Want to start streaming, What do I need?

[Ginger FerroChrome]

Hello! I recently built a new PC after not being able to game for a few years...and after the fact got the bright idea to maybe start PNGtubing. I think it might also help me come out of my shell abit since I've realized I'm a very reserved nontalkative individual.

Anyways, first first. I wanna make sure that I did good with my PC specs. First time build. I didn't intend on streaming at first but I did have AAA gaming and music production in mind.

 

Ryzen 5700g w/ 120 x3 Alphacool radiators.

64 Gb RAM @ 3200Mhz

Prime B550M-A mobo

ASUS Dual RX 6700 XT OC...with an exhuast fan on the case side right beside it that feels like it pulls a lot of heat from the card and out the case.

Two 512Gb NVMe boot drives in raid 0...forgot about shared PCIe lanes until yesterday but havn't noticed any issues in casual gaming.

650W PSU

2 1440p monitors up to 170Hz and 1 1080p TV at 60Hz

25 Mbps Down/4Mbps Up internet.

Win 11

Rainbow Dash wallpaper

 

Runs pretty good gaming wise but If I have more than a dozen or two Edge tabs open the does give me some issues with it or other programs locking up.

I would like to keep overclocks as low as reasonable because I really really don't like heat and you know how Dads' are with the thermostat.

 

Aside from specs, what else do I need to get started? Aside from PC gaming I would love to do some console games and if feasible would prefer to capture from a real console instead of emulate.

Btw, I'm not trying to do this as a serious carrer. Just a fun little thing when I'm not at my day job selling car parts.

[8tg]

For streaming from another device? All you’d really need is a capture card.

Since the PC’s only load would really be the streaming itself, which it would do fine, that’s the only additional item needed.

 

Streaming AAA games off of that pc and streaming from that pc may be another challenge though, requiring better hardware overall.

[podkall]

2 minutes ago, 8tg said:

For streaming from another device? All you’d really need is a capture card.

Since the PC’s only load would really be the streaming itself, which it would do fine, that’s the only additional item needed.

 

Streaming AAA games off of that pc and streaming from that pc may be another challenge though, requiring better hardware overall.

depends, if the AAA game doesn't stress the CPU you can record/stream via the remaining CPU power and have no issues

[SImoHayha]

24 minutes ago, Ginger FerroChrome said:

 

Why not emulation? It's easier and simple. Obviously not all consoles are easy to emulate but a majority can be emulated quite well. Exceptions being XBOX and XBOX 360. and some PS3 titles, though in that case there are hacks/wiki for it.

Heat wise: Just leave your GPU/CPU stock. Or downclock them, this will reduce temperatures and still offer more than enough performance.  CPU wise just leave it at like IDK 4.0 GHZ or 3.8 GHZ. For GPU google what that "standard" clock speed is for the GPU clock/memory clock, shave off 500mhz or 400mhz each should reduce temperatures.

Capture Cards: Capture Cards are really plentiful and cheap nowadays. You'd just pick one for like 1080p, watch a few reviews get the one that is best buck for quality and simplicity. Then you plug and attach the device to your console, then that to the PC then utilize OBS ( Streamer software that is free ) then use that to record/stream your console playing needs.


You might need to watch a tutorial for OBS but it's quite simple and easy to understand.

[Middcore]

Don't buy a bunch of hardware specifically for streaming if you're just starting out. You're not going to gain an audience because of better gear. Lots of people splash cash on a setup like they're going to be the next Ninja and then it turns out to be a waste. Try your best to work with what you have and only buy stuff you absolutely need to get started. See if you really like streaming and if you get viewers and then make upgrades sensibly. 

[Ginger FerroChrome]

41 minutes ago, Middcore said:

Don't buy a bunch of hardware specifically for streaming if you're just starting out. You're not going to gain an audience because of better gear. Lots of people splash cash on a setup like they're going to be the next Ninja and then it turns out to be a waste. Try your best to work with what you have and only buy stuff you absolutely need to get started. See if you really like streaming and if you get viewers and then make upgrades sensibly. 

Yup! That's exactly what i'm trying to do. I find my day job to be rather healthy for me and tbh don't wanna splurge on a massive setup until I move out. It's more...i'm already playing a game so why not stream it?

 

1 hour ago, SImoHayha said:

Why not emulation? It's easier and simple. Obviously not all consoles are easy to emulate but a majority can be emulated quite well. Exceptions being XBOX and XBOX 360. and some PS3 titles, though in that case there are hacks/wiki for it.

