Question / Help Buying a PC That Can Support Streaming. Should I Buy This?

[Mark S.]

I've frequently streaming from my Xbox One, but now I'd like to stream for other consoles. I've purchased the Elgato, downloaded the software, only to run into a very important issue. My PC isn't powerful enough to stream a good performance.

I'm hopefully going to buy a new computer today, but I'd like to know if this one will be good enough for streaming console games. The specs are as follows:

• Processor Type
  4th generation Intel® Core™ i5-4590 Processor
• Processor Speed
  3.30 GHz
• RAM
  8GB PC3-12800 DDR3
• Hard Drive Capacity
  1TB
• Hard Drive Speed (Revolutions Per Minute)
  7200RPM
• Optical Drive
  SuperMulti DVD Burner
• Pre-loaded Operating System
  Windows 8.1
• Graphics Card
  NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 Graphics Card
• Dedicated Graphic Card
  Yes
• Video Memory
  2GB

I've also noticed that on the Twitch support page, they're suggesting that all PCs should have the follows specs in order to deliver a good streaming performance. They suggest that the PC should have:

• CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 or AMD Equivalent (Compare your CPU)
• MEMORY: 8GB DDR3 SDRAM
• OS: Windows 7 Home Premium

And so I've noticed the Processor that I am interested in buying doesn't appear to be good enoughfor streaming, according to Twitch. Should I listen to the suggestions from Twitch or is the PC I'm interested in good enough for my streaming purposes?

Cheers.

 

[dping]

I've frequently streaming from my Xbox One, but now I'd like to stream for other consoles. I've purchased the Elgato, downloaded the software, only to run into a very important issue. My PC isn't powerful enough to stream a good performance.

I'm hopefully going to buy a new computer today, but I'd like to know if this one will be good enough for streaming console games. The specs are as follows:

• Processor Type
  4th generation Intel® Core™ i5-4590 Processor
• Processor Speed
  3.30 GHz
• RAM
  8GB PC3-12800 DDR3
• Hard Drive Capacity
  1TB
• Hard Drive Speed (Revolutions Per Minute)
  7200RPM
• Optical Drive
  SuperMulti DVD Burner
• Pre-loaded Operating System
  Windows 8.1
• Graphics Card
  NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 Graphics Card
• Dedicated Graphic Card
  Yes
• Video Memory
  2GB

I've also noticed that on the Twitch support page, they're suggesting that all PCs should have the follows specs in order to deliver a good streaming performance. They suggest that the PC should have:

• CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 or AMD Equivalent (Compare your CPU)
• MEMORY: 8GB DDR3 SDRAM
• OS: Windows 7 Home Premium

And so I've noticed the Processor that I am interested in buying doesn't appear to be good enoughfor streaming, according to Twitch. Should I listen to the suggestions from Twitch or is the PC I'm interested in good enough for my streaming purposes?

Cheers.

with 720@30 it should be fine,

 

[KaBe88NL]

I first started streaming with my Asus N56VZ Notebook ( Intel® Core™ i7 - 3610QM Processor )

Worked out fine for me. The only reason i upgraded to a better system was because streaming is hard on the processor and i was streaming DayZ which also uses a lot of processing power.

What system you need really depends on what game you want to stream..

I bought the i7 4790K Processor just to make sure i have enough processing power for streaming DayZ. (pricey processor)

Now i can stream DayZ at a high quality without losing frames in game.

The only problem now is that i can't stream at a very high quality because I am not a partner.
And if i sent to much data to my viewers, it lags for them..

So you need to figure out what games you want to stream and if you are a partner or going to be a partner during the lifetime of your PC.

 

[Mark S.]

@dping @KaBe88NL Okay, well how about this one? Also take note, I'm trying to stream from consoles at 1080p, 30 fps.

• Processor Type
  4th generation Intel® Core™ i7-4790
• Processor Speed
  3.60 GHz
• Processor Cores
  4
• RAM
  12GB PC3-12800 DDR3-1600 SDRAM memory 1x8GB and 1x4GB(expandable to 16GB)
• Hard Drive Capacity
  1TB Serial ATA hard drive
• Hard Drive Speed (Revolutions Per Minute)
  7200 rpm
• Optical Drive
  SuperMulti DVD Burner
• Pre-loaded Operating System
  Windows 8.1
• Graphics Card
  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745 graphics card with 4GB DDR3 dedicated memory
• Dedicated Graphic Card
  Yes
• Video Memory
  Up to 1792 MB Total Available Graphics Memory as allocated by Windows 8

 

[dping]

@dping @KaBe88NL Okay, well how about this one? Also take note, I'm trying to stream from consoles at 1080p, 30 fps.

• Processor Type
  4th generation Intel® Core™ i7-4790
• Processor Speed
  3.60 GHz
• Processor Cores
  4
• RAM
  12GB PC3-12800 DDR3-1600 SDRAM memory 1x8GB and 1x4GB(expandable to 16GB)
• Hard Drive Capacity
  1TB Serial ATA hard drive
• Hard Drive Speed (Revolutions Per Minute)
  7200 rpm
• Optical Drive
  SuperMulti DVD Burner
• Pre-loaded Operating System
  Windows 8.1
• Graphics Card
  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745 graphics card with 4GB DDR3 dedicated memory
• Dedicated Graphic Card
  Yes
• Video Memory
  Up to 1792 MB Total Available Graphics Memory as allocated by Windows 8

Would be much better for 1080@30

 

[KaBe88NL]

Yeah that looks like a good system..

( nothing to do with streaming but you should put in a SSD to speed up your system immensely)

 

[Boildown]

You're buying a Dell? You can get more for your money if you buy the components and build it yourself. But it does look like it'll do the job quite well.

If all the consoles you want to stream use HDMI, you'd be far better off with an Avermedia Live Gamer HD than the Elgato you got. If you check out these forums, its constantly filled with people having problems with their Elgato devices. I'd return it, if you still can.

 

[FerretBomb]

Just mentioning, unless you're Partnered, you will not have the bitrate available to provide a decent quality 1080p stream. It is strongly advised that non-partners stick at or below 2000kbps due to a lack of transcoding options, as the widest possible viewerbase are able to watch smoothly at that rate, without buffering. A bare minimum for 1080p is 3000kbps for it to not look terrible, with 3500 or higher preferable. Many viewers will NOT be able to watch smoothly at these bitrates.

Much better option is 720p@30fps, which will deliver very watchable quality at 2000kbps.