Need an second PC for OBS/Nvidia Broadcast if I have a 3090 and a AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D?

[buckettraveler]

Do I really need a second PC for OBS if I have a nice PC? Beyond OBS I need to run Nvidia Broadcast, I have a loud AC unit and the people that live above me are always playing copyrighted music. I read a few places that a second PC for streaming was when CPUs/GPUs were anemic but not needed anymore.

 

[rockbottom]

Depends. Lots of factors at play. But, your current system should have no trouble running 1080p @ 120HZ with a recording & a stream being encoded concurrently @ 60FPS. I get 240HZ out of my 12900k/3090 with no lag (recording too), might be possible with yours as well. I limit all 4k to 60FPS so I'm not the right guy for help there.

 

[buckettraveler]

Ok, I don't think I'll do over 1080p. Well, I want to stream VR, so that might be a problem. Do I have enough power to play the game over 1080p but stream the game at 1080p? I have a second PC but it is a Nuc extreme NUC11BTMi9 and only video card I have is a 3080 in it, the only 3080 that fit, and it runs too hot in it and doesn't get enough power. I was thinking of selling the 3080 and buying something in the 20 series that generates less heat, uses less power, and is physically smaller, something that is the minimum to run Nvidia Broadcast. The capture card is a PCI card but I have it in a thunderbolt enclosure and the NUC has two thunderbolt 4 ports.

All this is very confusing.

 

[rockbottom]

Yes, the game can be played at a higher res. Have your tried running any tests yet?

I don't know anything about that NUC but have heard heat can be an issue with those things. It looks fairly stout though.

 

[buckettraveler]

Yes, the game can be played at a higher res. Have your tried running any tests yet?

I don't know anything about that NUC but have heard heat can be an issue with those things. It looks fairly stout though.

Originally I wanted to use my ATX PC for OBS and the Nuc for gaming, it has a i9 and I put a 3080 in it but it turned out it has a power supply that couldn't support the 3080 without down volting it so I couldn't game on it. I got my cards back with the Newegg lottery during the Pandemic, should have sold the 3080 then but a weaker card wasn't available anyway and Nvidia Broadcast was really cryptic about what it needed back then. Now I have to use my full PC to game on and setting up the Nuc for OBS has it's own hurdles.

 

[rockbottom]

Yeah, that's not good. Seems like the 3060 was the card to get for it, at least that's what I saw being used in the reviews I looked at. None of them reported heat issues. (Toms, TweakTown)

 

[rockbottom]

I checked the 3080, minimum PSU is 350. Your NUC should have a 650w PSU, it should be fine, the CPU is a 65w variant. That's still over 200 watts to run the mobo & everything else.

 

[rockbottom]

I butchered that first sentence above, should have been: max power draw is 350w.

Here's a comp I put together for the NUC with a 3080. The part picker didn't have the exact CPU & some other pieces so I went with similar or better parts. There's no CPU cooler to power, the CPU is cooled passively by a plate with fins & the air moving through the case. Kinda thinking maybe one of the power cables to the 3080 may be loose/disconnected if it's not getting enough power or the PSU just isn't able deliver the specified output/defective.

Anyway, try doing everything on the 5800X3D/3090, leave the NUC out of the mix. Use it for encoding another recording/stream if needed.