Dedicated streaming specs?

Deffcon01

New Member
If I wanted to move into a dual pc setup, would these specs work for a streaming pc?

Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake-N95
16GB DDR4

Its a mini pc, but is running windows 11 pro and has all the input and output jacks needed.
My gaming rig has these specs.

i5-13400F 200
Asus ROG Strix B760-I
32GB DDR 6400
RX7600 8GB

I was trying to stream on just the gaming rig but I can not get OBS to run more than 30fps average, even just streaming my desktop. I was thinking a dedicated streaming pc might be easier to setup.
 

rockbottom

Active Member
You're still going to need to use OBS with the gaming rig & just getting a second PC isn't going to help all that much if it's not running correctly on that gaming rig to begin with. Post a log with a streaming session & I'll take a look for ya.
 

Deffcon01

New Member
You're still going to need to use OBS with the gaming rig & just getting a second PC isn't going to help all that much if it's not running correctly on that gaming rig to begin with. Post a log with a streaming session & I'll take a look for ya.
I will have to post a log for sessions tonight.

On a side note. I was under the impression that if I ran a 2 pc setup only the streaming pc would run OBS. Am I mistaken?

Wouldn't I run the game on the gaming rig into a capture card, then the capture card would go into the streaming pc and the streaming pc would run OBS and output it to the streaming platform? What purpose would running OBS on the gaming rig have?
 

rockbottom

Active Member

Deffcon01

New Member
That works, even better too.

I'm looking at the N95, it's comparable to a 2600k, not that powerful by today's standards. The key is the iGPU & how it performs. Looks like it can do 4k@60.
I looked at a couple builds with i7's. I like them, but I am trying to keep the price tag down. I don't currently think streaming is going to be a revenue stream for me. Instead I'm doing it more out of a want to build a community that is a space for all gamers new, old, good, bad and everyone in between. I feel like streaming communities are either hardcore or cozy, neither of which are bad. But as a part time gamer dad I struggle to find a lot of streamer communities that I feel are filled with like people. That being said, the budget is a thing I am concerned about. I have found mini pc's for less than $150 with the specs I posted. The ones I see with the i7's are $400+
 

rockbottom

Active Member
Yeah, I get it. It will work if it can perform without throttling but it's going to be tight, not much wiggle room. Can it be returned if you have issues with it?
 

Deffcon01

New Member
Yeah, I get it. It will work if it can perform without throttling but it's going to be tight, not much wiggle room. Can it be returned if you have issues with it?
Yeah a return wouldn't be a problem. I haven't purchased it as I wasn't sure if it would be able to handle the stream. If I can get my gaming rig to stream at 60fps I would use it until I can get a real good dedicated streaming pc. But, if I can't figure it out I was looking for an inexpensive way to get it up and running. I'll run a test session tonight and post the log and see if someone with more knowledge than me can figure out what might be going on.
 

rockbottom

Active Member
Good, at least you don't have to worry about getting stuck with it.

Your hardware is sufficient for 1080p@60, just need to get things sorted out. Might be able to push some 4k as well.
 

Lawrence_SoCal

Active Member
One thought, as a non-gamer (so take it for what it's worth... next to 0)
- if considering spending money on 2nd PC, might you be better off spending instead on main computer? and/or simply get gaming PC setup up adequately?
Gaming rig still has to run game. Running real-time video encoding for streaming can be demanding, and may be too much, *if* gaming rig at or near overload to begin with. Otherwise, with GPU encode offload and a CPU-considerate setup of OBS Studio, OBS Studio wouldn't add that much to gaming rig load. The issue is when people add CPU intensive load (chroma-keying) or other CPU intensive filter/effects (or really poorly written plugins... looking at you, streamelements)
The gaming rig still needs to get video out to capture (OBS Studio) rig when using 2nd PC. Depending on how exactly you do that may r may not create its own extra load on the gaming rig

For upper-end PCs, with nicely optimized Operating Systems (OS), looking to absolutely max out gaming performance with gaming PC still near 100% load, then a separate streaming rig may makes sense. and a couple of other scenarios... but otherwise, it has always stuck me as way more complicated (and therefore prone to problems, me being of the K.I.S.S. school of thought) than need be.
I'd do some OS optimizations, then look at OBS Studio setup. As I said, not a gamer, so not my area, and AMD GPU's not known for playing well in the H.264 streaming world (AMD's intentional under-effort in associated code). But with right setup, I'd think AMD GPU should be ok (but I'll let others speak to this way more authoritatively than others). Oh, and try testing without OBS' Studio Mode turned on (can be 2X rendering workload)

As for streaming at 60fps, with decent video quality to make it worth it, hopefully you are using wired Ethernet (not WiFi, unless in a rural area (lack of other nearby WiFi routers/access points) and well spec'ed, configured, and managed WiFi home environment). And solid Internet connection, being aware of ALL internet bandwidth consumption (to avoid unexpected bandwidth contention). And avoid known problem like running monitor refresh at 144MHz which is not a clean/easy multiple of desired frame rate (or worse for streaming, multiple monitors at different refresh rates).

And beware that not all games use the same video rendering approach, with means video capture settings that work for one game may not be optimal (or work at all) for another. again, not my area, but I've seen many such a thread over the years. Most folks look for a streaming setup that will work for most everything, or at least that which they'd want to stream, and call it good enough (as the content is usually more important than absolute best stream 'look'). What typically happens is either a streaming has some perfectionistic tendencies (like me) and will educate themselves on settings tweaks to improvements things, and will over time improve their setup; or a person will be more focused on content, find a streaming setup that is 'good enough' and focus their efforts someplace else other than stream setting optimization. The caution is to simply be aware that for those in the latter group, Operating System, Game, and other changes will happen over time regardless, so while your setup may work fine now, next year it might not... and that is normal (even if frustrating ... nature of the technology involved).
 
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