Question / Help Good PC build for streaming and gaming

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Light And Magic

Member
Hail to the dark side, I have been using OBS on my Mac since March this year and like most of it, but as my Mac Pro is 5 years old and really more configured for my photo/video and software development work, I am going to move to a Windows PC for most games I stream.

Some of my trusty followers help me build a good PC, but before I press any Buy Now button I want to make sure what I should and should not buy to make this PC superior for streaming with OBS while still maintaining good gaming performance.

What makes OBS excel, which components does it like best, and which ones does it absolutely hate? Is the new Intel i7-6700K a good friend for OBS while gaming? Or does it use the power of a graphics card to encode better? Will both gaming and streaming run nicely in 16 GB memory? Can I install BMD Intensity Pro card (old or new) to stream my consoles with just like I do on Mac now?

And most of all: is there a Windows equivalent of the fantastic Audio Hijack software that I currently use to route audio from various sources to various outputs?

So many questions, any answers are really appreciated.
 
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wdapunisher

Member
Fact: OBS is CPU driven. A stream rig only needs a GPU so you can have a display, so onboard works great if available. Otherwise, find a budget GPU to run your display. I personally went with the cheapest CUDA GPU the GTX 750.

Opinion: I'm one for saving as much money as possible, so I look for a budget build that would be good for streaming. A 6700K is way too much overkill for a streaming rig. My stream rig is an FX-8120 with 8GB of Ram and while streaming I use about 25% CPU resources. Look at Passmark scores for CPUs to determine how wel they'll perform for streaming. I think the sweet spot for value/performance is the FX-6300. I was going to go for that, but found my currect HW on sale for less than what a new 6300 and mobo would cost. They are close in performance with my FX-8120 having a slight edge. I wouldn't waste a bunch of money in a high-end CPU like the 6700K. Spend the money saved on storage, capture card, and audio stuff since that'll be your biggest hurdle to get over.
 
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Light And Magic

Member
Thank you very much for your kind answer, wdapunisher.

Good to know that OBS is CPU driven and that a low GU would be enough for streaming alone. I am wondering if I should build a separate streaming PC or one that integrates with the gaming itself. In the first case, I agree with you, in the 2nd, I would still need a fast CPU and strong GPU to play the games I want to stream.

I do not only stream PC gaming though, there is also photo editing and software development on my Mac and gaming on my Xbox One, so basically a streaming PC should be able to consider my Mac, XB1 and a gaming PC as 'consoles' and treat them the same. That would be in the case of a separate stream machine, I mean.

I am not sure what to go for, one or two PC's, and still would love your input on these ideas to make a good decision.
 
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rich2020

New Member
Perhaps you could take a quick look into Amazon Web Services. You can create "instances" or "Virtual machines" in the cloud. When you do this, you select which package you want; each package has different hardware specs, so if nothing else, you could use these packages as "categories" to estimate roughly what spec PC you should aim for. I have set up a stream from AWS, so if you need help, I could assist you.

With the cloud, you access your virtual machine via Remote Desktop Software. Basically, you can log into a Windows environment via your Mac... Once logged in, you can use the machine as if it were sitting beside you; install, upload, delete, browse the web... etc.

If you don't want to use AWS, you could use Microsoft Azure. However, Azure does not provide GPU instances... although they will do before the years end.

Just a thought.
 
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L

Light And Magic

Member
Although a fresh idea, I honestly do not see me stream gaming and software development through a cloud based computer, rich2020. I you have that setup, good for you, I think that is pretty cool, but not what I would do.
 
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DoAGoldeneye

Member
Any Core i7 starting from the i7-3xxx series will perform well for gaming+streaming. If you're going for the best output you use the CPU-driven x264 encoder. Having a new top end i7 will be a good choice for this. Otherwise you can use GPU based encoding (will need more bitrate to reach same image quality).

I prefer using the x264 for streaming and GPU-based encoding to get a high-quality (1080p60)/high-bitrate (20 to 50 Mbps)/low-CPU overhead recording.

16GB memory is nice and provides headroom for now. Just try and get a motherboard with 4 slots and put 2 x 8GB in there. That way you can always bump up to 32GB.

Blackmagic's capture devices has always been great, but finnicky. No different on Windows. Try and see how they work for you. Alternatives are the Avermedia Livegamer Extreme or the newer Elgato Pro. (You want that 0 delay though)

For audio routing look into Voicemeeter Banana.
 
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