Thin client running OBS on Manjaro.

[grandcanyon]

I am currently running Manjaro (Arch) on a thin client. I am just trying to record Zoom and Skype calls. I am not gaming while doing this nor streaming back. I figured my thin client didn't have enough power so I tried the autoconfig and it worked but when I tried recording it couldn't keep up. I wasn't surprised. I was planning on upgrading my thin client but I don't want to run into the same situation where I don't have enough power.

I am currently running:
AMD GX-424CC SOC with Radeon(TM) R5E Graphics
Mem: 7029020

I can't figure out if my problem is my CPU, my GPU (not sure if I have one), not enough RAM or a combination of both. Could I do this with a RPI5 or one of those types of all in one or is that not enough. I can't figure out how to determine where a CPU ranks in terms of being better than another for OBS. Maybe my current thin client would work if I had the right settings.

I usually by used thin clients on ebay without an OS and then install Arch since I don't use Windows much.

 

[AaronD]

Both streaming *and* recording require a video encoder. That's the processing-intensive part. If you can stream, then you can record, and vice-versa. Same requirements and workflow, only the destination is different.

 

[AaronD]

Could I do this with a RPI5...

Maybe. There's a thread on here about that, where people have reported it to work for them, after some manual work. But I haven't tried it myself.

I *have* tried it on a Pi 4, and that was a spectacular faceplant! It would keep up with a single live 1920x1080p60 source, and show it just fine, but when I went to record...NOPE!

 

[grandcanyon]

I assume this would have enough power?

Dell OptiPlex 7050 Micro Computer, Intel Quad Core i5-6500T up to 3.1GHz, 16G DDR4, 256G SSD,

 

[AaronD]

Again, maybe. Does it have a GPU than can encode video? Either as a dedicated thing or part of the CPU? I think all of the Intel i-series does (my i7-4940MX does), but I would verify explicitly. (Or just try it. Do you have another option besides x264, that doesn't bog down the CPU or crash?)

If you can't encode video in hardware, then you have to do it in software, and that takes a pretty beefy CPU.

Also consider cooling. Most stationary systems are okay, but I wouldn't blindly trust the smaller ones that are designed to be easily hidden. Same problem as most laptops: they can't actually sustain their specs forever, because they heat up and have to throttle back to prevent damage. They're meant to load something quickly, and then sit and cool off while the user looks at it. Video encoding doesn't allow that time to rest.