Recording Gameplay

[Felkel]

From what I've come to understand, my computer is able to record and produce gameplay for my switch, at 1080p60fps, with an Elgato HD60. I'm still unsure though of how my computer will do for long periods of time. Will it be able to handle long recording sessions do you think or will it explode if I go for more than 10min?

 

Intel inside core i3  3,5GHz

12GB Ram

Windows 8.1

[mariushm]

Why would it have a problem?

The Elgato HD60 does the hard work, it has a hardware encoder on it which takes the game footage and compresses it to h264 ... the PC basically gets the movie already compressed and just saves it to disk.... it's same amount of work as copying a video file from a usb stick to the pc.

 

[Felkel]

23 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Why would it have a problem?

The Elgato HD60 does the hard work, it has a hardware encoder on it which takes the game footage and compresses it to h264 ... the PC basically gets the movie already compressed and just saves it to disk.... it's same amount of work as copying a video file from a usb stick to the pc.

 

I was just wondering, so thank you

[Zando_]

Like Mariushm said, you'll be fine capturing footage. PC may struggle depending on what you want to do with the footage, if you're just straight uploading it you'll be fine, editing it will be a whole different thing though. 

[Felkel]

2 hours ago, Zando Bob said:

Like Mariushm said, you'll be fine capturing footage. PC may struggle depending on what you want to do with the footage, if you're just straight uploading it you'll be fine, editing it will be a whole different thing though. 

Yeah I'm currently trying to export a random 30min video from an editing program and my computer is getting kinda hot. I'd only be doing 15-20 min videos but doing several of those in a row will probably be a big toll on my computer. Got any advice for that?

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, Felkel said:

Yeah I'm currently trying to export a random 30min video from an editing program and my computer is getting kinda hot. I'd only be doing 15-20 min videos but doing several of those in a row will probably be a big toll on my computer. Got any advice for that?

Download HWMonitor and see what temps your CPU hits. If you're staying below 85-90C, you'll be fine. Most CPUs can run at 85C for years and have no issues, even though that's pretty toasty. Given it's an i3, your temps are probably much lower. 

[Felkel]

5 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Download HWMonitor and see what temps your CPU hits. If you're staying below 85-90C, you'll be fine. Most CPUs can run at 85C for years and have no issues, even though that's pretty toasty. Given it's an i3, your temps are probably much lower. 

I just downloaded it but I have no idea which temp to check. Mind telling me which value I'm supposed to be looking at?

[Zando_]

Just now, Felkel said:

I just downloaded it but I have no idea which temp to check. Mind telling me which value I'm supposed to be looking at?

Should have the name of your CPU then stats underneath that. Usually gives temps for each core and then the CPU package (whole CPU). It'll have your mobo and any GPU/HDD/RAM temps or anything else it can find with sensors as well, but it divides them into dropdowns by each piece of hardware. 

[Felkel]

1 minute ago, Zando Bob said:

Should have the name of your CPU then stats underneath that. Usually gives temps for each core and then the CPU package (whole CPU). It'll have your mobo and any GPU/HDD/RAM temps or anything else it can find with sensors as well, but it divides them into dropdowns by each piece of hardware. 

The highest value I can find is 111C on something that says TMPIN6. The rest are below 90

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, Felkel said:

The highest value I can find is 111C on something that says TMPIN6. The rest are below 90

That's a yikes if it's reading properly (most components shut down at 105-110C), but it's probably either a blank sensor that isn't actually used, or a wack mobo sensor (they can often mess up and read wrong). 

Can you give me a screenshot of the window you're looking at? I can't grab mine to show you the CPU section because I'm at work and can't access my PC rn. Just use the windows key + print screen to take a screenshot of the whole desktop (it'll save to a folder named Screenshots in your normal Pictures folder), or search for Snipping Tool, click new, then drag the box around the HWmonitor window and let let off the mouse. Should be an option in the top left corner to save it, name it whatever you want and tell it to put it on the desktop so you can find it easily. 

[Felkel]

1 minute ago, Zando Bob said:

That's a yikes if it's reading properly (most components shut down at 105-110C), but it's probably either a blank sensor that isn't actually used, or a wack mobo sensor (they can often mess up and read wrong). 

Can you give me a screenshot of the window you're looking at? I can't grab mine to show you the CPU section because I'm at work and can't access my PC rn. Just use the windows key + print screen to take a screenshot of the whole desktop (it'll save to a folder named Screenshots in your normal Pictures folder), or search for Snipping Tool, click new, then drag the box around the HWmonitor window and let let off the mouse. Should be an option in the top left corner to save it, name it whatever you want and tell it to put it on the desktop so you can find it easily. 

I'm replying on my phone so here's a picture taken with it. I hope it'll be readable. I can update you later sometime too when I'm not doing something and when my computer has cooled down

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, Felkel said:

I'm replying on my phone so here's a picture taken with it. I hope it'll be readable. I can update you later sometime too when I'm not doing something and when my computer has cooled down

-snip-

That section right there, just scroll down a bit. Everything in the little trees under the "Intel Core i3 4150" line is info about your CPU. The Voltages section is showing you the voltages for all your different CPU stuff, your mobo doesn't have some sensors it seems so a few of those are showing 0 (could do the same thing if you're not running it as admin, sometimes it can't access sensors without that). Then there's the temperatures section, should be a clocks section that shows you how fast the CPU is running, then a usage section showing you the load on each CPU core under that. 

