Question / Help Buying a new Win10 laptop for streaming. What specs (GPU specifically) should I look for?

[Sixfortyfive]

I want to be able to stream/record at 1080p60 at Veryfast or better, while outputting the stream preview to a projector / second monitor. I'm only concerned with external capture cards; streaming and playing from a single PC isn't a priority for me. (Also let me know if Twitch bandwidth limitations tend to make 1080p60 an impractical goal. I'd be willing to settle for less, but I definitely want to at least be able to record at that resolution with decent quality.)

Hardware I plan to use on my setup:
- XCAPTURE-1 USB3 capture card
- Logitech C910 and C920 webcams (simultaneously)
- audio mixer input via line-in jack
- record to external SATA HDD

What should I be looking for when it comes to CPU, GPU, and RAM? How much do I need to concern myself with USB bandwidth? (As in, can I expect to run the capture card and both webcams at a high resolution and framerate?) I don't have any particular budgetary limits; I just want to get what I pay for and not put anything to waste.

My current rig is a 4-year-old Win7 laptop that just isn't cutting it anymore; it can't even hit 60fps at 480p on a good day. The GPU in particular was a low-budget choice that I assumed would not be an issue since video encoding is primarily CPU-based, but I'm pretty sure it's the main bottleneck now.

 

[Cryonic]

Well first a couple of things:
Why windows 10? I use it, but it`s not finished. You have fun messing around with bugs and constant updates - grab one, otherwise go for windows 8.1 (you can update it to windows 10 any time you want, you have 1 year...)
Why a laptop?

If it has to be a laptop:
Go for the fastest i7 CPU that you can afford. The GPU should be dedicated, i prefer Nvidia over AMD. You are not gaming on this thing, so dont go overkill on the GPU.
RAM - 8GB DDR3 1600 should be more than enough. Streaming/recording will not use much, but you want 2 stick for DualChannel (will greatly increase the iGPU performance) and you can upgrade anytime, changing RAM in a laptop is the easiest thing.
SSD or HDD? If you want to have a decent storage and dont care about speed, let the stock HDD sit there. If you like an SSD, grab one or go for a laptop that has one built in.
You also NEED the "classic" 3-holes audio in/output. Dont buy a laptop with a single 4-Pin audio output. Get one that still has the usual 3,5mm jack inputs for line-in, mic and 3,5mm output. This will save you some adapters and will work better with good audio gear.
USB-ports: at least 4. You cant have enough USB-ports. Get something with 2x USB2.0 and 2x USB3.0 and use the 3.0 for your external drive, then you can experiment with ports to get the maximum performance out of the controller.

Screen (panel, size), cooling, additional ports (like thunderbolt, the ability to have multiple displays hooked up via miniDP etc), battery life, weight, ergonomics - thats personal. I hate VA-panels and always grab an ISP-panel if i can find one. And the laptop has to be quiet, i take extra weight in exchange for good cooling.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

It has to be a laptop, and I'm more inclined to start working out Win10 kinks on a blank slate than having to upgrade it later anyway.

I'm mostly unsure of what kind of GPU I'd need for OBS or similar programs. That's where I have the least certainty as to where diminishing returns come into play.

 

[dping]

It has to be a laptop, and I'm more inclined to start working out Win10 kinks on a blank slate than having to upgrade it later anyway.

I'm mostly unsure of what kind of GPU I'd need for OBS or similar programs. That's where I have the least certainty as to where diminishing returns come into play.

you aren't going to get 720@60 let alone 1080@60 unless your laptop is a dedicated streaming rig, even then, you wont get the performance from a laptop that you can with a desktop.

Almost all i7 laptops are around the specs of a middle of the road i5

 

[Cryonic]

There are some beast-laptops with overclockable i7, they come close to a desktop i7 rather than i5, but dont expect any laptop to reach the performance of the i7 4790K (both overclocked).
But it is possible to do 1080p 60fps without problems with current gen mobile i7 CPUs, no problems there. The desktop rig would just do this with a slower preset, giving you better quality at the same bitrate. And it will have some spare CPU power to drive things in the background while your laptop CPU will hit the limit where everything else would decrease the performance while running OBS.

