Do Intel Arc GPUs have a good H264 hardware encoder? Is it good for streaming with OBS?

[Reguna]

Hi, I want to buy a dedicated GPU for non-gaming purpose. The most demanding job for this GPU will probably be streaming.
I know that Intel Arc GPU has AV1 hardware encoder, and the fact that both Twitch and Youtube do not support AV1 (I think we need to wait for 1-2 years before they officially support AV1). I want to be futureproof, but I also want that H264 encoder now.
So, does anyone here use Intel ARC GPUs for streaming? Is it good? I am particularly interested in how it performs compared to Intel's latest iGPU with QSV and Nvidia NVENC.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

I've not played with AV1 yet, so I'm not authoritative on this
My understanding was that YouTube did, for some folks at least, accept AV1 streams. but I that is from memory. so you need to confirm

I believe Eposvox did a good comparison of Intel vs AMD vs nVidia encoders. My recollection was that Intel ARC GPU does have H.264 encoder.?? And I'd also be inclined to buy once, and get something that last years. On the other hand, these are all 1st gen consumer AV1 h/w encoders. So another thought is to get a different, lower-cost GPU for now, and then get a 2nd gen AV1 encoder in a year or two ?? there are risk on the bleeding edge... AV1 h/w encoding today may be a safe bet... or not.. I'm waiting to see how things play out. My less than $0.02 good luck with choice