Question / Help OBS' CPU utilization

[Tei]

Hi,

I wonder how OBS utilizes CPU, is it single core, double or quad core application?

I'm facing upgrade of CPU in my laptop and since many if not most programs/games still not utilize all cores, therefore deciding factor would be streaming application's needs (OBS is a choice, no brainer here).

So would be there benefit of getting more cores/threads? Or better stay with less cores but at higher clock?

I'm struggling between Intel® Core™ i7-640M Processor (4M Cache, 2.80 GHz) (2 cores, 4 threads) and two more expensive options: Intel® Core™ i7-840QM Processor (8M Cache, 1.86 GHz) (4 cores, 8 threads) or Intel® Core™ i7-920XM Processor Extreme Edition (8M Cache, 2.00 GHz) (4c, 8thr, and i could overclock it in my m17x R2).

If anybody have experience with those CPUs and streaming, please share your opinion.

 

[Grimio]

OBS is capable to pretty much max out all cores by itself with slow presets. Well, technically it's the x264 encoder and not OBS itself.
You WILL have a better experience with a stronger processor (although the extreme editions are pushing it somewhat when it comes to price paid vs performance gained)

 

[bilehazard]

I was wondering about the Extreme processors myself as far as gaming/streaming were concerned. But i havent done much research nor know any streamers atm that stream with the Extreme Proc. You might need to do some research before you decide to spend that kind of money. But make sure when choosing a proc, more cores the better and make sure to pay attention to the speed since faster will give you better encoding speeds.