LegendaryWindowTrash
New Member
I have looked on the site, and I have NO answer. can someone please answer this for me?
What is the required system specs for OBS on Windows?
- Thread starter LegendaryWindowTrash
- Start date
Lawrence_SoCal
Active Member
First - @R1CH knows way more than I do, and I defer
But for those wanting a little more context, the issue is that OBS is a powerful tool, so depending on what you do with it, you can get a 5-7+ yr old PC to stream/record, or you can bring a brand new US$5->10K workstation to its knees.... yes, it simply depends [on a lot of different factors]
2 years ago, I tried to stream with an Intel i5-6300HQ (2.3GHz 4c/4t circa Fall 2015), 8GB RAM, SATA SSD Win 10 Home edition, Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M and failed as the PC wasn't up to the task (no gaming, just alternating between USB webcam and simple pre-recorded videos (many being 4K), alongside a PPTx slide show window capture, streaming at 720p 30fps with no OBS effects/filters). And the Operating System was definitely properly optimized. I’ve learned a lot more about OBS since then, and I might be able to squeak it out, but it wasn’t worth it, didn't have the time, and simply got a new PC (an i7-10700K with a GTX 1660 Super, 16GB RAM, NVMe SSD, which doesn't even break a sweat).
Things like audio filters/effects, chroma-keying, etc can have a CPU impact. Then it depends on if you have the right GPU to do encode (and possibly decode, depending on sources) offload. How much CPU needs will also depend on the non-OBS load on the PC, the level of OS optimization, etc. The current general recommendation you will find for OBS GPU offload (to balance CPU and GPU loads) is to get a nVidia GPU with modern Turing or Ampere chipset (so GTX 1650 Super or higher). With GPU prices returning to 'normal', if you plan to keep the PC for a number of years, I'd recommend Ampere based {without knowing your specific workloads in more detail}. What tends to be a faster (though with a larger margin of error) is to indicate what you have, or the budget you have for a new system, and folks can give you a sense of what you can accomplish with that (in really broad strokes. a single plugin can cause significant CPU load depending on plugin & settings)
IT really comes down to your budget, and requirements/expectations. And to spec an OBS PC requires knowing a LOT about how exactly you are going to use OBS (or any real-time video encoding system). And for most, if you aren't already an OBS user [and I'd argue being familiar with Task Manager/Performance Monitor to have a solid understanding of existing PC workload nature], you probably don't know enough about how you plan to use OBS to provide enough details for others to spec a system for you. Hence the prior comment about trying OBS out... sorry. There are threads here on minimum settings for under-powered systems that may give you a sense of what you can accomplish on under-powered systems (if that helps you at all).
Good luck
But for those wanting a little more context, the issue is that OBS is a powerful tool, so depending on what you do with it, you can get a 5-7+ yr old PC to stream/record, or you can bring a brand new US$5->10K workstation to its knees.... yes, it simply depends [on a lot of different factors]
2 years ago, I tried to stream with an Intel i5-6300HQ (2.3GHz 4c/4t circa Fall 2015), 8GB RAM, SATA SSD Win 10 Home edition, Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M and failed as the PC wasn't up to the task (no gaming, just alternating between USB webcam and simple pre-recorded videos (many being 4K), alongside a PPTx slide show window capture, streaming at 720p 30fps with no OBS effects/filters). And the Operating System was definitely properly optimized. I’ve learned a lot more about OBS since then, and I might be able to squeak it out, but it wasn’t worth it, didn't have the time, and simply got a new PC (an i7-10700K with a GTX 1660 Super, 16GB RAM, NVMe SSD, which doesn't even break a sweat).
Things like audio filters/effects, chroma-keying, etc can have a CPU impact. Then it depends on if you have the right GPU to do encode (and possibly decode, depending on sources) offload. How much CPU needs will also depend on the non-OBS load on the PC, the level of OS optimization, etc. The current general recommendation you will find for OBS GPU offload (to balance CPU and GPU loads) is to get a nVidia GPU with modern Turing or Ampere chipset (so GTX 1650 Super or higher). With GPU prices returning to 'normal', if you plan to keep the PC for a number of years, I'd recommend Ampere based {without knowing your specific workloads in more detail}. What tends to be a faster (though with a larger margin of error) is to indicate what you have, or the budget you have for a new system, and folks can give you a sense of what you can accomplish with that (in really broad strokes. a single plugin can cause significant CPU load depending on plugin & settings)
IT really comes down to your budget, and requirements/expectations. And to spec an OBS PC requires knowing a LOT about how exactly you are going to use OBS (or any real-time video encoding system). And for most, if you aren't already an OBS user [and I'd argue being familiar with Task Manager/Performance Monitor to have a solid understanding of existing PC workload nature], you probably don't know enough about how you plan to use OBS to provide enough details for others to spec a system for you. Hence the prior comment about trying OBS out... sorry. There are threads here on minimum settings for under-powered systems that may give you a sense of what you can accomplish on under-powered systems (if that helps you at all).
Good luck