Turning a HP Pavilion p6331p Desktop PC into a Streaming machine

[davidvkimball]

I'm looking to drastically upgrade my PC to stream console games on Twitch (ideally 1080p with nearly flawless capture).

 

I have a good internet connection, solid web cam, high quality mic and headset, I just have to finalize my PC build.

 

With the exception of my video card with is a NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT, 1GB 128-bit DDR2, all my current PC's specs can be viewed here:

 

http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c01959723

 

It's been suggested that I upgrade my CPU (i5 or i7), GPU, and Power Supply.

 

Does anyone have any good recommendations for this?

 

Let's say my budget is around $1K USD. 

 

Any help would be great! Thanks.

 

Note: I'm not as interested in streaming PC games, so an intense video card isn't as much of a priority as the processor. 

[FLAMMABLEGAS17481]

Cool. gimme 1 minte

[dadasmithywinkle]

I'm looking to drastically upgrade my PC to stream console games on Twitch (ideally 1080p with nearly flawless capture).

 

I have a good internet connection, solid web cam, high quality mic and headset, I just have to finalize my PC build.

 

With the exception of my video card with is a NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT, 1GB 128-bit DDR2, all my current PC's specs can be viewed here:

 

http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c01959723

 

It's been suggested that I upgrade my CPU (i5 or i7), GPU, and Power Supply.

 

Does anyone have any good recommendations for this?

 

Let's say my budget is around $1K USD. 

 

Any help would be great! Thanks.

 

Note: I'm not as interested in streaming PC games, so an intense video card isn't as much of a priority as the processor. 

 

You'd need a new mobo in order to get an i5/i7. If you have a budget of $1,000 then you should just build a new computer.

[Lotus]

Well, first of all the only component on that system worth keeping is the RAM. You could re-use the HDD, but I wouldn't consider it reliable enough to use as a main HDD. The case is fine I guess for an mATX case, but really with a budget of $1k you can do better.

 

This is honestly what I would do:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($66.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Club 3D Radeon R9 280 3GB royalKing Video Card  ($164.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $569.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-12 01:54 EST-0500

 

For this, you'd be re-using your case, memory, HDD (as secondary storage), and optical drive (which you really don't need). You could get a new case like an NZXT S340, but you don't really need one. The new case would certainly make the build look and appear much nicer though, honestly. Plus, if you did, you could switch the MoBo out for an ATX size instead of mATX. The CPU is excellent, especially for the price. It has the performance of an i7 for the cost of an i5, but no iGPU (which is no problem since there's a dedicated one). It's ideal for multitasking such as gaming and streaming (if you ever wanted to do that). The GPU is solid, but not hugely expensive. It cannot handle the latest and greatest games at 1080p 60fps on ultra, but it's still good. The SSD is just a cheap SSD that still performs decently. It's not great, but it's decent and is very cheap. The PSU is also a good budget option. Overall, for the performance there's little you could do to lower the cost, and certainly no need to go for better parts (except the GPU if you want to play the newest and most demanding games at max settings, and possibly a 240GB SSD).

[KayTees]

-CHOP-

Off-Topic: Nice shirt, I have the same one.

[Trynone]

My thoughts are...

 

Buy a new...

 

             Case

             Intel motherboard

             Intel CPU (the main part of your budget... choose an i7 for high quality streams or an i5 with lots of ghz).

             New 620W (or maybe 750W) PSU

 

 

Keep your RAM, hard drive, and other stuff. If you need to, you can always upgrade your graphics card or switch to an SSD later.

You might want to wait until the GTX 960 graphics cards come out for something more affordable and not overkill for streaming something from a console.

[Trynone]

Following my previous post, here are some hardware suggestions:

 

 

Case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146067

OR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146073

 

Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132118

 

CPU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117369

 

Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371059&cm_re=antec-_-17-371-059-_-Product

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Keep your RAM, and you can use your other parts or upgrade them/add more later. If you don't want to wait for the GTX 960 you can look into this card... 

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J0ISHMQ/?tag=extension-kb-20

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121855

[davidvkimball]

Awesome, thank you all, this is very helpful! 

[Darel]

just for info... If you want some day to overclock.. get z97 chipsets not h97