Heat wise: Just leave your GPU/CPU stock. Or downclock them, this will reduce temperatures and still offer more than enough performance.  CPU wise just leave it at like IDK 4.0 GHZ or 3.8 GHZ. For GPU google what that "standard" clock speed is for the GPU clock/memory clock, shave off 500mhz or 400mhz each should reduce temperatures.

Capture Cards: Capture Cards are really plentiful and cheap nowadays. You'd just pick one for like 1080p, watch a few reviews get the one that is best buck for quality and simplicity. Then you plug and attach the device to your console, then that to the PC then utilize OBS ( Streamer software that is free ) then use that to record/stream your console playing needs.


You might need to watch a tutorial for OBS but it's quite simple and easy to understand.

I'm not really against emulation, I just find OG hardware very enjoyable and comforting. Same reason I started buying cassettes for my classic SHO instead of getting a cheap cassette aux adaptor. I'll probably do DosBOX for old PC stuff but I like my good old DualShock®2

 

Capture cards arn't really an option since I've got a MicroATX build and my GPU pretty much takes up all the slots. USB 3.1 is an option tho.

Most console would be PS2 or older. I actually havn't bought a console since PS3, and I still havn't even finished the Toy Story 3 game on it.

 

And hey, if I can't do new AAA titles, that's fine. If I'm limited to Lethal Company, DBD, TF2, Duke 3D or 3D Pinball, that's fine too!

Thanks for the tips tho. I'll have to play around with clocks and see what works best. A hot room during a dedicated session isn't as big of a deal as casual here and there.

[Spotty]

3 hours ago, Ginger FerroChrome said:

25 Mbps Down/4Mbps Up internet.

Your slow internet upload speed is going to be a problem for streaming. 4Mbps upload speed will mean you will have to limit your video bitrate to below that in order to keep the connection stable.

 

For a 1080p video stream Twitch recommends 6mbps. Youtube recommends 12Mpbs for H264 encoding and 10Mbps for H265 & AV1 encoding.

https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/broadcasting-guidelines?language=en_US

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2853702?hl=en

 

If you tried streaming at those bitrates your internet just simply wouldn't be able to keep up. You could still stream, but you would have to lower the video bitrate to probably 3mbps or below to avoid connection issues. To be able to stream at that bitrate without heavy artifacts and issues you should drop your resolution and framerate down to 720p 30fps (or lower). If you play games that are fast paced or games that are very detailed that are difficult to encode at low bitrates without compression artifacts the stream is going to look bad at those bitrates basically no matter what you do.

[Ginger FerroChrome]

RIP me.
Realistically I could lower the resolution of the screen capture since I would likely have it windowed in the stream vid with chat and my avatar visible.
I wonder if there is a service online where I can upstream just that and let it hand adding the twitch chat and stuff?

[SImoHayha]

16 minutes ago, Ginger FerroChrome said:

RIP me.
Realistically I could lower the resolution of the screen capture since I would likely have it windowed in the stream vid with chat and my avatar visible.
I wonder if there is a service online where I can upstream just that and let it hand adding the twitch chat and stuff?

You  do know there are capture cards that plug in via USB correct???? Not sure if you didn't know that but I'm glad to point it out. Capture cards usually don't plug into the PCIE slots anymore.

[Ginger FerroChrome]

42 minutes ago, SImoHayha said:

You  do know there are capture cards that plug in via USB correct???? Not sure if you didn't know that but I'm glad to point it out. Capture cards usually don't plug into the PCIE slots anymore.

Oh, yeah. totally. I just didn't realize the word card was used so loosely now.

Although having composite RCA input jacks on the front of my case like my old VCR would be kind of a fun silly thing.

And I totally would make that happen if I didn't already have a 3.5" floppy there instead.

[LogicalDrm]

1 hour ago, Ginger FerroChrome said:

RIP me.
Realistically I could lower the resolution of the screen capture since I would likely have it windowed in the stream vid with chat and my avatar visible.
I wonder if there is a service online where I can upstream just that and let it hand adding the twitch chat and stuff?

Those things are minor visual choices. Your bitrate would still be limited to maybe max 3500kbps (720p30).

 

As for getting started overall. Just start doing it. It's very different to game for an (to start imagined) audience vs just friends or solo. And you could record and upload to start more. As you can record with higher resolution and bitrate while downscaling for streaming.

[Ginger FerroChrome]

Just realized I called my GPU a 5060 when it's really an rx 6700 xt. Oops