Hardware Specs - Streaming PC

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Marthy_BE

New Member
Hi Community,

We are searching for a new streaming pc which could stream all the latest tripple A games (Main Game Warzone) on highest settings while streaming via OBS trough twitch. As we want to invest in decent hardware we don't really know what kind of hardware that should best fit. We've been advised to one of our freinds to have a visit at the FENN Systems shop - https://fenn.systems/ - as we are from belgium. But first, we want to know what you guys would recommend us. Thanks for the info.

Have a nice day

BG

Stephanie
 
koala

koala

Active Member
Not a specific shop is important, but instead the system specs of the PC you buy. Research what specs your PC should contain, then find a distributor that offers PCs with these specs. The more common and mainstream your setup is the better (even high end PCs can be mainstream), because the more mainstream the more streamlined and standardized the PC will be. The more streamlined and standardized a PC, the more reliable it is. The more customized, the higher the risk there is some component not 100% fitting.

First, find a CPU of the current CPU generation. Then find a GPU of the current GPU generation and in the same performance category as the CPU. If you intend to stream, I recommend some RTX 40?0 GPU from Nvidia because of the nvenc encoder. If you intend to buy a complete PC, find a shop that offers standard PCs with the components you found, then buy.

If you intend to create a custom built PC and choose components yourself, find now a motherboard that supports the fastest kind of RAM the CPU will support (current: some DDR5 RAM). Evaluate what MHz others recommend and use. Also find a shop and for the RAM choose some RAM available from that shop that is listed in the memory compatibility list of the motherboard.
Next is mass storage. Find some SSD matching your size and speed demand. Motherboards also have mass storage compatibility list, however as far as I know, the general compatibility is so good, these list isn't as important as the RAM compatibility list.
Then choose CPU cooler, housing and last but not least a proper power supply.

I know you asked what specific CPU you should buy and GPU, however I tend to give general answers. Specific PC recommendations get obsolete the next day. Look in gaming and PC forums for current gaming PC hardware recommendations. They change by the hour.
 
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Marthy_BE

New Member
Hi Koala,

Thank you for your feedback. Well, we will do some further research. But as we see, the gpu shouldn't be less than an RTX 4070.

BG

Stephanie
 
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Lawrence_SoCal

Active Member
Stephanie
The issue (problem) with your query is that
Marthy_BE said:
stream all the latest tripple A games (Main Game Warzone) on highest settings while streaming via OBS trough twitch.
Click to expand...
is that 'highest settings' mean different things to different people. And EXACTLY what that means will drive the hardware requirements

Beware
- some games (many/most 'Triple A' games) are demanding on hardware
- real-time vide encoding is very demanding... hence the GPU encode offload (like NVENC) which moves that computationally heavy workload off the CPU
- the latest video encode standard is AV1, but it is early days in its adaption (moving beyond H.264) , and current GPU are on 1st generation of hardware support for encode offload... with all that 'bleeding edge' implies.
- and there is 4K streaming, and presumably future use of even higher resolutions... so how long do you expect this system to last?
- And then there are things like HDR (vs SDR standard dynamic range)
All of the above generates a fair amount of heat (which will shorten system lifetime), so don't skimp on cooling

And then there is how complex of 'compositing' (ie, what OBS Studio does... combine 'composite' multiple inputs into a single video stream (to either livestream or Record) you plan to do with your video streaming
- some workloads (games plus encoding for real-time livestreaming) can be performed fine on mid- to upper-end gaming type computer
- but some take even more than that... and it depends...

