Is a separate stream PC worth it? What are the specs I need?

[carlosmunoz08]

Hi Everyone,

I am currently using this setup:

Intel i5-4690K at 4.50Ghz

Asus Z97A

16GB DDR3 RAM

GTX970

 

I started exploring streaming recently and found it quite fun. I can stream most of the my games such as HOTS, Dying Light, etc on OBS using Quicksync just fine. However, I have noticed some performance slowdowns if I stream games that are relatively taxing on the CPU. In my case, that is PUBG. I also noticed the quality is kind of far from those that I follow on twitch. 

 

My current OBS settings are:

Encoding: Quick Sync on Best quality preset / NVENC on automatic preset (if I'm playing a CPU intensive game)

CBR enabled

Max Bitrate 2500

Resolution: 720p

FPS: 60

 

Is this issue something I can resolve by getting a new gaming/  streaming PC (with Ryzen 7)? Or should I just get a second-hand PC that I can use to encode the video? 

 

I have a friend selling this PC:

 

i5 - 4440

4GB DDR3

Asus H81M-C

Cougar SL600W

 

Will this be able to help me stream with better quality ? Is this PC even strong enough to do the encoding? I'm sure game performance will be untouched if I get a second PC. Is it even worth it right now given that I am fairly new to streaming? 

 

What do you guys think? 

 

Thanks

Carlos

 

[Skiiwee29]

PUBG is a very hard CPU bound game. It all but brings even the strongest of machines to their knees. You should look at getting an older i7 system if you want to do a streaming PC or look at cheaper Ryzen 5 or 7 options. i5's I feel are NOT meant for streaming but these are my opinions and may not reflect those of others. 

[carlosmunoz08]

Hi Legacy99,

At this point, I think you know more than me...so thanks for the input. If that is the case, then I should just get a new gaming PC powered by Ryzen 7 rather than buying a second hand with an i5. Let's wait for more people to share their thoughts to get more color.

Thanks!
Carlos

[RileyTheFox]

8 minutes ago, carlosmunoz08 said:

Hi Everyone,

I am currently using this setup:

Intel i5-4690K at 4.50Ghz

Asus Z97A

16GB DDR3 RAM

GTX970

 

I started exploring streaming recently and found it quite fun. I can stream most of the my games such as HOTS, Dying Light, etc on OBS using Quicksync just fine. However, I have noticed some performance slowdowns if I stream games that are relatively taxing on the CPU. In my case, that is PUBG. I also noticed the quality is kind of far from those that I follow on twitch. 

 

My current OBS settings are:

Encoding: Quick Sync on Best quality preset / NVENC on automatic preset (if I'm playing a CPU intensive game)

CBR enabled

Max Bitrate 2500

Resolution: 720p

FPS: 60

 

Is this issue something I can resolve by getting a new gaming/  streaming PC (with Ryzen 7)? Or should I just get a second-hand PC that I can use to encode the video? 

 

I have a friend selling this PC:

 

i5 - 4440

4GB DDR3

Asus H81M-C

Cougar SL600W

 

Will this be able to help me stream with better quality ? Is this PC even strong enough to do the encoding? I'm sure game performance will be untouched if I get a second PC. Is it even worth it right now given that I am fairly new to streaming? 

 

What do you guys think? 

 

Thanks

Carlos

 

Streaming PCs can be expensive and time consuming. You would need some sort of capture card to get the output from your gaming PC. Also relatively decent hardware. I was thinking of making a streaming PC but realised it's just way too much effort. All the settings you have to mess with to get things right, to me it's just not worth it.

 

I would just recommend saving up to upgrade your entire PC. The new Intel i7 8700/8700k would be a good streamer and gaming PC. Pair it with some GTX 1060 6GB or a GTX 1070 and you'd have a rocking PC.

 

This obviously all comes down to how much you have to spend. If you have the money to get something like an 8th gen platform, go for it. It would be worth the money. You will also not need to do as much settings tweaking for things to work. 

 

Hope I helped. 

[joshfrog]

if your looking at setting up a streaming pc, if your happy to build one maybe you could build a new gaming pc and use your current system as the streaming box. your current pc is good but if your looking at new hardware like a ryzen 7 that could make a good gaming pc. i dont know if the ryzen 7 beats the i5-4690K but your looking at an 8 core 16 thread vs 4core you could use the 970 in your new gaming pc.

[carlosmunoz08]

1 minute ago, EvilCat70 said:

Streaming PCs can be expensive and time consuming. You would need some sort of capture card to get the output from your gaming PC. Also relatively decent hardware. I was thinking of making a streaming PC but realised it's just way too much effort. All the settings you have to mess with to get things right, to me it's just not worth it.

 

I would just recommend saving up to upgrade your entire PC. The new Intel i7 8700/8700k would be a good streamer and gaming PC. Pair it with some GTX 1060 6GB or a GTX 1070 and you'd have a rocking PC.

