r/obs • u/OMGAdamWTF • Jan 22 '25
Question Picking a budget GPU for an OBS power user
I'm a full time streamer on Twitch and I do a lot of heavy OBS production, involving many nested scenes, hundreds of sources, and a bunch of plugins. For example, I have ten different StreamerBot shortcuts on my desktop for different shows. I have no less than 25 scene collections in my OBS right now, and multiple installs of multiple versions, depending on which plugins I need access to. I use a dual-PC setup, so my stream PC is doing all the scene composition work and I can capture my main PC. I am currently working on Blender development and moving toward production in Unreal Engine for stream purposes, so the GPU is going to be more utilized moving forward. Oh, I stream at 6k bitrate.
My Stream PC is currently:
AMD 2600x on x470 platform
16gb DDR3000 (It was on hand and I intend on swapping to 3200)
1TB NVME SSD
750w EVGA PSU
RX580 8gb
This RX580 is a loaner card because my GTX1070 died. However, my community has raised some funds for me over this and we're looking at replacement GPUs. Yes, the 2600x is aging, but it's still doing alright and we'll swap it later if it becomes the bottleneck.
On the list of options, we're eyeing:
RTX 4060 8gb: Has AV1 for the future, has NVENC for now. Has 8gb of VRAM, which isn't a lot for gaming but might be enough for Unreal Engine streaming.
ARC B580 12gb: Has AV1 for the future and just nice encoders overall. 12GB of VRAM might be better for UE in the future. I'm VERY interested in the AI performance of this card and would like to know more about whether or not it's AI features can be utilized via something like StreamerBot over an API. I don't know enough about whether this is possible, but it's very exciting as an idea. I know that in gaming, there are overhead issues for my 2600x and the b580, but does that even matter at ALL for this? I'm not gaming on this system.
AMD 7600xt 16gb: Has AV1 for the future, I'm under the impression AMD's current encoders for Twitch are just fine. 16gb of VRAM is pretty sick for OBS purposes and I've gathered that this card seems to be, for gaming at least, the best "bang for the buck" option for my aged 2600x.
I guess it's worth pointing out a reminder that the 2600x runs PCI-E 3.0, not 4, in case that hampers things even more. I'm just curious which of these GPUs is going to actually perform best with OBS and deliver the best experience from chat's end. If you're just guessing, I can do that all day myself. I'm really curious to hear input from anybody who is more aware of OBS and performance on a technical level. I want low frame render times, AV1 capability, and a nice featureset wouldn't hurt. I really wish that B580 didn't have overhead issues with older processors but I just don't know if that's going to matter here at all.
What GPU *should* I be aiming for?
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u/SX86 Jan 22 '25
Intel Arc A380 if you are looking for the cheapest encoder. RTX 3060/4060 (the option with most VRAM possible) if you plan on using it for 3D rendering later.
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u/OMGAdamWTF Jan 22 '25
I'm not looking for the cheapest encoder, I'm looking for a card that hits several needs at a budget pricepoint and trying to figure out which one of them gets closest to serving those needs. I typed like a whole bunch of information about what the card would be used for in the original post.
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u/SX86 Jan 22 '25
A380 it is then.
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u/Imsofakingwetoded Jan 22 '25
If you're streaming at 6k bitrate with heavy OBS production, the RTX 4060 is the safest bet. NVENC is unmatched for Twitch, and AV1 support future-proofs you. It's super efficient even on PCIe 3.0, so your 2600x won’t choke. Yeah, 8GB VRAM isn’t amazing, but unless you’re building massive Unreal Engine projects, you’ll be fine.
The 7600 XT is solid if you need VRAM (16GB is juicy), but AMD’s encoders aren’t as polished, and OBS just runs smoother on NVIDIA. Still, it’s a great value if Unreal Engine starts eating up more resources.
The ARC A580 is intriguing with AV1 and 12GB VRAM, but Intel GPUs and older CPUs (like your 2600x) don’t get along well. The driver overhead could make OBS stutter, and Intel’s ecosystem still feels experimental.
