# Think these two are good for Streaming with xSplit/OBS?



## Colonel_Black (Oct 28, 2009)

Hello.

I'm interested in the Streaming world, but my current issue is my CPU being weak.
I'm wondering what opinions you lot have on these two pieces of hardware or any other hardware that you may be able to suggest please.









Currently, this is my hardware CPU-Z Validator 3.1

I'm a student, so I have to be picky with pricing. I believe it's only my CPU that lets me down, but to upgrade that, I'd need to change my motherboard.
(Also, going down in Socket number isn't going backwards on myself is it? (Currently socket 1366, whereas the CPU i'm looking at is 1155))


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

The i5-3570k is a nice step up from the i7-920 for pure gaming performance, but streaming online requires a lot of multitasking strength. You're giving up the i7's hyperthreading moving to an i5, so your streaming performance isn't going to improve much unless you pick an Ivy/Sandy i7. Your best upgrade choice is almost certainly the FX-8350 - its extra physical cores handle streaming like a dream. With hyperthreading, the extra threads still task a core that's being used already, whereas the 8350 just has completely free cores to handle the streaming.

If you desire more pure gaming power (which totally depends on your video card), you can just overclock the 8350.


Recommended motherboards:
ASUS M5A97 R2.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS - Newegg.com
ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS - Newegg.com


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## Colonel_Black (Oct 28, 2009)

Hello. Thank you for the response. .

Having spent most of the day thinking about all this, I've suddenly turned into wondering whether going to a capture card is a good idea (Such as 'Hauppauge HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition' )

As with my current specs, I shouldn't need a upgrade as I can play all games on max (generally).
And a capture card can be useful for taking the load off the machine and being able to use it for consoles and such. What do you think?


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

Doing that with a capture card can be very complicated. From what I've gathered, the settings are very touchy and can be different for everyone. If you're up for the challenge, this card is used by some to achieve this:
Hauppauge Colossus - Record your high definition video gameplay and TV programs by H.264 for resolution up to 1080i, PCI-Express x1 Interface - Newegg.com

An official guide written up by a successful user:
community.justin.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=9085
It looks doable to me, but I've no experience with this.


Personally, I'd just get the 8350 to avoid the hassle. You'll enjoy the CPU upgrade anyway.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Your present CPU should have absolutely no issues streaming.
My HTPC uses a i3 CPU and has no problems.


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

Tyree said:


> Your present CPU should have absolutely no issues streaming.
> My HTPC uses a i3 CPU and has no problems.


He means streaming to a website which will allow users to view his video feed while gaming, like twitch.tv, using XSplit. This is highly demanding on the CPU and involves heavy multithreading.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

toothman said:


> He means streaming to a website which will allow users to view his video feed while gaming


What I saw was "I'm interested in the Streaming world".


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

If you want to upgrade the Mobo, go with Asus or Gigbyte for quality, reliability, support.


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## Colonel_Black (Oct 28, 2009)

Tyree said:


> What I saw was "I'm interested in the Streaming world".


Lost on which you meant. But either way, when i say Streaming, I mean like Streaming to Twitch.tv, not Streaming a YouTube video for example.


But anyway...

My mind is all over the place and now I've decided against a capture card again and back to upgrading. :L.

Toothman, when you say '8350', i take it you mean 'AMD FX-8350' ?

Currently looking at partpicker again and I found the 'i7-3770k' which would kill me to buy, but I may be able too.. But obviously to do that, I'd need to change my motherboard.

Looking at the motherboards, there's obviously a s*it load to choose from. Some being priced expensive and some cheap. I can't spend much more if I'm doing this CPU as it is.
Is there any that you can recommend from Choose A Motherboard - PCPartPicker United Kingdom at all please?


Then with all that, my specs should last for some time to come I'd expect..
GTX 580 1.5gb
8gb DDR3 RAM


*Edit*

Oh also... Do you think the stock fan that comes with it would be good enough? (Take into account i'd be playing games and streaming)


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

First, my apologies for the confusing posts.
The i 3770k or the i 3770 or even a 2570 would both be a good choice.
You can narrow your Mobo considerations marginally by looking at Asus or Gigabyte only. Find one that has the options and capabilities you require.
GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-D3H is a good Mobo for any of the above CPU's.


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

Colonel_Black said:


> As with my current specs, I shouldn't need a upgrade as I can play all games on max (generally).


