202302191831_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i *.debReboot your computer, and once back, verify the latest Kernel is in use uname -a.
Step 3 – Check if GUC and HUC are running
sudo cat /sys/kernel/debug/dri/0/gt/uc/guc_info
GuC firmware: i915/dg2_guc_70.bin
status: RUNNING
version: found 70.5.1
uCode: 369088 bytes
RSA: 384 bytes
GuC status 0x8003f0ec:
Bootrom status = 0x76
uKernel status = 0xf0
MIA Core status = 0x3
Scratch registers:
0: 0x0
1: 0xa03d7
2: 0x2c800
3: 0x4
4: 0x40
5: 0x380
6: 0x56a50005
7: 0x0
8: 0x0
9: 0x0
10: 0x0
11: 0x0
12: 0x0
13: 0x0
14: 0x0
15: 0x0
GuC logging stats:
Relay full count: 0
DEBUG: flush count 0, overflow count 0
CRASH: flush count 0, overflow count 0
CAPTURE: flush count 0, overflow count 0
CT enabled
H2G Space: 2172
Head: 480
Tail: 480
G2H Space: 12284
Head: 95
Tail: 95
GuC Number Outstanding Submission G2H: 0
GuC tasklet count: 0
Requests in GuC submit tasklet:
Global scheduling policies:
DPC promote time = 500000
Max num work items = 15
Flags = 0sudo cat /sys/kernel/debug/dri/0/gt/uc/huc_info
HuC firmware: i915/dg2_huc_gsc.bin
status: RUNNING
version: found 7.10.3
uCode: 0 bytes
RSA: 0 bytes
HuC status: 0x00164001You should see a valid output as shown below. If not, you will need to install firmware from here.
Check if the device is available at /dev/dri
ll /dev/dri
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 100 Jan 7 17:49 .
drwxr-xr-x 20 root root 4.3K Jan 7 17:49 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 80 Jan 7 17:49 by-path
crw-rw----+ 1 root video 226, 0 Jan 7 17:49 card0
crw-rw----+ 1 root render 226, 128 Jan 7 17:49 renderD128You should see an output similar to above. /dev/dri/renderD128 is the device name, which you will need to share with Plex (via docker).
Step 4 – Update docker compose file to allow this device
Simple change, add the following.
devices:
- /dev/dri/renderD128:/dev/dri/renderD128Reboot one last time.
Step 5 – Configure Plex
Device should show up. Select, and save.
Now that it is configured and available for Plex, I will be seeing how good it is for transcoding.
Hopefully, this guide was useful.
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