Dedicated streaming PC

[emil_forslund]

As the title says, I am thinking of building a dedicated streaming pc. My friend is selling his "old" components and I have gotten a good deal for them, 278 dollars roughly. I will be getting an i7-6700k, motherboard (don't know what brand), 16GB of ram and a Hyper 212 cooler.

The other things I will need for the PC is a case, hard drive and PSU but that I will have covered and of course a capture card.

My question is not if this will be enough to encode, I know it will be, but rather if I would need a discreet graphics card for it or not, and if I do what card would suffice?

 

[inzane4all]

What will you be using for streaming? I have used PLEX for years and it runs great with no issues. Emby maybe? Where are you planning to stream to? Roku, Apple TV, Nvidia Shield, etc..... HTPC? From someone that has messed with streaming for years, i can tell you a few things:

You will need a good CPU for transcoding Audio and Video for files that do not support what's encoded into the audio/video file.
I used to use an AMD FX 8350 and those 8 cores worked very well when transcoding.

You will only need to worry about the video card if you are using that computer as an HTPC. if you will be direct streaming, it doesn't really matter. What matters there is your network and how well it performs.

Look at my sig: That's what I currently use to stream to all my Roku/Apple devices at home, without issues, using both Plex and Emby. And I can still game on it with high FPS no probs, keeping in mind that my PC is on 22 hours a day, providing content to all my devices.

I can do 4K, 1080p, 720p and regular content without much prob. 4k, however, does require my PC to transcode some audio/video files, so unless you don't plan on streaming 4k, you should be good to go.

Honestly there's other tricks and tips to get good streaming, but that involves tweaking your setup here and there. For example, all my video/audio files transcode on x2 SSD's in RAID0. That helps me transcode files a lot faster than using a mech drive. You can use your video card for transcoding videos by changing some settings, but if you have a CPU that's pretty powerful, you shouldn't have to modify that setting.

Hope this helps.

 

[emil_forslund]

I would be streaming games to Twitch using OBS mostly. I already have an i7 in my rig but it can't handle the latest games and a stream at the same time I have noticed, this is why I am tempted to build a secondary encoding PC. I could also for roughly the same amount of money when building a completely other system, get a Ryzen 7 2700X and a compatible motherboard and replace my current i7. I am torn at what I should do.

 

[Peter Martin]

yep, Ryzen 7 2700X is the one. I want to build something like this

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz 8-Core Processor ($304.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: AMD - Wraith Max 55.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($47.99 @ Amazon)
Thermal Compound: Thermal Grizzly - Kryonaut 11.1g Thermal Paste ($28.85 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus - Prime X470-Pro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($158.64 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($339.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB FTW3 GAMING iCX Video Card ($804.98 @ Newegg Business)
Case: Corsair - Crystal 460X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($91.14 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: NZXT - Aer RGB120 (3-pack) 61.4 CFM 120mm Fans ($79.99 @ NZXT)
Total: $2185.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-18 16:52 EDT-0400

 

[Darkbreeze]

I would be streaming games to Twitch using OBS mostly. I already have an i7 in my rig but it can't handle the latest games and a stream at the same time I have noticed, this is why I am tempted to build a secondary encoding PC. I could also for roughly the same amount of money when building a completely other system, get a Ryzen 7 2700X and a compatible motherboard and replace my current i7. I am torn at what I should do.

What is the model of your current i7, as well as the rest of your configuration?

 

[emil_forslund]

My current spec is as follows: i7-7700k with Noctua NH-D15, 16 GB DDR4 2133Mhz ram, Gigabyte G1 Gaming 1070 8GB, Gigabyte Z270XP-SLI motherboard, 500W EVGA PSU, 120GB SSD, 1TB HDD, 2TB HDD. Oh and a dvd drive.

 

[logainofhades]

I would be streaming games to Twitch using OBS mostly. I already have an i7 in my rig but it can't handle the latest games and a stream at the same time I have noticed, this is why I am tempted to build a secondary encoding PC. I could also for roughly the same amount of money when building a completely other system, get a Ryzen 7 2700X and a compatible motherboard and replace my current i7. I am torn at what I should do.

If you want a single system, that will not break the bank, and can stream, the 2700x is your best option, on a price/performance standpoint. You get far fewer dropped frames, viewer side, with a 2700x vs any mainstream i7. You would have to start spending some serious cash to get anything more capable, multitasking wise.

If you want to do a dual system, that 6700k will do. I think you would need something like an Elgato HD60 pro, to do it, though. I am unsure how else you would get the stream, to another PC.

 

[Darkbreeze]

IDK about that LOH. That might be true temporarily, but the Coffee lake refresh chips might change that. It would however probably cost about 250 dollars MORE for any 9th gen 8/16 core build than for the Ryzen, so I still see the Ryzen builds as being a lot better options.

Personally, I think I would wait until the NDAs are lifted and full test results are posted, as well as 9th gen products hitting the shelves. I suspect, that with the holiday season right around the corner there will be price reductions on AMD hardware. Intel hardware, my suspicion is that as we saw with Coffee lake, there is going to be a supply issue that takes several months to fulfill. If not, great, but I think that will happen with all the fab troubles they've been having not just with getting to a smaller process, but in supply as well.

Practically every time Intel has released new products for the last five years or so, we've seen price drops across the board on AMD hardware, so it might be worth waiting to see what it does on both sides of the river. I wouldn't wait past the end of November though. After that, you'll likely see supply decreased from both camps and prices go back up as they usually have less stock to fulfill hardware orders after the holidays and it takes a few months beyond that for things to normalize again.

Also, I would think that if the current system does a satisfying job gaming you might just want a less expensive Ryzen 3 or 5 system to do the streaming, but I also fully understand the idea that if you're going to put out money on a new system, it might be more desirable for that money to be put into a system that is more powerful so that the gaming experience can stay on par with other advancements.

 

[logainofhades]

I just read the TH review for the new i9 9900k. The i9 9900k is stupidly high priced. The i9 9900k is fast, but requires more expensive hardware to support it, not to mention the CPU cost. The cost to get the most out of it, is would be better spent on graphics. Price/performance, the 2700x is still king, for streaming. You don't need as expensive of a motherboard, or cooling. You don't even need to buy a cooler, to get started. The 9900k's enthusiast class pricing makes it too far out of reach for most people looking to stream.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I think that's what I said. LOL.

 

[emil_forslund]

I think that's what I said. LOL.

I have been considering the switch over to Ryzen for a while now, and I think I will wait for just like you said until November rolls around and see if the prices drop a bit. Thanks for your input!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Certainly.