[Felkel]

1 minute ago, Zando Bob said:

That section right there, just scroll down a bit. Everything in the little trees under the "Intel Core i3 4150" line is info about your CPU. The Voltages section is showing you the voltages for all your different CPU stuff, your mobo doesn't have some sensors it seems so a few of those are showing 0 (could do the same thing if you're not running it as admin, sometimes it can't access sensors without that). Then there's the temperatures section, should be a clocks section that shows you how fast the CPU is running, then a usage section showing you the load on each CPU core under that. 

This part?

[Zando_]

Just now, Felkel said:

This part?

-snip-

Yep. Your CPU is maxing at 88C, hottest core at 88C, coldest at 86C (the 3rd column of numbers is the max temp recorded while HWMonitor was open). That's toasty, but still not going to hurt your CPU. You'll need to run it at that temp, 24/7, for years and years before you might notice an issue. A cooler upgrade would be nice if that temp bothers you, but a new CPU and then a new cooler would be a much better choice if you wanna run editing better. May be able to get an old i5 for cheap (those are 4 cores instead of 2 like the i3), but i7s typically stay expensive. All would depend on whether or not you want to upgrade and if so, what budget you'd have. 

[Felkel]

1 minute ago, Zando Bob said:

Yep. Your CPU is maxing at 88C, hottest core at 88C, coldest at 86C (the 3rd column of numbers is the max temp recorded while HWMonitor was open). That's toasty, but still not going to hurt your CPU. You'll need to run it at that temp, 24/7, for years and years before you might notice an issue. A cooler upgrade would be nice if that temp bothers you, but a new CPU and then a new cooler would be a much better choice if you wanna run editing better. May be able to get an old i5 for cheap (those are 4 cores instead of 2 like the i3), but i7s typically stay expensive. All would depend on whether or not you want to upgrade and if so, what budget you'd have. 

I'll be buying other things for recording and such plus games so it'll probably take a while until I can afford a new computer, and I've had this one for quite a few years already. If I'm lucky and really want to I can probably last with this one up to a year more and then I might have some more money. Sounds like a good enough plan before my computer breaks down?

[Zando_]

Just now, Felkel said:

I'll be buying other things for recording and such plus games so it'll probably take a while until I can afford a new computer, and I've had this one for quite a few years already. If I'm lucky and really want to I can probably last with this one up to a year more and then I might have some more money. Sounds like a good enough plan before my computer breaks down?

Heck yeah, it won't suddenly melt or anything and according to the specs that CPU is still 2c/4t so it should be usable for a bit if you don't have the budget to upgrade. If you wanna spend a few bucks, grab some cheap paste like Arctic Silver 5, MX-4, or Noctua NT-H1/H2 (whatever is cheapest, the difference is only 1-2C). Then remove your cooler, clean off the old paste from the bottom of the cooler and the top of the CPU with a paper towel and rubbing alcohol (if you don't have that you can legit wipe it clean with only the paper towel, just don't use water or something since that can kill components). Then make sure it's dry, apply a pea sized blorp of thermal paste to the middle of the CPU, and smoosh the cooler down and tighten it down (if it's an Intel cooler they use little snaps, I can explain how those work better once I'm home and can take pics of mine). Should drop temps a bit, chances are you've got old dried out thermal paste Acer put on there years ago. 

[Felkel]

2 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Heck yeah, it won't suddenly melt or anything and according to the specs that CPU is still 2c/4t so it should be usable for a bit if you don't have the budget to upgrade. If you wanna spend a few bucks, grab some cheap paste like Arctic Silver 5, MX-4, or Noctua NT-H1/H2 (whatever is cheapest, the difference is only 1-2C). Then remove your cooler, clean off the old paste from the bottom of the cooler and the top of the CPU with a paper towel and rubbing alcohol (if you don't have that you can legit wipe it clean with only the paper towel, just don't use water or something since that can kill components). Then make sure it's dry, apply a pea sized blorp of thermal paste to the middle of the CPU, and smoosh the cooler down and tighten it down (if it's an Intel cooler they use little snaps, I can explain how those work better once I'm home and can take pics of mine). Should drop temps a bit, chances are you've got old dried out thermal paste Acer put on there years ago. 

Yeah that sounds about right. I'll probably check with some classmates if they have some paste and can come over and help a bit. I gotta go to sleep about now though so I can update you tomorrow on how the idle temps are looking. And dude, thanks for all the help. You're really a lifesaver

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, Felkel said:

Yeah that sounds about right. I'll probably check with some classmates if they have some paste and can come over and help a bit. I gotta go to sleep about now though so I can update you tomorrow on how the idle temps are looking. And dude, thanks for all the help. You're really a lifesaver

No problem! I love this hobby and am usually happy to help peeps who wanna learn as best I can, lol. Have a good sleep! 

[Felkel]

7 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

No problem! I love this hobby and am usually happy to help peeps who wanna learn as best I can, lol. Have a good sleep! 

Ey that's great, and goodnight. Sleep well you too

[Felkel]

16 hours ago, Zando Bob said:

No problem! I love this hobby and am usually happy to help peeps who wanna learn as best I can, lol. Have a good sleep! 

Hey again, can confirm that about all of my idle temps are around 20-40C, except for TMPIN6 being at 122C so I guess that one just doesn't function properly