Question / Help Core i7 4770 VS Xeon for streaming PC

Videophile

Videophile

Elgato
Hey guys, this might be a simple or hard question, but here goes:

I am building a dedicated streaming PC. My question is:

Which is better: Core i7 4770k or One of the new better Xeon server CPU's?

I have the funds to buy a dual-CPU system.

Any tips/feedback? I am trying to stream at 1080p60 at 3.4mbps, and I want good quality. My current i7 2600k can do medium with 720p60.

Thanks for the tips!

Shrimp
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Forum Moderator
1080p60 is not a worthwhile goal at this time. Twitch's maximum supported 3500 Kbps is too low for decent quality in high motion games and Flash player handles it poorly. If you have the funds for a dual CPU system you would be better off building a separate encoding box instead and running your stream at either 1080p30 or 720p60.
 
Boildown

Boildown

Active Member
The decode for 1080p60 is going to kill most of your viewers, even if you're able to encode it (which shouldn't be a big deal depending on the preset you select), so you basically have to choose between 1080p30 or 720p60, or even something in between using the 1.25 downscale.

You said "dedicated streaming PC", so I assume you're going to use a capture card or this, and not game on the PC you're streaming from.

I have no experience with a dual-CPU encoder, but as far as single-chip systems go, the more and faster cores you can give it, the better. An eight core Xeon or six core Extreme would enable you to use a better preset than Fast or Medium, which is what the 4770k will top out at.

I don't know what your budget is, but I'd recommend spending more on a high quality capture card like one of these: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1180 before spending a few grand on a Xeon setup. Going from Fast to Slow preset has a lot of diminishing returns involved. Its not worth it to most people, the gains won't really be noticeable much. Even with a huge budget, I think I would go for a VisionDVI-DL and Intel 6-core Extreme before doing any kind of expensive Xeon CPU.
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Forum Moderator
Not sure why I derped and thought you were trying to build a single PC setup, sorry about that.

Keep in mind that you are going to see pretty severe diminishing returns if you're trying to move beyond 720p60 at medium preset. We are talking in the realm of ~1% SSIM improvements in the best case scenarios. If you're already at the point where 720p60 at medium is feasible, spending more money for a better encoding box would be a complete waste. The improvement will be negligible.
 
Z

z0rz

Member
OC'd 4770k will give the best sheer performance but will cost a pretty penny. If you want to save money and will *ONLY* use the new PC for encoding, AMD isn't a bad option. But you'll want Piledriver (FX-8350 or 8320), not Bulldozer (FX-8150 or 8120), if you go with AMD.

I wouldn't suggest Xeon for an encoding PC. It seems like a steal to get Intel's power with AMD's price range, but the inability to really overclock them kinda defeats the purpose IMO. I mean, an encoding PC is already borderline overkill, so why stop short? Get something you can overclock and squeeze out every ounce of performance physically possible.
 
Boildown

Boildown

Active Member
z0rz said:
OC'd 4770k will give the best sheer performance but will cost a pretty penny. If you want to save money and will *ONLY* use the new PC for encoding, AMD isn't a bad option. But you'll want Piledriver (FX-8350 or 8320), not Bulldozer (FX-8150 or 8120), if you go with AMD.

I wouldn't suggest Xeon for an encoding PC. It seems like a steal to get Intel's power with AMD's price range, but the inability to really overclock them kinda defeats the purpose IMO. I mean, an encoding PC is already borderline overkill, so why stop short? Get something you can overclock and squeeze out every ounce of performance physically possible.
Click to expand...

Not only this, but you get Quicksync, if you ever want to use it (and you go Intel: 4770k), and have a lot more and faster memory choices.
 
Z

z0rz

Member
Totally true, although you should never really be using QuickSync on an encoding PC :P

Side note: if your main gaming PC has some catastrophic issue and dies on you, the 4770k route will give you one hell of a backup PC. You really shouldn't be doing this purely for the sake of having a backup PC, but it's an added bonus.

It's *possible* that you won't even need a dedicated GPU in your encoding PC if you get an Intel with an iGPU (i7-4770k has iGPU, Xeons do not). I know OBS requires some GPU processing to record/stream, but I'm not really sure how much GPU power is really needed. In the end, the $80 you save on a Xeon will have to be spent on a low-end GPU, whereas a Haswell i7 may have everything you need in one package (plus the ability to overclock).

If that's the case, then the ONLY reason to ever consider a Xeon over a current i7 for an encoding PC is if you already have an extra video card at your disposal. I could be wrong though, maybe super high quality/demanding configurations in OBS benefit from having a dedicated GPU.
 
Z

z0rz

Member
Awesome, thanks for clearing that up! I figured as much, but I didn't want to state it as fact without being 100% sure.

I don't think there are any current AMD motherboards that have onboard video and Piledriver doesn't have an iGPU, so the money saved by choosing AMD will again need to be spent on a dedicated video card. It seems like unlocked Haswell i7 is the undisputed best option for a dedicated encoding PC (unless you already have an extra video card or other spare parts that you could recycle).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top