New Video Card Suggestions??

[RutReturns]

I currently use OBS on a 2 PC setup (using teleport). My 2nd PC where I use OBS to record 4k @ 60 fps gameplay from PC1 is an AMD 7900x with 64GB DDR5 memory.

Currently it has an NVidia 2070 Super founders edition video card on it but it is starting to fail and I need to purchase a new video card.

I found what OBS recommends as the minimum requirements to look for but not really an answer on what is the best video card to use for OBS. Right now I only record video and use that PC for video editing, but ultimately I will use it for streaming as well.

So I have a budget of around $500 for this purchase.

I have seen recently that there is an AV1 encoder (I think) on the newer 40 series NVidia cards and the 7700+ cards for AMD but is this an important thing?

So if I need a card that can use this it would be either a 4060ti 16gb card or 7700 xt 12gb from AMD. If I went the AMD route I would rather spend a little more and get a 7800xt but they are out of stock right now.

If however this AV1 isn't a thing, then I could save some $$ and go to an older gen card like a 6750xt 12 gb or something like that. There are so many AMD last gens to choose from.

Upgrading now I would like to get 2-3 years usage out of it before upgrading again if possible.

I know this question is probably very opinion based, but at the same time OBS must do better with one or the other.

Anyone's input will be helpful.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post!!

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

I'm not a gamer, so take that into account

Right now I only record video and use that PC for video editing, but ultimately I will use it for streaming as well.

Personally, I advise letting Video Editing recommendation drive your GPU selection. Different video editors have different recommendations on VRAM, especially when it comes to 4K video and adding filters/effects.. DaVinci Resolve vs Premier vs others have different requirements, recommended configs ... so it depends. One thing I have to research, and seems a bit early to know for sure, is whether AMD GPUs working well (as well as nVidia with DaVinci Resolve, which I have)??

So I have a budget of around $500 for this purchase.

For stream encoding, you should be fine almost regardless with GPUs in your price range.

I have seen recently that there is an AV1 encoder (I think) on the newer 40 series NVidia cards and the 7700+ cards for AMD but is this an important thing?

Today, not really. Next year or the year after, ... maybe? hopefully.. For just AV1 encoding, though teething issues with bleeding edge tech, Intel ARC GPUs are a commented as a good value

So if I need a card that can use this it would be either a 4060ti 16gb card or 7700 xt 12gb from AMD. If I went the AMD route I would rather spend a little more and get a 7800xt but they are out of stock right now.

If however this AV1 isn't a thing, then I could save some $$ and go to an older gen card like a 6750xt 12 gb or something like that. There are so many AMD last gens to choose from.

Upgrading now I would like to get 2-3 years usage out of it before upgrading again if possible.

For OBS, historically AMD GPUs have not been great as AMD's H.264 encoding was sub-par (at best). This might be explained by AMD's apparent hope (or cheapness) to invest only in newer H.265, but that never took off for streaming due to licensing mess. AV1 will (fingers crossed) solve that and we can finally move beyond H.264. In the meantime, AV1 streaming is early bleeding edge. And a few stream platforms accept AV1 input (primarily YouTube, if I recall correctly, but not the others. https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/av1-encoding-supported-on-twitch-nowadays.168757/)
If streaming upload bandwidth isn't a constraint, then not worrying about AV1 today, and getting a 2nd or 3rd Gen hardware AV1 encoder GPU in a few years probably is better value. In that case, in general NVENC has less issues than AMD encoding as far as I'm aware, but again... not a gamer, and my opinion influenced by last 3.5 yrs on these forums ... today, things may be different with latest OBS Studio and AMD encoder SDK release. or not.
I don't recall off the top of my head, but the one thing you may want to consider, assuming nVidia NVENC GPU, is some base models have 1 encoder, and others have 2 (4080 and up?). Each encoder chip can handle multiple concurrent encoding sessions. I'd advise looking into whether # of NVENC chips impacts your video editing.

With next gen GPUs (and CPUs) due out soon (nVidia's Blackwell (50xx?) in presumably early 2024, 14th gen Intel desktop CPUs in Oct' 23), I'd be inclined to get a nVidia 30xx for cheap(er) and upgrade sooner as AV1 matures. I say that with a strong appreciation for AMD CPUs, disdain for AMD software (CPU and GPU), and annoyance at AMD GPU H.264 support.

Though not what you asked, a GPU shouldn't be 'dying' unless pushed too hard (overclocking) or the more common dirty power (why I use auto-voltage regulating battery backup supplies in front of all my computers, though a tired PC PSU could also be a cause). Assuming just editing and stream encoding, I'd be inclined to NOT overclock such a machine and then you should get many years of service (way more than 5, where performance requirements dictate upgrading, not hardware failures)

good luck, and hopefully someone with better knowledge specific to your setup will comment

 

[JohnPee]

I'm not a gamer, and only an occasional streamer but spend a lot of time playing in a video editor (Power Director) I have found the Nvidia video cards to be better than AMD video cards. The AMD software gave me endless problems so I replaced the GPU with an Nvidia.

 

[R@de]

Video Encode and Decode GPU Support Matrix

Find the related video encoding and decoding support for all NVIDIA GPU products.

developer.nvidia.com

If considering an Nvidia card, encoding performance will be affected by the number of NVENC's and max number of concurrent sessions. If encoding performance was my priority, I would opt for a 4070Ti as a minimum.

 

[sandrix]

Everything you need to know, radeon sucks for streaming due to its primitive encoder. Any NVIDIA video card with Turing architecture or higher will do. H.264 quality will be the same everywhere. The only difference is that the RTX 40 can encode AV1.