Best AMD CPU for Streaming and Gaming at the same time

[Flemo216]

Hey guys, I am planning on starting to stream on TwitchTV using OBS. I have done a few test streams already with my crappy Internet (I'm getting an upgrade in 2 months) and from what I have gathered with my results and some research, is my CPU isn't good enough. I am streaming on 1080p 30fps, I would like to go to 60fps but my game, which is generally going to be CS:GO and H1Z1, gets a huge amount of frame drop! I usually sit around 200-250 fps on CS:GO when not streaming, when I began to stream it goes down to around 20-50 frames.

So the questions I'm asking is, what is the best AMD CPU there is currently for gaming and streaming and even video editing as I also edit videos frequently for my YouTube channel.

Computer Specs:
Case: Aerocool Syclone II Black Case USB 3.0
Mother Board: MSI 970A-G43
Graphics Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 Gaming 4GB
CPU: AMD AM3+ FX-6300 Six Core 3.5GHz Black Edition
Power Supply: 850 Watt Cougar CMX850 80+ Bronze Power Supply
RAM: 1x, 8GB + 2x 4GB DDR3 Cruicial 1600MHz Ram Module

At the moment from the research I have gathered, my best bet is a AMD FX-8370 or AMD FX-9520 but correct me if I'm wrong.

Thank you to everything that helps me out and replies

 

[kanewolf]

I would NEVER recommend an FX-9xxx to anyone. They are just too much current and too much heat to be usable.

 

[Flemo216]

I would NEVER recommend an FX-9xxx to anyone. They are just too much current and too much heat to be usable.

Thanks for the reply so quickly! What AMD CPU would you recommend than?

 

[kanewolf]

An 8350. It would overclock to similar to the 8370. But an Intel build will probably be better than all of them.

 

[Flemo216]

An 8350. It would overclock to similar to the 8370. But an Intel build will probably be better than all of them.

I would go to Intel but I would have to buy a new motherboard, CPU and RAM which I simply cannot afford right now.
Thank you for replying so quickly and helping me out, I really do appreciate it! I'll see what everyone else has to say and if they have a similar mindset I'll go with the 8350.
Thank you again

 

[kanewolf]

Yeah, I assumed you didn't want to go with a new motherboard. Have you thought about getting an AIO water cooler for your existing CPU and overclocking it?

 

[Flemo216]

Yeah, I assumed you didn't want to go with a new motherboard. Have you thought about getting an AIO water cooler for your existing CPU and overclocking it?

I have thought about that yes but I am not very experienced with water cooling and I am a little afraid to play with it as I'm not that comfortent/familiar with it all. I would prefer to go with a high end fan but if water cooling is a necessity I can go there, but again, I prefer not to.

 

[kanewolf]

The all in one (AIO) water systems like the H100 or similar are very easy to use. I have an H60 on my 8320. You have to be careful to ensure that enough air is still moving in the case to keep the voltage regulators cool.

 

[Flemo216]

The all in one (AIO) water systems like the H100 or similar are very easy to use. I have an H60 on my 8320. You have to be careful to ensure that enough air is still moving in the case to keep the voltage regulators cool.

I will do some research on water coolers to understand that basics and I'll reconsider getting one. Either way I should still upgrade my 6300 to a 8350 or 8370 right?

 

[dudeman509]

Those boards don't do well with the high clocked 8-core chips (due to VRM design). Throttling due to overheating of VRMs is common on 8350's.

You'll want to invest in at least a VRM heat sink, and I probably would not go higher than an 8320.

 

[TerryLaze]

Try out Geforce experience/shadowplay , if you are set on OBS then use the nvenc option instead of using the CPU to do the work, this will give you 1080/60fps streams without affecting the cpu at all.

Otherwise use task manager and affinity to force the encoding to use only 4 cores while you put the game on only the first two cores,both games don't use much more then 2 cores so it will not affect gameplay.

 

[EvooHD]

wait for Zen procesor trust me. Its will be like Intel i5.

 

[synphul]

As others mentioned, you can try setting the cpu core affinity to help divide up the processor tasks between gaming and encoding. That motherboard will support a 125w tdp cpu like and fx 8350 but not recommended for overclocking. No heatsinks on the vrm and only 4+1 phase power delivery makes for poor overclocking options on an 8 core cpu. Throttling isn't only limited to a cpu overheating, it can happen when vrm's overheat on the motherboard also.

Using different software which can use the gpu for encoding streams might be your best bet for now. Waiting for zen is an option but it's no different than intel. It will mean a new cpu, new motherboard (am4), ddr4 ram, just like intel and with hopes of being an i5 which intel already is. Obviously if budget constraints are an issue it doesn't matter which brand you go with if they exceed the budget.

In reality some things may have to be compromised, it may not be possible to maintain high fps and stream all at the same time with a mid range budget pc. The stream may have to be lowered in fps or another type of software may have to be used. Streaming while gaming is a bit of a luxury and if it were easily done on low(er) budget pc's there would be no need for higher end pc's.

An fx 9xxx cpu has too high of a tdp and isn't supported by that level of motherboard, they're more headache than they're worth. The cost of the cpu, motherboard to support it and cooling it would be cheaper to go intel.