Question / Help I5 2500k Good Enough for Encoding for a stream?

[Plexatri]

So right now I have a single computer set up and thinking about streaming on Twitch after a 4 year hiatus. My computer right now is this:

I5 2500k OC to 4.3 GHZ
GTX 1080 Strix
16gb of RAM
500 GB of SSD
4 TB of HDD

I know for playing mostly Battlegrounds and other PC games AND streaming this will really strain my PC. But I have spare computer parts, basically everything for a 2nd pc EXCEPT for MOBO, CPU, and RAM. So I was thinking of getting a 7700k processor mobo ram combo and for a 2nd streaming pc have:

GTX 780
I5 2500k
16gb of RAM
1 tb HDD

and then probably run Linux since I don't want to buy another Windows computer. (never used Linux)

Is this a good solution or is the 2500k not good enough for even just encoding a stream? I understand I don't want too high of a bitrate for streaming and make it unwatchable for viewers.

OR is it possible to have a good quality stream with just sticking to 1 computer with the 2500k? That would be amazing because I'm having a hard time dropping 600-700 dollars on a new processor mobo upgrade.

 

[Mroczny_Gustaw]

2500k is probably too slow for it. just stick to Nvenc, it will be fine, 10x0 cards have decent quality
if you want to buy second pc forget about intel, go for some ryzen - like r7 1700 and overclock, B350 mobos are lot cheaper

 

[Plexatri]

So stick with a single PC and use Nvenc with my 1080 and I shouldn't have any issues with streaming quality or gameplay quality? You may have just made my day sir :)

 

[alpinlol]

If you think about byuing a new CPU+MB+RAM Combo then I would highly recommend at least waiting for Intel Coffee Lake to be released this month and after those are benched decide between R7 1700 or the i7 8700k but dont buy Kaby Lake now.

 

[Plexatri]

After doing some research on Nvenc, I've been reading some negative feedback on it. I read that unless you have a high bitrate (4500 or so) your stream will look like crap and might make it hard for other viewers to watch you if your bitrate is too high since I'm unpartnered. I don't have the fastest internet, it's fairly average (i think my isp throttles my net a lot) so I'm afraid of having a bitrate higher than 3000. And since I've read that x264 doesn't require a lot of bitrate to look good, I think that would be a more viable option in a 2nd streaming PC.

It's just difficult because I don't want to watch my stream on the same internet live to see if it's lagging. I'm pretty sure that would be using up too much bandwidth. I'm kind of picky when it comes to quality.

 

[Mroczny_Gustaw]

After doing some research on Nvenc, I've been reading some negative feedback on it. I read that unless you have a high bitrate (4500 or so) your stream will look like crap and might make it hard for other viewers to watch you if your bitrate is too high since I'm unpartnered. I don't have the fastest internet, it's fairly average (i think my isp throttles my net a lot) so I'm afraid of having a bitrate higher than 3000. And since I've read that x264 doesn't require a lot of bitrate to look good, I think that would be a more viable option in a 2nd streaming PC.

It's just difficult because I don't want to watch my stream on the same internet live to see if it's lagging. I'm pretty sure that would be using up too much bandwidth. I'm kind of picky when it comes to quality.

look into my calculator to see proper bitrates. this opinion of nvenc is old, 9xx and 10xx cards are very usable, give it a try - _with_proper_bitrate_ - you will be fine with 720p30@2800k
if you are limited to 3000, x264 will not make wonders
test your connection with https://r1ch.net/projects/twitchtest