[SOLVED] Is this build sufficient for software streaming?

[ThrowawayKid]

Putting together a PC for a friend. We're pretty set on this build but they brought up the fact that they would like to be able to stream themselves while playing games on the same PC. This would mostly be modern fighting games but also other titles, and I believe they would like to stream themselves playing some upcoming titles as well.

We are pretty happy with this set of components, but I realize that the CPU may be insufficient for software streaming:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pj3TPn

Could anyone give any advice as to whether this PC is sufficient, or what changes we should make in order to make it capable of streaming and gaming simultaneously. Our target game performance is 1080p at 60fps, however they've stated they would be fine with outputting the stream at 720p. They also expressed interest in future titles so I felt a 5600x may be appropriate. I'm willing to take advice on that decision as well.

Thanks so much for any help

 

[TerryLaze]

A CPU at 3.6 won't be all that great for games,and since you are set on software streaming all cores will be used so that's the clocks they will be stuck with for the most part.

Also a lot of games don't follow windows rules so making them play well with other things using up lots of CPU cycles is often just not possible.

Fighting games are pretty low demanding so they should work just fine but larger titles are going to be hit and miss,and that goes for any CPU no matter how many cores.

 

[ThrowawayKid]

Will a ryzen 5 3600 really be inadequate for gaming? I've been seeing benchmarks with a similar cpu and same graphics card that was hitting 60+ at 1080p on modern games. I figured as long as it wasnt bottlenecking our GPU we would be fine. I'm concerned about software streaming with it. I considered looking into a ryzen 5 3600x or ryzen 7 3700x but didnt know if it would perform much better when it comes to stream performance.

 

[TerryLaze]

Will a ryzen 5 3600 really be inadequate for gaming? I've been seeing benchmarks with a similar cpu and same graphics card that was hitting 60+ at 1080p on modern games. I figured as long as it wasnt bottlenecking our GPU we would be fine. I'm concerned about software streaming with it. I considered looking into a ryzen 5 3600x or ryzen 7 3700x but didnt know if it would perform much better when it comes to stream performance.

When not streaming the system will hit about 4.1-4.2 on one or two threads helping out with gaming quite a bit,when streaming through all cores will be used at least somewhat and clocks will be at 3.6 at least with more demanding games.
Look for a benchmark locked at 3.6 if you can find one.

There is a good reason that people use dedicated cards like the elgato or the dedicated streaming chips of GPUS (nvenc quicksync relive) or straight up a second system to do the stream.

 

[ThrowawayKid]

Ah I see. I appreciate your answer.

I brought up the idea of using a second PC as a streaming box since we will have left over hardware from the previous build but they werent fond of the idea. They're pretty limited for space and moving across the country soon.

Can you tell me about dedicated capture cards? I have an internal card. It's the Elgato HD 60 pro in my main rig. I only use it for capturing/streaming console footage. I was under the impression the only way to use a capture card to remove the stress from the CPU was by using the capture card in a second dedicated streaming PC. I always software stream PC games since i only stream old games so I wouldnt know.

Can an external capture card be used to remove stress from the main rigs CPU? Do you need a second monitor for that setup?

 

[cryoburner]

A CPU at 3.6 won't be all that great for games,and since you are set on software streaming all cores will be used so that's the clocks they will be stuck with for the most part.

That's not accurate at all, as a Ryzen 3600 should still be able to boost to around 4GHz with all cores loaded, or a little higher with an aftermarket cooler. As is true for most modern desktop processors, the base clock rate is pretty meaningless, and you won't likely ever be stuck at 3.6GHz under load. And even that clock rate wouldn't be bad for 60fps gaming.

As far as gaming performance in general is concerned, a Ryzen 3600 should be quite good. For software-based streaming, having more cores would likely be beneficial though.

However, is there any reason they want software-based video encoding rather than having the stream encoded by the graphics card? Doing that will generally result in better performance. And while I don't stream myself, from what I've seen, Nvidia's newer NVENC encoder has been improved to where it should provide a pretty decent 1080p60 stream with a much lower performance hit than you are likely to get with a CPU-based encoder.

So, it might be worth considering going with something like Nvidia's RTX 2060 in place of an RX 5600 XT, due to its better video encoder. It's probably worth trying that and seeing how it works before investing significantly more money in something like a capture card. And it's possible to find some 2060s for not too much more than a 5600 XT, at least in the US. It also has some extra features like raytracing acceleration, though enabling raytraced lighting effects in the handful of games that support them so far will still tend to bog down performance...

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=436&sort=price

 

[ThrowawayKid]

That's not accurate at all, as a Ryzen 3600 should still be able to boost to around 4GHz with all cores loaded, or a little higher with an aftermarket cooler. As is true for most modern desktop processors, the base clock rate is pretty meaningless, and you won't likely ever be stuck at 3.6GHz under load. And even that clock rate wouldn't be bad for 60fps gaming.

As far as gaming performance in general is concerned, a Ryzen 3600 should be quite good. For software-based streaming, having more cores would likely be beneficial though.

However, is there any reason they want software-based video encoding rather than having the stream encoded by the graphics card? Doing that will generally result in better performance. And while I don't stream myself, from what I've seen, Nvidia's newer NVENC encoder has been improved to where it should provide a pretty decent 1080p60 stream with a much lower performance hit than you are likely to get with a CPU-based encoder.

So, it might be worth considering going with something like Nvidia's RTX 2060 in place of an RX 5600 XT, due to its better video encoder. It's probably worth trying that and seeing how it works before investing significantly more money in something like a capture card. And it's possible to find some 2060s for not too much more than a 5600 XT, at least in the US. It also has some extra features like raytracing acceleration, though enabling raytraced lighting effects in the handful of games that support them so far will still tend to bog down performance...

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=436&sort=price

Great advice, much appreciated. They don't know much about software streaming and neither do I. I have an i7-9700k and the most modern game i ever stream is bayonetta so I'm never really worried about whether i used my cpu or gpu encoder. Getting an RTX 2060 actually seems like an excellent solution to this. It wont increase our budget by much. Any suggestions for which specific 2060 to get?

 

[cryoburner]

The main thing differentiating the various models of 2060s will be their coolers. There will be other minor differences as well, but generally performance shouldn't be too different between them. Those with larger coolers built with more metal and multiple fans will tend to run a bit cooler and quieter, but may not be worth paying substantially more for. I don't have any specific recommendations for a particular model off the top of my head, but in general I would look toward some of the less expensive models with at least two fans.