Do I NEED a 2nd rig for streaming - and if so, what?

[hazeyez]

I've made a couple posts in the last few weeks looking for advice on whether I need a 2nd rig or not for streaming. A lot of people said no, a lot of people were worried about spending money unnecessarily. 

 

I'm not rich, but I have a few bucks - and I want to build another rig. BUT - is the NEED THERE? I don't know - that's what I am here asking. A lot of people stream on their gaming desktops.

 

Well, it just so happens that my gaming desktop isn't really top of the line, but I'd say it's certainly mid-tier. (See my signature below for specs).

 

My worry is losing performance from my CPU.... I don't have a very powerful CPU to begin with... well, that's not completely true - it gets up to 4.2GHz on turbo - but it's only quad-core. 

 

I wonder which aspect of CPU performance is more necessary for streaming? If I had to guess - I'd say multi-core & thread, no? That is the problem - I don't have hyper threading.. or a lot of cores.

 

For that reason alone, I feel I would benefit by building a secondary rig for streaming - even if it were a $500 budget rig just to get up and running for now until I get serious.....

 

While gaming, my CPU workload is maxed. It's very difficult to handle multiple operations without lagging on this CPU. 

 

Also - if gaming & streaming from the same rig - would it affect my GPU as much?

 

 

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So, the question becomes - if I do choose to build a secondary rig for streaming - what do I build? 

 

As you may know, the new Phanteks Evolv X chassis just launched - best case previewed at Computex 2018 - you can build two systems into this one case - perfect for a gaming/streaming setup. However, I am getting ahead of myself - that will come, but at least not until Black Friday/Cyber Monday - or until the new Intel i9-9900k CPU launches.

 

SO - I was looking at doing a build with a Ryzen 5 2600 - but then I found out it has no basic integrated graphics like Intel chips have - so I am considering the 2400g, over clocked of course!

 

That should suffice, with 8gb RAM, some power, cooling - and a capture card - yeah? 

 

If I can get 720p 60fps, or at least 1080p 60fps - I'd be happy. I think that very basic build is attainable for $500 or less, no? 

 

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Any and all input is appreciated - from either perspectives - 1) Use same rig to stream or 2) Build secondary rig

 

THANKS!

 

 

 

 

[Slottr]

If youre considering building a whole new pc just to stream your other pc, maybe look into a build using a 1700 or 2700 and selling your current pc.

[Fasauceome]

You can improve streaming performance from your gaming rig with an i7 7700k. go from 4 cores, 4 threads to 4 cores, 8 threads. You can  stream no trouble with it, in fact I used to game and stream on a 4790k, which is 4 cores and 8 threads except they're not as good as a 7700k, so you'll undoubtedly be able to do 1080p streaming no sweat.

Why spend on another rig when you can buy just the CPU (and sell your old one)

 

Edit: forgot about your other question:

if you stream using OBS, only your CPU is relied on, so no GPU performance hits.

[GoblinRum]

If you have no high regards towards high quality streaming and don't need super high bitrate or resolution, I recommend you just turn on your iGPU and use that to stream through GPU encoding through OBS. Try that and see how much of a performance hit you receive. 

[Hugh_Mungus]

Honestly just upgrade to a Ryzen 2700x it can Obs cpu encode on medium as well as game demanding games at 4.2 ghz demanding games like Rainbow six siege

[hazeyez]

@Hugh Mungus I would go with an i7-8700k before I go with a 2700x

 

 

but without having to spend huge amount of money if I'm choosing to simply go with using the same PC... I am running the z270 chipset for 7th gen Intel chips...

 

I can upgrade to an i7-7700k, which I found a local one used for $200....

 

But it's similar to what I have being quad-core, however the i7-7700k has 8 threads as opposed to my current 4 threads - so it's hyper threaded...

 

Do you think not having more cores, but having hyper threading, would improve performance drastically on a gaming/streaming rig ?