The only difference here between the FX-8350 and a more expensive i7 is gaming power, which you won't notice because your gaming performance is already satisfactory. The 8350 is going to be a step up from your 920 in all areas, anyway, so I still recommend you save the money. Recommended motherboards in post #2 on your site:

Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (M5A97 R2.0) - PCPartPicker United Kingdom
Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (M5A99X EVO R2.0) - PCPartPicker United Kingdom


If you'd rather pay for the top-end, Tyree's posts answer that very well.


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## Colonel_Black (Oct 28, 2009)

Hey.

Sorry for the long reply. It seems the forum didn't email me saying there was a response.

I did some quick research on that 8350 and found this on the XSplit forum about it



> Well I was lucky enough to build a computer for someone that wanted a 8350. I did some benchmarks on the processor and it can compress all the way down to slow without the video skipping frames but you only need fast compression to get rid of all the pixelation that comes with moving the screen around. However. My frames dropped like a boss compared to my current i5 2500k OC'd to 4.5 GHz. I couldn't get the clock to those speeds as I don't have much experience with overclocking so the best I got out of it was 4.2 GHz. The difference in frames was as large as 80-60 frames on Borderlands 2 while not streaming and about 40-60 frames while streaming. Honestly I found the processor quite dissapointing and would rather get i5 3570K without hesitation. Although I'm happy with my current 2500k and I don't see upgrading anytime soon to be needed. But if I was building a new computer for streaming games, I5-3570K is the way to go over the FX-8350. Hope this helps.


That's such a high frame drop. (Although he doesn't state what GPU is being used). Would you be able to comment on that?

But the motherboards seem good for the price.

If that's the case, looking at the suggestion by Tyree, it comes to £346. Expensive, so I'd have to think on that one.


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## Colonel_Black (Oct 28, 2009)

Forgot to add on and I can't edit the other post.

Do you think I'll need to buy a CPU fan, or do you think the stock one that should (I think they still..) come with the 3770k be sufficient for gaming and streaming?


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

The OEM CPU heatsink/fan will be fine.


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

Colonel_Black said:


> Well I was lucky enough to build a computer for someone that wanted a 8350. I did some benchmarks on the processor and it can compress all the way down to slow without the video skipping frames but you only need fast compression to get rid of all the pixelation that comes with moving the screen around. However. My frames dropped like a boss compared to my current i5 2500k OC'd to 4.5 GHz. I couldn't get the clock to those speeds as I don't have much experience with overclocking so the best I got out of it was 4.2 GHz. The difference in frames was as large as 80-60 frames on Borderlands 2 while not streaming and about 40-60 frames while streaming. Honestly I found the processor quite dissapointing and would rather get i5 3570K without hesitation. Although I'm happy with my current 2500k and I don't see upgrading anytime soon to be needed. But if I was building a new computer for streaming games, I5-3570K is the way to go over the FX-8350. Hope this helps.


Individual reviews can be very different. For example, Tech Syndicate's review finds excellent result with the 8350 for streaming:

AMD FX 8350 vs Intel 3570K vs 3770K vs 3820 - Gaming and XSplit Streaming Benchmarks - YouTube


Performance can vary for each individual. I suspect a problem, software conflict, or human error is to blame for your quote's reported failure, because nowhere else have I found similar disappointment. In fact the FX-6300 is known to be an alright streamer at 720p, and it's only six cores.

One other point regarding the quote is that Borderlands 2 is not a very graphically intense game, meaning that a loss of 80 FPS might still keep his average FPS over 50 if his GPU is strong enough (which he didn't mention). In which case the reason for the loss is simply the gaming power of the CPU (which, again, is a little better than your current). If I lost 100 fps while playing Morrowind, my gameplay would still be perfectly smooth.


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## Colonel_Black (Oct 28, 2009)

To update this as I'd like more comments from other people.
Toothman kindly made a thread over at Open Broadcaster Software • View topic - How's the FX-8350 for OBS streaming @1080p while gaming? to ask the users there of the opinions/results. (Apologies if I ain't allowed to post URLs. I quickly skimmed the rules to look for the rule)

It seems the users there are happy with the FX-8350, but searching the net, I find many negative points on the GPU.

Overall, it ends in whether it's a good choice to upgrade from my i7-920 2.67 to the FX-8350.

Stating the point about possibly getting a 8350 to someone, they pointed me to this FX-8350 vs. Core i5-3470 CPU Review | Hardware Secrets

Could I get some last opinions please before I commit to buying anything


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## tanveerahmed2k (Jan 25, 2011)

My friend has bought a AMD FX 8350 for streaming live football and said it was his best choice over the i5.

Don't look at the gaming benchmarks


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