Question / Help System Requirements for High Quality Streaming?

[Spe]

Hi,
I have been looking around and I have not been able to find any information about what kind of computer I need in order to stream at high quality. Preferably, I'd like to stream at least 720p, 30 fps, higher if possible, mostly FPS games from the Xbox One. I'm shopping for a new computer, and I want to make sure whatever I get is easily capable of streaming, but I don't want to spend more than I have to. So if anyone could provide me with some information on what kind of processor I need, the processor speed, the GPU, the amount of RAM, etc., I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[Spe]

Hello?

 

[Black Ops]

What budget do you have in mind? Cant really recommend anything if we don't know how much money you are willing to spend

 

[Spe]

Well, I've got about $1200 of 'expendable' money right now, but I wasn't really wanting to spend it all at once. Basically, I can do anything up to that amount, but I'd want to keep it as low as possible. I'm also considering just buying the parts and having someone build it, I hear that's much cheaper. Of course, I don't know enough about this stuff to know I'm picking the right parts if I go down that route.

 

[FerretBomb]

You'll want a modern i5 at minimum, i7 preferred. Avoid laptops, as they tend to use cut-down parts. You'll need a discrete graphics card. Even just a modern budget card should work.

Plan to buy a capture card, preferably an internal one; while you can send across the network to a Windows 10 machine, it's not a great method and tends to run into problems. Avermedia are cheap for a reason, save up for a Magewell, Micomsoft SC512, or possibly an Elgato HD60 Pro (which has some minor color issues due to the sampling method they use).

Be aware that while you can build cheap, it can be a good idea to splash out extra given it's something you'll be using for a good while. Also, the more CPU power you have, the better. Both for futureproofing, and to use better compression making your stream look better at the realistic bitrate limits nonpartners are strongly advised to adhere to, to keep their streams watchable with minimal buffering.

I'd probably jump on an i7-6700k with 8-16GB RAM, a ~700W PSU with 85+ Platinum cert (more efficient), an nVidia 960 or 970 (or 1070 if you plan to game on PC as well). Probably an ASUS motherboard. SSD for the OS and one for the recording drive, with a spinning rust disk for large volume storage. That and a Magewell single-channel HDMI cap card, which also allows for SD inputs if you try out retrogaming. Should be able to bring that in under 1200 easily.

 

[Spe]

That is very helpful, thanks. However, before I go out and buy parts for my own computer, some friends of mine have some slightly older computers that I could get for a much lower price, if it turns out any of them are good enough to stream reasonably well, I would prefer to take that route. Or, I could upgrade them if necessary.

-2.4 GHz Intel Core i7-4700MQ
-16 GB RAM
-Dual NVIDIA GeForce GT750M
(yes, it's a laptop)

or

-AMD a4-7300 3.80GHz dual-core
-8GB RAM
-AMD Radeon HD 8470D
(This one's a desktop, but the graphics are integrated, so I assume I'd have to upgrade that.)

For comparison, is a faster processor or more cores usually better?