Question concerning CPU for streaming

[RogueJawa]

Hey everyone.

I'm building a new PC primarily for gaming. I should have my budget saved up by July, I've just got a question about CPU choices. I was going to go with the i5-4460 from the Best Gaming CPUs for the Money article, but I'm also interested in trying out streaming on Twitch. Would the 4460 be able to handle that or would I need an i7? Something like a 4790? I don't plan on doing an overclocking.

Here's the build I'm looking at:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: *Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: *Asus GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($188.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black/Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-L2R-20AC-GP 69.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($4.99 @ NCIX US)
Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-L2R-20AC-GP 69.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($4.99 @ NCIX US)
Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-L2R-20AC-GP 69.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($4.99 @ NCIX US)
Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-L2R-20AC-GP 69.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($4.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $818.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-24 03:18 EDT-0400

Already have my case, PSU, and case fans. If it matters with CPU recommendation I've been going back and forth on either a GTX 960, 970, or an R9 280. I don't have a lot of wiggle room price wise. Ceiling of 900, maybe $1,000 but I might have to wait a little longer to pull that off.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

I've not used Twitch specifically but most streaming software is perfectly happy with an i5 processor.

Looking at your build you may want to consider dropping the 750W PSU for something in the 500W area; an XFX TS or Antec HCG are good choices. With the money you'd save, you could possibly upgrade the processor to a Xeon E3 1230v3.

 

[Creme]

The i7 is a better choice.

You could also go the GPU route, all the ones you mentioned have a dedicated video encoding part which liberates the CPU from the encoding work and will save you some money at the expense of some image quality.