Question / Help Stream Settings Recomendations...

[Dojii]

My PC Specs are: I am currently Streaming Overwatch, Dark Souls 3, etc....
[CPU] I7-6700k
[GPU] GTX 960 SSC 4GB
[RAM] 16GB DDR4 @2400mhz
[WEBCAM] Logitech c920

The native resolution of my monitor is 1600 x 900 (it's an Asus monitor I like it but doesn't seem like I see this resolution much for settings or among enthusiasts...).

My Question is, should I go to Settings > Video > and set the Base Resolution to 1280x720? I heard this is good for streaming. Or leave the Base resolution alone.... and use the Downscale feature (Downscale to 1280x720?)?

Also should I use 30 or 60 FPS? System is pretty beast. I haven't even over clocked my CPU....
I just want the BEST POSSIBLE STREAM QUALITY for my PC Specs.

And when I say best possible stream quality I want other people to be able to see it well too, so I'm not gonna go over 2000kbps so they don't get the buffering issue. Any feedback is welcome.

Thanks.

 

[FerretBomb]

Use the downscale. It's a full-frame post-compositing downscale, so you keep more quality as items can alias into each other smoothly.

Use 30fps. 60 won't fit into a 2000kbps bitrate budget without looking crappy (unless you're playing a very low-motion game like Hearthstone)

You can turn down the encoder preset to use better compression. The slower it is, the more CPU it will use, but the more efficiently it will compress so your video will look better. Go one step at a time and test for 20 minutes of active gameplay, watching your CPU load, temperature, and throttling. You want to stick around 80% CPU load including your game.

 

[Dojii]

Use the downscale. .......

Thanks for the input! I see that you are using the Elgato HD60 Pro also. I just bought one. But I only play PC games. I tried to stream with the HD60 Pro, hoping I would get some sort of Performance Gains, or Quality gains...

I cloned my Main monitor signal out the the HD60 Pro. Then I added the Elgato as a Global source etc....
But I think Game Capture through OBS was looking better.

What do you think?

 

[FerretBomb]

No, a capture card is useless in a 1PC setup. If you are gaming on the system you are streaming from, using a capture card will only RAISE CPU usage. The only time a cap card is useful is if you're streaming console gameplay, or gameplay from a second PC.

Game capture (and window capture) grab the video frames directly from VRAM and copy them to another part of VRAM for OBS' usage.
When using a capture card, you have to let the GPU send the finished video out, the capture card to pull it in and capture it, then decode it, copy it into system memory, then load it BACK into VRAM. It makes a big, useless, stupid loop. And just degrades quality. The only reasons to ever use a capture card for 1PC gaming are if you are playing a game that does not support OBS' anticheat compatibility, or if you are recording gameplay-only with a different program than OBS.

Anyone who tells you different is... probably selling capture cards, or repeating misleading information. AverMedia is the biggest offender there, as far as misleading marketing that preys on new streamers to push their low-end gear. Elgato are pretty solid though, so if you console game you're set up pretty well.

 

[Dojii]

Thank you FerretBomb.