Question / Help Which CPU for x264 Encoding

[harry miles]

Hey guys and gals,

So i have an i7 8700k in my gaming PC and i can stream and game on the same system no problem but i am looking into buying another CPU in a dedicated streaming rig and decided i will go with AMD. The thing is there are multiple 8 core 16 threads chips from AMD. Was wondering what would be best for 900p encoding on say a medium preset should i be looking at an 1700x,1800x and so on as i don't have hands on experience with AMD CPU's.

I know the limits with bandwidth for non partnered streamers ect ect plus viewers not being able to watch at certain bit-rates so this is more for future reference if i ever get partnered.

Also 2nd question, I heard the new RTX cards have better NVENC encoding than previous pascal cards using OBS, What truth is there to that and how does it hold up against x264 ? I Know x264 will probably always be the best quality solution just got me curious.

 

[koala]

Regarding nvenc on rtx, this is a quote from Nvidia https://devblogs.nvidia.com/nvidia-turing-architecture-in-depth/

Turing improves encoding quality compared to prior generation Pascal GPUs and compared to software encoders. Figure 11 shows that on common Twitch and YouTube streaming settings, Turing’s video encoder exceeds the quality of the x264 software-based encoder using the fast encode settings, with dramatically lower CPU utilization. 4K streaming is too heavy a workload for encoding on typical CPU setups, but Turing’s encoder makes 4K streaming possible.

If this is true and stands real world tests, there is no need to ever use x264 again if you have a RTX card. There is better use for CPU resources than to encode live video.
On the other hand, one currently available RTX card is as expensive as a whole new PC. I would very much like to update my x264/nvenc/vce comparison tests with Turing nvenc, but the RTX cards deliver not enough additional 3D power in comparison to the GTX 1xxx to warrant the expensive update.

 

[harry miles]

wow thanks for the reply , yeah i get what you mean im rocking a 1080ti so no plans to change to RTX any time soon. Thanks for the info

 

[Boildown]

Well not all Turing gets the RTX moniker instead of GTX. It'll be interesting to see the GTX 2050 and 2050 Ti cards. If they're legit as good as Fast preset at 4K resolution at 60fps, then yeah the days of software encoding H.264 might be numbered.

As for AMD CPUs, I'd go with one of the newer generation Ryzens (2xxx) instead of the other 1xxx ones, with up to 16 cores / 32 threads. Past 16 cores you'll likely be hurt more by decreased clockspeed than you'll gain by more cores and threads. Up to 16 you'll probably still gain. Whether it can do Medium at 900p, I don't really know.

 

[BK-Morpheus]

I got the 1700x at 3800Mhz on all cores. When gaming+streaming it can do 720p 30fps medium in many games. In a dedicated rig, 900p medium should be no problem. As the 2700x is way more expensive here in Germany, I would still go for the first Ryzen generation right now.