What's a better PC build for streaming?

Question

I'm looking to build a computer for streaming on Twitch. I'm looking at two builds. My budget is around $500 with some breathing room, but I'd rather not pay any more than around that.

For STREAMING, would an Nvidia GTX 1060 with an i3-6100 be better, or an Nvidia GTX 1050 ti with an i5-6500. I understand that the first build will give me better FPS in games, but I believe that the second may give me better streaming results.

I'm looking to stream Overwatch and other AAA titles.

Also if you have an idea for a PC that has an AMD processor, I am more than happy to hear about that build. I really would like to get the best price to performance I can get for around $500.

Answer 1

Standalone streaming PCs specifically for gaming need a hefty amount of CPU power. This is because the CPU has to work two power intensive tasks in order to stream games. First, the CPU has to complete all the tasks required of it by the game. Depending on the game, and the specific operations required by the game, this can take only a small percentage of available processing power, to a very large percentage of overall power. As such, the more processing power your CPU has left over after gaming operations, the more power the CPU has to complete other tasks. Next, your CPU has to run the process of grabbing frames from the game, encoding them quickly, and then getting them ready to and sending them out to Twitch, YouTube etc etc. This is what really eats up processing power with a streaming PC and specifically the reason why many streamers use what is called a Master-Slave system where two PCs are used. One specifically for running the game, and another PC for capturing and encoding, each one optimized for a specific job. Basically, when building a standalone streaming PC, you need to have as much available processing power as possible, or you are going to run into issues. You definitely don't want to go with the 6100, and there isn't much that AMD offers that will give you any advantage other than price over the 6500. That being said, you are going to make some sacrifices in gaming performance by going with the 1050Ti, but it paired with the 6500 should give you a pretty decent streaming setup. It's certainly not an ideal situation, but it will work okay. Plus you can always upgrade later if you get enough subs to start bankrolling a better PC.

Answer 2

For streaming definitely the i5, but it still might not be enough. AMD doesn't offer anything comparable to the i5 at the moment.

Answer 3

I would say it would stream well on both computers. Buy the first