Building a PC for multi camera streaming

[GM Rod]

Edited videos will be on external media, so I'm thinking I'll have just one M.2 in there.

[mpsparrow]

Just now, GM Rod said:

Edited videos will be on external media, so I'm thinking I'll have just one M.2 in there.

As far as I saw, there is no motherboard that has 2 PCI x4 and an M.2 slot.

[mpsparrow]

Plus, you will need to have very good external storage to keep up with 4K capturing.

[GM Rod]

But the x4 cards can be mounted on x8 or x16 slots, right?
So this one would do the trick:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/K8Jkcf/asrock-motherboard-z170extreme3

[GM Rod]

1 minute ago, mpsparrow said:

Plus, you will need to have very good external storage to keep up with 4K capturing.

Yes and no, because when streaming, it won't be stored anywhere.
And offline videos will be short, and captured into the M.2 at first. The edited final versions are the ones being moved external.

[mpsparrow]

2 minutes ago, GM Rod said:

But the x4 cards can be mounted on x8 or x16 slots, right?
So this one would do the trick:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/K8Jkcf/asrock-motherboard-z170extreme3

I don't think that is how it works. The capture card is x4.

 

[mpsparrow]

Actually, I think it does work. In that case you would be able to get a different motherboard.

[GM Rod]

1 minute ago, mpsparrow said:

Actually, I think it does work. In that case you would be able to get a different motherboard.

Yeah any slot can take cards that are of lower specs. I had a x4 sound blaster in a x16 slot once.

[mpsparrow]

7 minutes ago, GM Rod said:

But the x4 cards can be mounted on x8 or x16 slots, right?
So this one would do the trick:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/K8Jkcf/asrock-motherboard-z170extreme3

Although, that motherboard doesn't have dual ethernet.

[mpsparrow]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Jx7ZXH

[GM Rod]

If I'm using a switch, I only need one ethernet connection, right? Or would it be better to have the two connections straight into the PC? And why?

[mpsparrow]

1 minute ago, GM Rod said:

If I'm using a switch, I only need one ethernet connection, right? Or would it be better to have the two connections straight into the PC? And why?

I don't know that much about ethernet. Probably the same if you used a switch. Although you should look into that.

[GM Rod]

3 minutes ago, mpsparrow said:

I don't know that much about ethernet. Probably the same if you used a switch. Although you should look into that.

I'm just in general, a fan of not having everything depend on the PC itself, you know? Especially when it's running Windows.

[mpsparrow]

2 minutes ago, GM Rod said:

I'm just in general, a fan of not having everything depend on the PC itself, you know? Especially when it's running Windows.

Yeah, I understand.

[GM Rod]

So check it out, this PC is under $2k USD with 4 capture cards and an RX470, and Titanium PSU, M.2 drive, not bad I'd say

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/KwRHqk

[mpsparrow]

An RX470 to deal with 4K?

[GM Rod]

1 minute ago, mpsparrow said:

An RX470 to deal with 4K?

Right, I forgot that. LOL Hold on

[mpsparrow]

Also why a beefy CPU cooler for a non ocing CPU? Get the 6700k.

[GM Rod]

Ok so with a FuryX, it's now 2.1k, still ok

[mpsparrow]

link?

[GM Rod]

2 minutes ago, mpsparrow said:

Also why a beefy CPU cooler for a non ocing CPU? Get the 6700k.

Yeah did that too.

[GM Rod]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/6g2TZ8

[mpsparrow]

I would get a gtx 1070 or 1080. If you are going to be processing 4K.

[Paradine Sage]

So you want to take four separate simultaneous 4k inputs, output 4k content to two separate monitors, all while uploading a 1080p stream to twitch. And you want to do all of this for around two thousand dollars US?

 

Yeah, that isn't happening.

 

You pretty much need to be on X99 or a server grade chip just because of the PCIE lanes needed for four capture cards and a graphics card. Realistically the lowest end CPU you might be able to get away with is a 6850K and that is ~550 right there. A motherboard that can support what you want plus RAM is already going to push you to 1K at least.

 

Between the other components, not including the capture cards, you are probably looking at another 1K at least. And that assumes that you already have the two 4K monitors.

 

4K capable capture cards cost about 500 bucks each, so four of those is 2K right there. At least for anything worth using in any kind of professional setting. I mean did you even read the reviews of the card you linked? Even with bottom tier dreck though you are still looking at 760 bucks or so just on the capture cards.

 

Oh yeah, and even if you have the technical PCIE lanes for 4 capture cards and a graphics card you still run into the fact that standard motherboards don't have five separate mounting points for them on the board.

 

Drop from 4K to 1080p and this becomes possible with off the shelf hardware, but it is still going to be much closer to 3 or 4 thousand dollars than it will be to 2 thousand dollars. And if you insist on four 4K inputs then you would be far better served building four separate "capture boxes" and off loading from all of those to a central system for processing and handling. But four such boxes is still probably going to set you back at least 2K and that doesn't even touch anything on the central system.

 

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To do this right you need to start looking at server hardware as opposed to consumer hardware, and someone else can help you with that.

[GM Rod]

I thought about going all USB on the capture cards. I have a INOGENI here that works perfectly, but... if I'm building a PC from scratch, I feel like I should put as much as I can INSIDE the PC as I can, both because it's more bang for buck and because it's less messy, etc.

 

Hmmm so X99. And a Xeon CPU. Hmmm

As far as the reviews, I actually did! Blackmagic is what's used by most, including Livestream branded hardware... all of those have Blackmagic stuff inside.
But, if you have better suggestions I'll take them!