Streaming PC?!

[Hogger1]

I've been trying to get my dual PC streaming setup done for the couple last days and after searching for the recommended specs for the streaming PC I decided that I'm going to get my old PC out of the dusty closet (i5 4440, 8Gb of some cheap ass non brand RAM, no GPU) and stick an Elgato HD60 Pro internal capture card in there. 

 

So.. I used to stream on my gaming PC (i7 7700k, gtx 1070, 32gb RAM..) and I was getting a pretty solid 50-60fps on OBS with a max peak of CPU usage around 10%.. well.. now with the exact same settings (and yes.. I tried some lower settings as well..) I'm getting around 20-35fps on my streaming PC with 60-90% CPU usage and a horrible stuttering.. So my question is.. is it just impossible to run the encoding on this old PC or am I just doing something wrong? Some people have told me Elgato uses GPU and others say you don't need one and that they can stream 720p60fps succesfully with a Pentium CPU?! *confused*

 

OBS settings:

Encoder: x264

Output: 720p60fps

Bitrate: 5000

CPU Usage Preset: veryfast

Downscale Filter: Bicubic (Sharpened scaling, 16 samples)

[Skiiwee29]

Thats a pretty low powered chip to be honest.... I did a stream on my wifes rig a month ago when I upgraded mine and used similar settings except the bit rate was down at about 3500 which should be more than enough for what you want. Try lowering your bitrate as this is likely where the issue is stemming from. My Wifes CPU is a i5 6400 so its the direct upgrade to yours.  

[Hogger1]

Yes I know it's a really low power chip but I'm just confused because some people claim they can stream 720p60fps no problem with similar/even worse CPUs. I just want to know if that's somehow possible or are those just lies?

 

And seeing the difference between my 2 PCs when streaming doesn't seem to make sense to me because I don't think there should be that big of a cap D:

[Skiiwee29]

17 hours ago, Hogger1 said:

Yes I know it's a really low power chip but I'm just confused because some people claim they can stream 720p60fps no problem with similar/even worse CPUs. I just want to know if that's somehow possible or are those just lies?

 

And seeing the difference between my 2 PCs when streaming doesn't seem to make sense to me because I don't think there should be that big of a cap D:

chances are they are likely using the GPU for encoding instead of CPU. 

[TechyBen]

I am using GPU (1050ti) streaming in OBS and an old i5... the i7 has HyperThreading so can use the spare overhead/lanes to stream a lot smoother than an i5. That and the clock differences are also larger!

 

You will need a GPU in there, or an i7 I guess.

[Hogger1]

So I'm guessing the core/thread count has way more effect on stream encoding than clock speeds.. so a Ryzen.. say the new 2700x (8 core, 16 thread) at 3.7Ghz would be much better than a i7 7700k or even a i7 8700k? Correct?