Question / Help Lower End Capture Cards For 2 PC Setup (Gaming From Laptop)

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Vesne

New Member
So I am in a bit of a pickle. I started streaming about a week ago because I have a lot of times on my hands like a lot, I have everyday open with knowing to do until the fall semester starts. I have always wanted to stream so I figured now was the perfect time. After being prodded by friends I finally actually started and was surprised to get a really nice retention rate on followers compared to viewers when I compared myself to other newer streamers. So I really want to continue but while I have a nice headset and webcam I am running on a pretty mediocre at best laptop (I will put specs later on) the main point is that is an quad core AMD A8-3500 APU 1.50 ghz. This is really holding my stream back because while it is passible in the lower end of graphical settings when not streaming as soon as I begin to stream OBS will obviously need a decent amount of CPU this is often more than I have so I have to lose frames, use bad encoding, and lower quality settings in the more intensive games. I have optimized my stream by using a lot of guides and managed to get a lot of games to look nice and stream well but, it is still limiting me from anything close to recent 3d games.

I don't have the money to buy a gaming pc which is the best solution however a friend is willing to spot me about $50 for anything I'd like to improve the stream and another friend is letting me use their old desktop PC. So I will be posting the specs of both computers below but the main question is this,

"With 2 mediocre computers, one a laptop and one a desktop what capture card in the lower end would be the best short term solution (1 yearish) to free up CPU on a stream only trying to put out 720 or 30fps"

Specs: Laptop (Gaming done on this)
OS: Windows 7 64bit
Processor: QuadCore AMD A8-3500M APU 1.50Ghz
RAM: 8GB
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 6620G + 6750M
2 USB 3.0 Ports
2 USB 2.0 Ports
HDMI Port
VGA Port
(Using a Gamecom 780 USB headset on this one if audio could be considered)

Specs: Friends old desktop (Only Streaming)
OS: Windows Vista 32bit
Processor: AMD Athlon 7550 Dual-Core Processor 2.5Ghz
RAM: 3GB
Graphics Card: Nvidiga GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
VGA Port
4 USB 2.0 Ports

Affordability is important not going past $100 would be best if at all possible. If you have a cheaper option and a slightly more expensive but better option and could compare that would be best. Remember only looking for short term capture card solution to free up CPU this is not my long term solution or a capture card I plan on using for 3 years.
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Forum Moderator
Re: Lower End Capture Cards For 2 PC Setup (Gaming From Lapt

A capture card with the hardware you've outlined would be a waste. Save the money and put it towards a better system.
 
V

Vesne

New Member
Re: Lower End Capture Cards For 2 PC Setup (Gaming From Lapt

" don't have the money to buy a gaming pc which is the best solution however a friend is willing to spot me about $50 for anything I'd like to improve the stream and another friend is letting me use their old desktop PC."

The question of whether it is valuable and worth the money is not particularly relevant to the question, I am asking what the best option is. I have no income but, with the $50 from the friend mentioned I could pay $80 that I currently have and improve my stream quality from low-mid to high-mid and that is worth it to me. As I stated clearly in my post I simply cannot afford to buy a gaming PC but, I want a short term solution to my CPU bottle necking the quality of my stream a capture card would do that.

If anyone actually has any suggestions I am still looking for more opinions/info on the difference capture cards.
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Forum Moderator
Re: Lower End Capture Cards For 2 PC Setup (Gaming From Lapt

The implication was that you would save the money and spend more at a later date, when there was something worth spending it on that could actually benefit your stream in a meaningful way. That said, I honestly can't think of any decent capture cards that would work with OBS and meet your price requirement. Maybe an AVerMedia C027 if you can find it on sale and you use one of its supported resolutions. Does your planned encoding PC have a free PCIe slot?
 
G

GreatDesire

Member
Re: Lower End Capture Cards For 2 PC Setup (Gaming From Lapt

Well i can honestly say that i was in your position a while back and i bought the Avermedia C985 and put it in my old Core 2 Duo e6600 Stock clocks with 4 Gigs of DDR2 ram and i could Stream 720p 30FPS with the cpu at VeryFast encoding btw i was using an Orgin Laptop for the gaming and the Old Computer for Encoding/Streaming
 
Boildown

Boildown

Active Member
Re: Lower End Capture Cards For 2 PC Setup (Gaming From Lapt

I don't think that old PC you've been given is going to help you at all even if you manage to get a good capture card (which is outside your budget anyways).

I don't think a "Nvidia GeForce 6150SE nForce 430" supports Direct X 10, which is needed for OBS to work, so your second PC can't stream with OBS in any case. I'm sorry to say that you should just continue saving your money until you can get someone much better, than trying to make use of what you've been given, because it just won't work.
 
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