And then there is optimizing the operating system and game settings to work well with Streaming/Recording (vs just watching/playing on local monitor)

There are those with top-end latest consumer CPUs, nVidia 4090, and still run into bottlenecks... it really does depend. There is far more involved in getting a game, real-time video encoding, and background tasks all configured to avoid a system overload/bottleneck. And that will change by game, and over time (OS and driver updates, etc)

My point?
- getting something to work is easy... Finding a system that will work for everything you may want to do? really hard.
and even the most expensive/powerful consumer system can still be overloaded, if you aren't careful. Meaning, sometimes, it is the software configuration/settings, not the hardware that is more important

So what PC to get... depends on budget and expectations
- the top-end CPU usually costs a LOT more for only a little extra performance... but will you need that little extra?
- GPU, usually not that involved to upgrade a Desktop (Tower) PC discrete GPU... so better value may be buying what you need know and replacing about 1/2 way through system life (cheaper than buying whole new rig, if GPU is bottleneck, and ok with CPU)

As for boutique builds vs more mainstream... +1 to what Koala said above... and see blog articles at Puget Systems about recent Intel CPU hardware failures... Because Puget Systems chose to not overclock or otherwise try to push CPU performance to absolute limit, they did NOT have the failures others experienced ... so beware searching out that last 5% of performance... granted Intel CPU bug was unusual in this specific regards, the issue of pushing a system to bleeding edge and then it failing ... is not uncommon.. So what level of onsite technical expertise will you have available (ie system crashes, how long can you handle downtime until system repaired...)
you will have to choose for yourself your preferred balance of cost, performance and reliability... old adage of pick 2 of those characteristics, and like legs of a triangle, the 3rd is chosen for you

Good Luck
 
koala

koala

Active Member
Marthy_BE said:
But as we see, the gpu shouldn't be less than an RTX 4070.
Click to expand...
That's a good constraint. It excludes a vast amount of hardware. It's a lower barrier for your hardware. The upper barrier is your budget. Now find the most powerful machine in that corridor that still matches your budget.

For myself, I bought a PC with a RTX 4070 last year when the RTX 4070 just came out. I paired it with a Intel i5-13600K, a CPU able to fully use the 4070 and being the CPU with the best price/performance ratio, in that performance class, of that time. All the i7 and i9 are more powerful but vastly more expensive. Today, things are different. New CPU generations are current (which you should choose from), and the CPU with the best price/performance ratio is something else.

By the way, the machine I bought is able to run Baldurs Gate 3 with max graphics settings at 90-100 fps on a 5120x1440 monitor by enabling DLSS in the games settings. It's performing as I intended and expected. It also runs that game with the same performance in beautiful HDR, although I didn't design for HDR in mind. Just to give some performance idea.

To compare CPUs and GPUs, use benchmarking sites such as https://www.cpubenchmark.net/ and https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/. Use the scores to compare. The scores create transparency. For CPUs, also compare the single thread performance, because games are often not able to use all cores, so the multithread rating isn't that relevant.
 
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Lawrence_SoCal

Active Member
Uh.. that gets 'complicated' [messy, quickly]
Supposedly the Intel CPU issues were largely caused by 'over-clocking' and similar. Puget Systems (and upper end professional workstation builder) indicates they, using default/conservative power settings did NOT have unusual failure rates. I'm not a fan of Intel for other reasons (including security).
BUT AMD has its own significant issues as well. Almost no one cares about the CPU hardware itself ... it is ALL about system capability and performance... and that requires chipsets, BIOS, drivers, etc... and AMD software is, and has been pathetic, for a very long time. I've really wanted to get a modern AMD system, but every time I look, there has been, and remains, major deficiencies in the available offerings (with the specific portable workstation options I'm looking at)

so pick your poison... issues with both vendors, all depends on your specifics. In my use case, AMD systems limited or lack of support for USB4 is a show-stopper (for most that won't be an issue). AMD is more power-efficient in general over last couple of generations, but that tends (usually, not always) to be more significant in a laptop than desktop. That power difference could be material if getting a really power hungry GPU, and implication for PSU
4 years ago, despite wanting an AMD system, I ended up getting (for a non-gaming streaming use case) a Tier 1 business class tower with Intel and its been fine. I would NOT recommend avoiding Intel based on recent issues.. unless over-clocking is your jam (which I'm against it, in general, as I prioritize longevity, reliability, etc, over small performance improvements).
 
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