Question / Help x264 Preset or NVENC?

[SSEddie]

Hey guys! This is my first post here but sorry if it's in the wrong forum :(

I have an Intel i5 4570 with an Asus Strix 970, I want to stream Overwatch, Csgo, League of Legends, osu! etc. On 720p60fps 2500 bitrate. I'm not sure if I should be streaming using x264 preset or NVENC, if anyone here is knowledgeable and can possibly explain why I'd greatly appreciate any kind of help! Thank you and have a nice day!

 

[Dilaz]

NVENC requires a lot more bitrate to achieve the same quality as x264 so x264 is highly recommended for streaming. I can't recommend using 60fps with that low bitrate though. Either increase the bitrate or stick with 30fps.
For recording it doesn't really matter what you use since the bitrate is not that limited.

 

[alpinlol]

Though streaming 720p30 with only fast paced games like shooters and even Osu looks horrible. LoL and Osu shouldnt be much of an problem with your i5 but CSGO will have a huge hit on ingame performance while streaming and for Overwatch I cant really tell. If you can get 3500Bitrate then 720p60 with NVENC would be fine.

 

[SSEddie]

NVENC requires a lot more bitrate to achieve the same quality as x264 so x264 is highly recommended for streaming. I can't recommend using 60fps with that low bitrate though. Either increase the bitrate or stick with 30fps.
For recording it doesn't really matter what you use since the bitrate is not that limited.

Though streaming 720p30 with only fast paced games like shooters and even Osu looks horrible. LoL and Osu shouldnt be much of an problem with your i5 but CSGO will have a huge hit on ingame performance while streaming and for Overwatch I cant really tell. If you can get 3500Bitrate then 720p60 with NVENC would be fine.

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll try 3k-3.5k bitrate and see how that goes. Also, would both of you happen to know which preset (x264 or NVENC) would give me less fps while streaming? I'm trying to stream for good quality + the least amount of fps dropped if possible.

 

[koala]

According to my research here https://obsproject.com/forum/posts/252221 nvenc is quality-wise almost on par with x264. Not much difference.
If your CPU isn't fast enough to encode x264 without lags and frame drops, your quality with x264 will definitely be worse than with nvenc. Usually, an Intel i5 doesn't have the power to encode current games with x264 with 60 fps and running the game at the same time. An i7 with its 8 cores usually can, but a i5 with 4 cores usually not. Nvenc, on the other hand, has almost no cpu impact, so your game will run smoothly and without lags, and nvenc-encoding will be smooth as well.

 

[SSEddie]

According to my research here https://obsproject.com/forum/posts/252221 nvenc is quality-wise almost on par with x264. Not much difference.
If your CPU isn't fast enough to encode x264 without lags and frame drops, your quality with x264 will definitely be worse than with nvenc. Usually, an Intel i5 doesn't have the power to encode current games with x264 with 60 fps and running the game at the same time. An i7 with its 8 cores usually can, but a i5 with 4 cores usually not. Nvenc, on the other hand, has almost no cpu impact, so your game will run smoothly and without lags, and nvenc-encoding will be smooth as well.

Okay, thank you! I got the answer I was looking for

 

[Mroczny_Gustaw]

Hey guys! This is my first post here but sorry if it's in the wrong forum :(

I have an Intel i5 4570 with an Asus Strix 970, I want to stream Overwatch, Csgo, League of Legends, osu! etc. On 720p60fps 2500 bitrate. I'm not sure if I should be streaming using x264 preset or NVENC, if anyone here is knowledgeable and can possibly explain why I'd greatly appreciate any kind of help! Thank you and have a nice day!

720p60 in fast paced shooters will look bad with 2500 bitrate
check calculator in my signature