I currently stream on twitch.tv. Within the next week I will be getting an i7 3770k and new motherboard in the mail. My video card is an NVidia GTX 660 TI. The most I ever stream is 720p due to wanting viewers with low internet speeds to be able to watch the stream. I've seen that OBS does not have options to allow external encoding from a capture card (so technically it would be encoding the same thing twice). I would like to know if it would be worth it at all from a performance standpoint to invest in a capture card, or just use the OBS built-in game capture. The main reason I ask is I mostly stream Guild Wars 2 which is very CPU intensive, and my CPU at the moment bites the dust in big battles (world vs world, large events). I would like to stream the game without my framerate dropping.
Question / Help Is it worth getting a capture card to stream with OBS?
- Thread starter Blackhive
- Start date
For PC games, there are plenty of options within OBS for capturing PC games efficiently . PC games are actually the specialty of OBS. Game capture uses zero CPU by design, it does everything entirely via GPU, and capture cards on the other hand actually do require CPU and RAM usage (mostly just image conversion, but still, it's still a fair amount of processing).
Dariofubar
Member
I have an overclocked i7 3770k @ 4,5 Ghz with a Gtx 670 OC , OCZ SSD's and 32Gb Hyper X Ram plus the avermedia live gamer HD.
I can definitely tell the difference of using the Capture Card as a Capture Source while streaming Fps games (it feels way better with the capture card but in some games the difference is nil). A friend told me that he feels no difference bewteen game capture and the capture card whatsoever when he plays Battlefield 3 on my System while streaming(but then however i am pretty sensitive to stuff like that) .
A capture card is only really needed,
If you want to get rid of the weird mouse feeling that occurs in "SOME FPS games" (i can play the majority with my system without even noticing that i am streaming even with game capture) while trying to aim precisely .
you want to connect a second pc or console to your pc to stream.
you want the benefits of not needing softwares like fraps, dxtory anymore . (But OBS can also record locally just fine , so if you use OBS you don't need other softwares anymore anyways).
You have too much money and you already decided to buy it anyways, regardless of what people tell you.
Some people say a capture card can help a weak system to be able to stream , but i would say just use the money to get a new CPU/Gpu. If you don't have a second monitor already that would be another thing i would consider getting over a capture card for streaming.
The Ultimate solution would be to get a 2 pc setup and a capture card hooking both pc's together . BUT unless you earn money with youtube or streaming there is absolutely no need for that.
I would say safe the money on a capture card and use it to buy a Gtx 670 instead of a 660. Paired with an I7 3770k (if you can get an SSD , that is definitely worth your money over a capture card and will improve overall performance) there are no games out there which you shouldn't be able to play/stream in 720p/1080p.
I don't say you shouldn't get a capture since i love mine sooooo much. But to be honest with a strong enough system (which the 3770k definitely is)it is not really needed unless you are anal about how a game (mostly only applies to FPS games not even all of them and for non fps games the difference is 0 ) feels while streaming.
If in the end you decide to get a capture card, the Avermedia liver gamer HD is currently your best choice , however be aware that it is NOT completely hassle free.
I can definitely tell the difference of using the Capture Card as a Capture Source while streaming Fps games (it feels way better with the capture card but in some games the difference is nil). A friend told me that he feels no difference bewteen game capture and the capture card whatsoever when he plays Battlefield 3 on my System while streaming(but then however i am pretty sensitive to stuff like that) .
A capture card is only really needed,
If you want to get rid of the weird mouse feeling that occurs in "SOME FPS games" (i can play the majority with my system without even noticing that i am streaming even with game capture) while trying to aim precisely .
you want to connect a second pc or console to your pc to stream.
you want the benefits of not needing softwares like fraps, dxtory anymore . (But OBS can also record locally just fine , so if you use OBS you don't need other softwares anymore anyways).
You have too much money and you already decided to buy it anyways, regardless of what people tell you.
Some people say a capture card can help a weak system to be able to stream , but i would say just use the money to get a new CPU/Gpu. If you don't have a second monitor already that would be another thing i would consider getting over a capture card for streaming.
The Ultimate solution would be to get a 2 pc setup and a capture card hooking both pc's together . BUT unless you earn money with youtube or streaming there is absolutely no need for that.
I would say safe the money on a capture card and use it to buy a Gtx 670 instead of a 660. Paired with an I7 3770k (if you can get an SSD , that is definitely worth your money over a capture card and will improve overall performance) there are no games out there which you shouldn't be able to play/stream in 720p/1080p.
I don't say you shouldn't get a capture since i love mine sooooo much. But to be honest with a strong enough system (which the 3770k definitely is)it is not really needed unless you are anal about how a game (mostly only applies to FPS games not even all of them and for non fps games the difference is 0 ) feels while streaming.
If in the end you decide to get a capture card, the Avermedia liver gamer HD is currently your best choice , however be aware that it is NOT completely hassle free.
Damn , i should make a Thread in the Guide Section to help people decide wether or not to get a capture card, lol!
If you are having issues with performance of the game and stream running at the same time then you might want to get a CC on another computer and have a dedicated streaming pc. But if you are having only minimal issues with it then there is no real need to get a CC. Only reason I would want to do that myself is to stream at 60FPS
Dariofubar
Member
You can stream at 60fps with OBS without a capture card!
@Jim thanks for the prompt reply. I've currently been using dxtory to capture, as the OBS capture tends to pixilate when i rotate the camera. It may be some settings I need to adjust. I will give the game capture another shot once the new parts come in.
@Dario thanks for the extensive reply. I do indeed already have dual monitors, as well as an SSD drive. The GTX 660 Ti I also already had. I got the card for free, but if you think it would be better to invest the extra cash into a 670/680 instead of a capture card I may go that route.
@Dario thanks for the extensive reply. I do indeed already have dual monitors, as well as an SSD drive. The GTX 660 Ti I also already had. I got the card for free, but if you think it would be better to invest the extra cash into a 670/680 instead of a capture card I may go that route.