Question / Help Computer Build Suggestions

[thebeuving]

Hello All,

I've been using OBS for over a year now but this is my first time posting on the forum. Thank you for the awesome software!

I'm looking to build a computer to run OBS and I am looking for some suggestions and clarification.

This computer will be a dedicated computer for streaming & record, with a single capture card (possibly adding a second later). I'd like to capture consider 4k for the future though currently, I don't plan using 4k. I would like 1080p

The first thing I want to clarify is software vs hardware encoding. It sounds like from what I have read that if you can get a good enough CPU your quality will be better with software encoding than it is with hardware. Is that true?

If I am going to do software encoding is it worth investing any of my budget in a good graphics card or should I focus all my budget to CPU & RAM?

Here is what I am planning for the computer build, I'd love feedback. Is there anything that is underpowered? Is anything overkill? or is there a better alternative to any of these.

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Any feedback is welcomed! Thanks!

 

[thebeuving]

I'd love any feedback you all have to share, or if you could point me to a better place to ask the question. I'd also be willing to buy something prebuilt, but I figure my budget will go further doing it this way. I have +- $1200 to spend

 

[carlmmii]

First off, sorry for the incoming wall of text. There's a lot to talk about and consider here.

This computer will be a dedicated computer for streaming & record, with a single capture card (possibly adding a second later). I'd like to capture consider 4k for the future though currently, I don't plan using 4k. I would like 1080p

Since it seems like you're only doing 1080p recording right now, there's actually a lot of options you have, which will be discussed shortly.

Once you're talking about recording 4k, this essentially needs to be done using NVenc, unless you have a high end CPU and use a much lower CPU preset.... so, the biggest thing to consider for future-proofing yourself right now is to get a CPU that's capable enough to handle the video ingest from your 4k capture card, which is a rather modest requirement nowadays honestly.

The first thing I want to clarify is software vs hardware encoding. It sounds like from what I have read that if you can get a good enough CPU your quality will be better with software encoding than it is with hardware. Is that true?

On the recording side, this question is easy -- use hardware encoding, and use a quality target. The bitrate will adjust based on whatever quality you're targeting, so even if the hardware encoder has a lower quality of compression, it is going to be a minimal hit to system performance, and still results in the quality that you want.

For streaming, since you're limited by a strict bitrate limit, there's one question to answer:

"Will I be able to make x264 encoding look better than Nvenc?"

Right now, this is actually very hard to do. The new turing encoder is very good, to the point where unless you can use the slow preset with optimizations, there's really no point in using x264. This is only really possible with higher end hardware like the Ryzen 9 3900x or higher (or equivalent on intel, whatever that may be...).

If I am going to do software encoding is it worth investing any of my budget in a good graphics card or should I focus all my budget to CPU & RAM?

If you do intend on software encoding, then as mentioned, the biggest thing to go for is a CPU that can handle the encoding requirement... again, if you're looking to do this to beat out Nvenc quality, then you'll be looking for a fairly high end CPU. For the AMD side, this essentially means 3900x paired with at least 16gb of 3600mhz ram for a balanced config.

Going with strictly hardware encoding, you can get away with a lot less. The 3600 or 3700x are both solid choices, depending on how much overhead you're looking for (again, with the 16gb 3600mhz pairing).

As far as GPU choice for hardware encoding, since you're buying new with the intent on 4k in the future, then the minimum card you should be looking for is the GTX 1650 super. Not the vanilla 1650 non-super or the ti -- these both use the Volta encoder. The GTX 1650 super and all cards above it all use the exact same Turing encoder (as in, a higher card will not give more performance for encoding), and this is the highest quality and most performant encoder currently available in GPUs.

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Solid choice for all-around options, and I would only recommend otherwise for if you're specifically looking for high-end x264 encoding (3900x), or if you're on a stricter budget (3600).

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X470 is an odd choice right now. There's a current uncertainty right now for upgrade paths when it comes to the AM4 platform, and going with a 400-series board right now is an uncertain choice for compatibility with future chips (although AMD is attempting damage control on this front... this is an entire rabbit hole to get into though). Plus, there are very few options that X470 gives that aren't given by b450, at a cheaper price generally.

My recommendation would be to either go for a b450 board unless you really need the features that the X470 series gives, in which case you should probably be looking at X570 or the upcoming b550.

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Switch this for at least the GTX 1650 super, as mentioned above.

 

[thebeuving]

This is all super helpful thank you so much for clarifying all of that. It looks like the GTX 1660 Super is only a small price increase so I may go with that.

Do you have any specific recommendations on motherboards under $250-300? This is probably the area I feel most unsure on.

Seriously, all that feedback was amazing! Thank you so much!

 

[carlmmii]

ASUS TUF X570 (either wifi or non-wifi).