Hyper-Threading while Live Streaming

[KrunchTime11]

I use OBS Studio to livestream. I've heard that livestreaming with x264 is better than NVENC H.264. I also know that x264 using the CPU power and NVENC uses my graphics card. I've tried using both but when I'm using NVENC, I stream with a 10000 bitrate and I have much better performance in my game, but when I use x264 at a bitrate of 6000, my fps count goes down below 60.

So I would like to know 3 things:

Whats the max bitrate I can stream at on twitch? - cause I've heard its max is 6000.
Does x264 actually look better than NVENC?
Will hyperthreading improve my fps when streaming with x264?

PC Specs:

GTX 1070
i7-6700K @ 4GHz

 

[Traciatim]

Yes, the max is 6Mbps for 1080p, you can see here: https://stream.twitch.tv/

Personally, I prefer streamers stream in 720p because I watch either on my phone or in a window and am using a 1080p screen. Since I never watch streams full screen the extra resolution doesn't help since i scalre it down anyway. So depending on your audience, using the same bitrate but streaming in 720p might be preferable.

Yes, technically the x264 will look better... if you freeze frame things and stare at them side by side by pixel peeping. Does this actually affect your viewers ability to watch your stream? Probably not. If you can't achieve good performance on high bitrate x264, it's better to have consistent frame rates.

Yes, Hyperthreading will help.