What CPU should I use for gaming, streaming, and recording?

[Ssmoosh]

Hello,

 

 I am in the market for building a pc that would allow me to do gaming while streaming and recording at the same time. From looking at streamers it seems like a lot of them are using the intel 9th generation stuff like the i-9 9900K and the i-7 9700K. That being said, which one would be best? or would using an AMD card be better. (the price range of my pc is in-between 1500-2000 dollars for the pc alone.) 

[bzndk]

It depends if you plan to stream on the same computer as you are gaming on, or if you got a extra system to do that.

If you want software encoding on a medium preset Ryzen is the way to go, if you want performance and want to use NVENC on a 16xx series or 20xx series Nvidia GFX Card.

I would tell you to go and take a look on Alpha Gaming's YouTube Channel, he talks alot about what options you got - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCATWC1JSlhzmYeDbjnS8WwA

[manikyath]

if you wanna do it all on one box, i'd say ryzen 3rd gen, or zen2 threadripper if you can squeeze that into the budget.

 

to be blatantly honest, the reason why the big guys tend to have intel extreme edition stuff is either sponsorship or a "whatever, i can afford it" mindset. there's nothing wrong with the intel extreme edition options, they're just not for someone who has a budget to consider.

[mariushm]

A lot of streamers are actually using the video card to stream video so the processor matters very little in the encoding video sense... it matters only for the actual games. 

 

They may use 9900k and other high end Intel processors due to the old idea/reason (and which was true until recently) that Intel processors had slightly higher IPC and reached higher frequencies (like 5 ghz for example), giving a few extra fps in some games that like higher clocks.

With Ryzen 3rd generation the AMD cpus are more or less equivalent with Intel processors, and in some games even faster so you can safely go with Ryzen 3rd generation and get very high frame rates and so on.

Some video cards are powerful enough to create 2 encodings, one for streaming (at lower bitrate like 6-10mbps) and a higher quality encoding (like 60-100mbps) for archival (or to create youtube videos after the live twitch streaming, for example) at the same time, without affecting the game performance much (a few fps loss at most)

 

Some streamers use a 2nd video card like GT1650 or 1060 to encode the archival version, or have a second PC and stream basically an uncompressed version of the game capture to the 2nd pc and the 2nd pc saves it at high quality.

 

An 8 core Ryzen 3rd gen or higher would be powerful enough that you would be able to stream game to Twitch or whatever using the video card to encode, and you could also reserve a couple of cpu cores to create an archival version to your computer using software encoder.

 

 

[Ssmoosh]

3 hours ago, mariushm said:

A lot of streamers are actually using the video card to stream video so the processor matters very little in the encoding video sense... it matters only for the actual games. 

 

They may use 9900k and other high end Intel processors due to the old idea/reason (and which was true until recently) that Intel processors had slightly higher IPC and reached higher frequencies (like 5 ghz for example), giving a few extra fps in some games that like higher clocks.

With Ryzen 3rd generation the AMD cpus are more or less equivalent with Intel processors, and in some games even faster so you can safely go with Ryzen 3rd generation and get very high frame rates and so on.

Some video cards are powerful enough to create 2 encodings, one for streaming (at lower bitrate like 6-10mbps) and a higher quality encoding (like 60-100mbps) for archival (or to create youtube videos after the live twitch streaming, for example) at the same time, without affecting the game performance much (a few fps loss at most)

 

Some streamers use a 2nd video card like GT1650 or 1060 to encode the archival version, or have a second PC and stream basically an uncompressed version of the game capture to the 2nd pc and the 2nd pc saves it at high quality.

 

An 8 core Ryzen 3rd gen or higher would be powerful enough that you would be able to stream game to Twitch or whatever using the video card to encode, and you could also reserve a couple of cpu cores to create an archival version to your computer using software encoder.

 

 

Thanks for the response! So what I am hearing is, go Ryzen. Which Ryzen CPU should I go for if that's the case? This is the current build I am thinking about doing, so how would I change it to make it Ryzen oriented? (I am really new to this.) 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$339.99 @ Best Buy
CPU Cooler	Deepcool Neptwin RGB 56.5 CFM CPU Cooler	$44.98 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z390I GAMING EDGE AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard	$163.98 @ SuperBiiz
Memory	Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-4000 Memory	$102.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Silicon Power A80 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$114.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB BLACK GAMING Video Card	$489.99 @ Newegg
Case	Lian Li TU150 Mini ITX Desktop Case	$109.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA GM 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply	$109.94 @ ModMyMods
Case Fan	Deepcool RF120M(5 in 1) 56.5 CFM 120 mm Fans	$53.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1550.84
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1530.84
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-28 21:42 EST-0500

 

[ImAyaanKhan]

1 hour ago, Ssmoosh said:

Thanks for the response! So what I am hearing is, go Ryzen. Which Ryzen CPU should I go for if that's the case? This is the current build I am thinking about doing, so how would I change it to make it Ryzen oriented? (I am really new to this.) 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$339.99 @ Best Buy
CPU Cooler	Deepcool Neptwin RGB 56.5 CFM CPU Cooler	$44.98 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z390I GAMING EDGE AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard	$163.98 @ SuperBiiz
Memory	Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-4000 Memory	$102.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Silicon Power A80 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$114.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB BLACK GAMING Video Card	$489.99 @ Newegg
Case	Lian Li TU150 Mini ITX Desktop Case	$109.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA GM 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply	$109.94 @ ModMyMods
Case Fan	Deepcool RF120M(5 in 1) 56.5 CFM 120 mm Fans	$53.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1550.84
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1530.84
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-28 21:42 EST-0500

 

Go for 3700x/3900x if you can, that will be the best for your case.

The 3800x isn't all too worth it, seeing as you can OC a 3700x for the same performance

[mariushm]

If you want to stay with ITX, see the config below.

Just double check fan height (your case accepts max 165mm tall) and the itx motherboard I chose may not have a usb 3.1gen 2 connector for the usb type c connector on the front of  the case

If you don't necessarily need ITX system, look on the 2nd config.... it's more of an anti-rgb, it's mostly black or gray stuff with some highlights.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 3.9 GHz 8-Core Processor	$338.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-U12S SE-AM4 CPU Cooler	$59.95 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte X570 I AORUS PRO WIFI Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard	$219.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$134.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Sabrent Rocket 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$119.98 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB BLACK GAMING Video Card	$489.99 @ Newegg
Case	Lian Li TU150 Mini ITX Desktop Case	$109.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA GM 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply	$89.94 @ ModMyMods
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1583.82
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1563.82
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-28 23:18 EST-0500

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 3.9 GHz 8-Core Processor	$338.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Corsair H100i PRO 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$99.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard	Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard	$213.98 @ Newegg
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$134.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Sabrent Rocket 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$119.98 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB BLACK GAMING Video Card	$489.99 @ Newegg
Case	Phanteks ECLIPSE P600S ATX Mid Tower Case	$149.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$79.99 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1682.90
	Mail-in rebates	-$55.00
	Total	$1627.90
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-28 23:46 EST-0500