Optimal GPU for streaming games

[Theri0n]

RIG:

MoBo Asrock P67 Pro3
CPU: i5-2500K
HDD: WD Green 1.5TB
RAM: 16GB 1333
PSU: Huntkey 700W

What GPU would be suitable for twitching the following games?

BF3, BF4, Arma 2, Minecraft, Dota 2

Available options:

GTX580 AMP2 Edition 3GB
GTX760 2GB
GTX960 2GB
GTX1050 2GB

Samsung FHD monitor is to be used as gaming monitor and Phillips HD Ready as auxiliary.

 

[Chugalug_]

Are those your current specs?
Do you already have those parts?
What's your budget overall?
The GPUs you've listed are either outdated or poor value in the case of the 580 Amp2 Edition.

 

[Theri0n]

Rig is in use with GTX560

Listeg GPUs are available for trade-in for decent amount

 

[rcald2000]

What's a decent amount?

 

[Theri0n]

What's a decent amount?

30-40 bucks

 

[rcald2000]

I think this is the order of performance. Chugalug_ please correct me if I'm wrong.

GTX 1050 > GTX 960 > GTX 760 > GTX 580 > 750 Ti

 

[Theri0n]

Do you think that 580 3GB is going to perform poor and almost no boost comparing to 560 1GB?

It allows to play BF4 at ultra 50-60 fps

 

[dontlistentome]

Have you tried streaming yet, with your 560? Make a test account or something and try it. Use something like MSI Afterburner to monitor your CPU and GPU usage. Which one maxes out, or do they both max out at 100%?

The point I'm getting at is right now it doesn't seem like you know what your weak point is, if your 560 isn't enough for what you want to do, or how much more performance you need. In just game performance I think the 1050 and 960 are basically the same thing, so I'd go with the 1050. I wouldn't bother with the older cards.

 

[Chugalug_]

Get the 580, great fit.

 

[clonazepam]

I think the 960 and the 1050 cards are the only ones that can utilize the Shadowplay feature of Geforce Experience. The reason that's important is because of the choices you'll have between OBS and using quicksync / x264 / nvENC encoders. Performance and quality will suffer depending on how you set it up, and you'll want to try them all to find a balance between encoder and game settings. The 2500K, the 1333 DDR3 RAM and any of the cards will be underwhelming performance-wise depending on what games you play. I suspect the performance would vary quite a bit.

 

[Chugalug_]

Incorrect, my old GTX 680 still supports shadowplay from memory, and I believe it applies to the 670 and above, might need to google it for updated stats though, might have been changed.

 

[Theri0n]

580 doesn't for sure, but if it still could be used for the streaming with 3rd party software I would go for it

 

[rcald2000]

To be completely honest, twitch streaming is a very CPU intensive thing. If I were you, I'd get a good CPU air cooler and would try to get a good and stable overclock out of it.

 

[Chugalug_]

Normally I'd say that too, but he already has a 2500k, the problem here in terms of performance is a GPU upgrade first.

 

[Theri0n]

Current tower cooler maintains ~48C temperature at full load. I would consider OC up to 4.2, but not right now.

So if 580 AMP2 3GB is ok for streaming this is the best answer I could ever get here

 

[Chugalug_]

@OP, the GPU doesn't have anything to do with streaming, that's the CPU.
Your performance will be drastically improved though, streaming Arma at higher resolutions is a nono in my books, it's too taxing on the CPU, and with only an i5 2500k you're not going to have a good time.
Wait until you can upgrade to a Ryzen 1400 to do that.