Question / Help 2 PC setup, graphics card performance in OBS pc

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T1663R

New Member
Hey guys,

so ive got my Gaming PC, which is kinda old.
But basicly i can play every game on High/very High settings.
But if i do youtube Videos or try to stream, i always loose so much performance i have to push the quality down so hard its crazy.
Now ive got my "old" Xeon Teamspeak/webserver lying in my other Room. (its an actual server setup, meaning 8 core Xeon, EEC ram and so on)
The CPU performance in this server is hella good, it can easily beat an i7-4750hq.
Now i thought about using this as a second pc with a capture card.
The problem is based on the Limited pci-e slots on the server board i cant really equip the server with a graphics card, meaning i have to use the onboard matrox card, which has like 8mb memory and a resolution of 1280x1024

But then again i wouldnt run a single game on the streaming pc, only the capture card program and OBS would run on this maschine. I can run Windows 7 on this server.
Now my Question is, would that work ? Or does the Streaming pc need a good graphics card ?
Or is the stuff that obs does done on the CPU ?

Im a little bit confused at this point. Ofc my goal would be to run OBS on a slow preset to get good quality.
The Question is if OBS needs a good graphic card to do its magic. ;)
 
Videophile

Videophile

Elgato
Yes, a modern GPU is recommended. I recently showed in this thread the effect of a weak GPU.

My recommendation: Go with something like a Nvidia 750ti. Fairly cheap, but it's based on the same chip as the new 900 series, so it has better NVENC(Should you use it), and is more than enough for OBS.

I use a 750ti in my streaming rig and have had no issues with it.
 
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T1663R

New Member
hey, thanks for your answer. Sadly i wont be able to use a 750i.
That server board only has x8 pci-e slots, to be precise :
2x (x8) PCI-E 3.0*** in x8 slots and
1x (x4) PCI-E 2.0 in x8 slot
there arent that many compatible cards out there for that.
On top of that i already tryed some GT730 Nvidia cards (in all slots), without success, seems to be some pci-e realated issues.
Damn, now im not sure what to do.
 
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Osiris

Active Member
So a 750ti wouldn't physically fit into the slot? If it physically fits it should work fine at PCI-E 3.0 x8.
Judging from a quick google search there are extenders to make a 16x gpu fit into a 8x slot.
 
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T1663R

New Member
a 750ti wont physically fit, like most graphics card. An x8 slot is only half the size basicly.
Some time ago i wanted to switch to the Server as a gaming PC, and toyed around with it, tryed to get a good graphic card to work with it but i failed.
There are indeed raiser cards or converter cards, so far i buyed 2 from china, yet they dont work, the screen just stays blank. (the card not only gets not recognized, but it also doesnt even powers up, and if i go into the bios and set to "force use offboard gpu" the system fails to start at all and i have to to a hard bios reset)
Even x4 and x8 slots seem to be an issue.
Its all really frustrating.
Like you find information that certain cards should work with it, then i order them and they just dont.
It cant be an issue with the board, cuz i can use other cards audio/capture cards in thoses slots just fine.
thats the board btw :
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C202_C204/X9SCL.cfm

EDIT
i forgot to mention, one of the few cards i havent tryed so far is the GeForce GT 610.
Its got an X1 slot, which is compatible to nearly all pci-e slots, so i think this would be my best chance, but im not sure if its worth to order that card, meaning if its fast enough to handle OBS.
 
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Videophile

Videophile

Elgato
T1663R said:
a 750ti wont physically fit, like most graphics card. An x8 slot is only half the size basicly.
Some time ago i wanted to switch to the Server as a gaming PC, and toyed around with it, tryed to get a good graphic card to work with it but i failed.
There are indeed raiser cards or converter cards, so far i buyed 2 from china, yet they dont work, the screen just stays blank. (the card not only gets not recognized, but it also doesnt even powers up, and if i go into the bios and set to "force use offboard gpu" the system fails to start at all and i have to to a hard bios reset)
Even x4 and x8 slots seem to be an issue.
Its all really frustrating.
Like you find information that certain cards should work with it, then i order them and they just dont.
It cant be an issue with the board, cuz i can use other cards audio/capture cards in thoses slots just fine.
thats the board btw :
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C202_C204/X9SCL.cfm

EDIT
i forgot to mention, one of the few cards i havent tryed so far is the GeForce GT 610.
Its got an X1 slot, which is compatible to nearly all pci-e slots, so i think this would be my best chance, but im not sure if its worth to order that card, meaning if its fast enough to handle OBS.
Click to expand...
A GT 610 is worse than most iGPU's today...
 
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T1663R

New Member
im aware of that.
But its still like 20 times faster than the onboard matrox card, that one has a hard time to display windows 7, even simple games are impossible, like i said, it has 8mb memory.
But then it seems im out of luck with that server.
Anyways, thanks for your help guys.
 
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sam686

Member
T1663R said:
a 750ti wont physically fit, like most graphics card. An x8 slot is only half the size basicly.
Click to expand...
Maybe try one of the following:
1. pci-e x8 riser with open ended slot
2. Get a different motherboard with PCI-E x16 that is compatible with the CPU you have.
3. (probably a bad choice) Physically cut off the the extra pins on the graphics card or cut open the end of x8 slot.

Most graphics card does works at reduced number of PCI-E lanes. I have once physically cut open a pci-e x1 slot to fit in a graphics card for using all 5 monitors, works but is quite slow over a x1 speed.
 
Boildown

Boildown

Active Member
Get half height cards for your GPU and capture card.

For example:
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125680
Capture card: http://www.datapath.co.uk/products/video-capture-cards/vision-range/visionrgb-e1s

Or replace the case (this could easily be cheaper).

Or, use this method: https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/guide-two-pc-configuration-without-capturecard.6757 which would mean that you wouldn't need either a new GPU nor a capture card. But you'd have to run OBS on your gaming PC, which would mean a slight performance hit instead of essentially no hit.


Edit: Damn, I just clicked that motherboard link and you actually have physically 8x slots instead of 16x slots on it. I just assumed you meant that the cards were too tall, but 8x physical slots is just messed up. I'd be seriously tempted to get a new motherboard like Sam686 says.

Anyways, I found this thing that might help: http://www.walmart.com/ip/47597723
 
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dping

Active Member
Depending on the server it probably has a riser card addon with the x16 physical (x8 actual) slots. well thats at least what mine are.
 
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