 

[dping]

There are some beast-laptops with overclockable i7, they come close to a desktop i7 rather than i5, but dont expect any laptop to reach the performance of the i7 4790K (both overclocked).
But it is possible to do 1080p 60fps without problems with current gen mobile i7 CPUs, no problems there. The desktop rig would just do this with a slower preset, giving you better quality at the same bitrate. And it will have some spare CPU power to drive things in the background while your laptop CPU will hit the limit where everything else would decrease the performance while running OBS.

I've never seen a laptop do 1080@60 veryfast even when dedicated so I dont know what you are referring to.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

I could do 720p60 on XSplit years ago on my existing 2nd gen i7 before that program got way more resource intensive. I'd be at least a little disappointed if 1080p wasn't at least borderline feasible 4 years later.

Anyway, anyone got any recommendations for the GPU? Again, I'm only interested in using this computer for streaming and outputting to a projector. I'm not going to be gaming on it simultaneously.

 

[Cryonic]

I've never seen a laptop do 1080@60 veryfast even when dedicated so I dont know what you are referring to.

Laptops like Aorus X7 with the top configuration can do it. And i`m talking about the pure encoding, not about gaming and running the x264 in the background.

P.S. The CPU would be the i7 5700HQ or the 4780HQ, even the 4720HQ would do. But expect this to have a decent price tag hanging on top of the notebook, that stuff is not cheap.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

Just going to bump this once more before I let the thread die.

Any tips on what GPU specs I should look for? I feel like I've got a handle on the other important aspects but I'm not even sure what a streaming program like OBS uses the GPU for since I assumed x264 encoding was CPU dependent.

 

[dping]

Just going to bump this once more before I let the thread die.

Any tips on what GPU specs I should look for? I feel like I've got a handle on the other important aspects but I'm not even sure what a streaming program like OBS uses the GPU for since I assumed x264 encoding was CPU dependent.

Well if you are streaming, its best if it does not have switchable graphics aka optimus. Best would be only a dedicated nvidia GPU, but since almost all laptops have optimus, that request might not be possible.

no matter what others tell you, dont expect to much from a laptop. I have a hexcore desktop CPU that 1080@60 recordings veryfast is possible but it takes up most of the CPU. so a current or even cutting edge laptop will never achieve this unless it is purely dedicated, which in that case, you might as well have a desktop

 

[Sixfortyfive]

I cannot use a desktop for this. This is going to be a mobile station to be used at public events (tournaments, etc). Between travel needs and the occasional cramped workspaces, a desktop is impractical at best. And I've mentioned at least twice upthread that this is going to be a dedicated streaming machine; I'm going to be capturing footage from game consoles and webcams, not from any games or other programs running on the PC itself.

I'm trying not to be ungrateful; I just feel like some of my specific questions are being largely ignored. I appreciate the advice you've actually given, but I'm barely any closer to an understanding of what range of GPU specs and prices I should be looking at than I was when I created the thread, or even what specific functions OBS requires a GPU for.

 

[Cryonic]

OBS uses the GPU, but if you dont play any games, a midrage GPU would do the job and still have some power left.
But any modern GPU in a laptop, dedicated or iGPU, would work fine, specially when you dont run any 3D applications on that laptop.
The CPU is important, specially if you want to use the x264 encoder (this will give you the best quality if you have the power to drive it).
The price range just depends on what you want. You need a mobile i7 CPU, lets say that starts at 700$ for the cheapest laptop and goes up to 3000$ on a top laptop with SLI. The difference between them would be like 20-30%, but you will pay 4x more for the fastest laptop.
You will use it only for encoding, so grab something with good cooling (think about the heat produced by large amounts of people and lighting & other hardware), fastest CPU that you can afford, midrange GPU, 8GB of RAM (Dualchannel, 2 sticks of RAM) and maybe an SSD as main drive and HDD as your second drive aka recording container. The SSD will help you because its resistant to shocks that can damage the HDD while moving your laptop around. So the system and all the important stuff should be on the SSD. There are models with 2 drives installed, otherwise just throw out the DVD-drive and slap your HDD inside.

There is nothing else to say. I can find the best laptop that i would use for that job, but you will hate it - wrong display, wrong size, too expensive, wrong brand whatever. Search for what YOU love with the right hardware inside and then look for tests how this stuff is performing, specially cooling (it can be loud, but it should be cool!).