Got a little itx htpc in the bedroom with an i3-10100 in it that's hooked up to a 42" LG CX. No dedicated gpu I just use the integrated Intel 630 graphics. Don't game on it or anything, the hardest workout it gets is when I'm playing a H265 encoded video while also having 15 tabs open in Edge, which is most of time, and even then the cpu sits around 5% usage in task manager.
But now I have a spare i5-12600, which I was thinking of selling until I saw that PB Tech have a little itx board for it for $199 at the moment, so now I'm thinking I might chuck it in the case to replace the i3.
Do you think it would be worth the upgrade? I'm asking because I saw that the i5 on Intel's website has under Video Specs 'Multi-Format Codec Engines', which it says "provides hardware encoding and decoding for amazing video playback, content creation, and streaming usages". The i3 doesn't have this listed under its specs, and I've tried looking up comparisons between the two chips and uhd 630 vs uhd 770 graphics, but everyone is focused on gaming performance with these iGPU's and not video playback.
So long question short, do you know if the 12600 will provide better video playback than the 10100? Is it worth the upgrade or should I just wait another few years?