 

This obviously all comes down to how much you have to spend. If you have the money to get something like an 8th gen platform, go for it. It would be worth the money. You will also not need to do as much settings tweaking for things to work. 

 

Hope I helped. 

Thanks EvilCat70,

So far consensus is just use 1 PC. Nice!

Carlos

[manikyath]

the advantage of a seperate streaming rig is you can go the "brute force" way and just do cpu x264, feeding it "ALL the cpu", at the cost of needing a second system, a means to control it (screen, mouse, keyboard), a capture card, more cables, and so on.

 

if you give OBS a recent core i7 to munch on with cpu x264 you can easily set it to slow preset, which is pretty much night and day difference from quicksync or even NVENC, at the cost of extra hardware.

 

NVENC and quicksync are amazing technologies for capturing what you're doing on your system, they are very resource efficient, you barely notice them running.. the only downside is that expecially with quicksync, there's really no performance scaling up when you need to encode, for example, lower bandwidth.

[carlosmunoz08]

2 minutes ago, joshfrog said:

if your looking at setting up a streaming pc, if your happy to build one maybe you could build a new gaming pc and use your current system as the streaming box. your current pc is good but if your looking at new hardware like a ryzen 7 that could make a good gaming pc. i dont know if the ryzen 7 beats the i5-4690K but your looking at an 8 core 16 thread vs 4core you could use the 970 in your new gaming pc.

Hi Joshfrog,

 

I'm contemplating on that because that is the 'more expensive' option haha! And I was thinking , if I get a Ryzen 7, shouldn't I just use that PC to game and stream at the same time?

Thanks!

Carlos

 

[carlosmunoz08]

2 minutes ago, manikyath said:

the advantage of a seperate streaming rig is you can go the "brute force" way and just do cpu x264, feeding it "ALL the cpu", at the cost of needing a second system, a means to control it (screen, mouse, keyboard), a capture card, more cables, and so on.

 

if you give OBS a recent core i7 to munch on with cpu x264 you can easily set it to slow preset, which is pretty much night and day difference from quicksync or even NVENC, at the cost of extra hardware.

 

NVENC and quicksync are amazing technologies for capturing what you're doing on your system, they are very resource efficient, you barely notice them running.. the only downside is that expecially with quicksync, there's really no performance scaling up when you need to encode, for example, lower bandwidth.

Hi Manikyath,

OH! this is actually something I have not thought of! Does the new i7s share the same slot as my i5? Or will that also translate to a new motherboard? If not, then this may be something! I'm not much of a techie but does the new gen i7 really offer that much performance over what I have? To the point that ill be able to use x264 even with CPU intensive games?!

Thanks!
Carlos

[joshfrog]

yeah it would be more expensive so it would come down to how much money do you want to spend on it. if you plan on serious gaming and streaming having two computers would be a good option because some games would be harder on your system then others. but i guess it depends on how serious you want to take it.

a ryzen 7 would be able to stream and game but it depends on the settings you stream and games you play.

[manikyath]

Just now, carlosmunoz08 said:

OH! this is actually something I have not thought of! Does the new i7s share the same slot as my i5? Or will that also translate to a new motherboard? If not, then this may be something! I'm not much of a techie but does the new gen i7 really offer that much performance over what I have? To the point that ill be able to use x264 even with CPU intensive games?!

with an i7 you'll only win about 10% over your i5, if you're considering an upgrade you'd be better off looking at for example ryzen, because having more cores means the game and encoding dont need to share resources as much.

[carlosmunoz08]

2 minutes ago, joshfrog said:

yeah it would be more expensive so it would come down to how much money do you want to spend on it. if you plan on serious gaming and streaming having two computers would be a good option because some games would be harder on your system then others. but i guess it depends on how serious you want to take it.

a ryzen 7 would be able to stream and game but it depends on the settings you stream and games you play.

Would you happen to be familiar with setting up OBS? What would you say is the setting that would be visually appealing at a minimum level? Is it just me or is the pixelation when turning in shooter games bothersome?
 

 

[carlosmunoz08]

3 minutes ago, manikyath said:

with an i7 you'll only win about 10% over your i5, if you're considering an upgrade you'd be better off looking at for example ryzen, because having more cores means the game and encoding dont need to share resources as much.

10pct for that much money? Awww man!

[manikyath]

Just now, carlosmunoz08 said:

10pct for that much money? Awww man!

upgrading i5 => i7 never quite made sense.

 

so as i said, if you're gonna sink money in your rig, get more cores.

[carlosmunoz08]

1 minute ago, manikyath said:

upgrading i5 => i7 never quite made sense.

 

so as i said, if you're gonna sink money in your rig, get more cores.

Looks like I have to wait and save a few more bucks haha!

[joshfrog]

im not, sorry i dont stream. you would want to work out your settings you want to use.