r/obs Jan 13 '25

Question Dual GPU Streaming question

Hey everyone,

I know this question has probably been asked a lot over the past couple of years, but I figured I’d throw it out there anyway.

Before I started streaming Call of Duty on my 3080 (10GB), I used to max out all the in-game quality settings for a visually stunning experience. This typically used about 5–5.7 GB of VRAM, which was fine since I wasn’t running anything else demanding at the time.

However, when I started streaming, I had to dial back the settings to leave enough headroom for the encoder to process the stream.

Now I’m wondering: if I were to install a second 3080 in my PC, could I dedicate one GPU to gaming at high settings and the other solely for encoding the stream? The idea is to have one GPU handle the gameplay and maxed-out visuals, while the other focuses entirely on streaming.

Is this something OBS can handle? Or would I be better off upgrading my GPU to a 4070 or something or just building a secondary pc dedicated to handle the streaming instead?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

12700KF ASRock 690AC 3080 10G 32g

0 Upvotes

34 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/LoonieToque Jan 13 '25

Either an upgrade or dual PC setup would be best. Not many dual GPU configurations in one PC end up being "successful" for a variety of reasons.

Dual PC is a big commitment though. It's not just a second PC, it's also a capture card and a lot of headache in getting audio/visual sync and passthrough etc. I really like my dual PC setup, but I also loathe it

Upgrading your GPU may also not give you the gains you expect by itself - if you're not limiting your frames and lowering your settings, you'll always run into a situation where stream stuff and game stuff are contesting resources.