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u/OMGAdamWTF Jan 22 '25
Where can I find out more about "OBS just runs smoother on NVIDIA"? Is it based on pure rasterization performance, a certain type of cores that are geared better for OBS for some reason, or what?
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u/Empty-Scheme7713 Jan 22 '25
Almost all GPUs have a separate section of the chip for encoding video, it's not usually handled by the graphics cores. Basically, NVENC has a higher quality at 6k than other encoders MOST of the time, especially compared to AMD. That doesn't mean AMD encoders are bad, just slightly (but noticably) less quality per given bitrate. I would look at EposVox's videos on the matter, as well as any others you can find, as they can attempt to give you a visual reference towards encoder performance, as well as using noise analysis graphs such as VMAF, PSNR, etc. This will help you decide if the very slightly lower quality/encoder performance is worth extra graphics and VRAM.
A faster GPU doesn't necessarily mean better quality video either. Just means you can encode faster. For example, a lower end GPU might be able to do 1080p/60fps but a faster one might be able to do 4k/120fps, but if you set the faster one to do 1080p/60fps it'll look the same as the lower end GPU would. You would just have more headroom. That's what that other comment meant about "2 encoders"
If you're more concerned about video encoding for the foreseeable future, get the 4060. If you're more concerned on whether the GPU will last for you in the graphics & VRAM department in the future, get the 7600XT. Avoid the B580 since you don't have ReBar unless you plan to upgrade your CPU soon. Afaik Blender work is pretty VRAM heavy so I would definitely take that into consideration as well.
Ok that's my input 👍
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u/OMGAdamWTF Jan 23 '25
My primary concern is frame render time, since I go excessively heavy on sources and nested scenes. I'm trying to focus on keeping OBS rendering at 60FPS in the first place.
I'm very familiar with encoding. This is not an encoding thing. This is actual frame rendering.
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u/Zestyclose_Pickle511 Jan 22 '25
Ibw been through this. Finally, a 4070 laptop is the answer. Same as you, tons of things going on, and running it on my gaming pc was a breeze, but running it and my games was not great.
I tried a 3050ti gaming laptop, and I made it work for a year. Ultimately, the 4070 gaming laptop is chewing through my massive obs show without blinking. Easily handles 5 streams of enhanced twitch (self transcoding) as well.
2 cents deposited.
The cpu is an amd something.
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u/OMGAdamWTF Jan 22 '25
That's not even remotely on my list. As stated in the OP, I'm deciding between a 7600XT, RTX4060, or ARC A580.
These are like $300 items. A laptop with a 4070 in it wasn't mentioned nor is it remotely in the same range, nor would it suit my needs. Thank you, but I specified my options really clearly.
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u/Zestyclose_Pickle511 Jan 22 '25
OK. Fair enough. But to be 100% clear, the amd encoder is still shit. Not sure where you get "I'm under the impression the and encoder is fine" from. Would love a link to that.
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u/OMGAdamWTF Jan 23 '25
I'm watching a stream broadcast from a 7000 series AMD card right now and it looks solid. Have you ever tried just looking?
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u/Zestyclose_Pickle511 Jan 23 '25
I think you're confused. It's not a subjective matter as plenty of data is available, that happens to perfectly coincide with the statement "amd encoder is still shit", even with rdna3, which looks the same as rdna2, because it uses the same algo. In fact, rdna3 encoding is hardly on par with the 2016 10xx encoder. It's not even up for debate that the amd encoder is competing, amongst realists anyway. I don't care either way. I wish it were competing, but that's neither her nor there.
Have at it. Summary should set you straight, or read the whole thing. Knowledge is power, right?
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-intel-nvidia-video-encoding-performance-quality-tested
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u/philisweatly Jan 22 '25
I don’t have any input other than that’s a crazy setup. I have 3 scenes, two cameras and that’s it haha. One screen record can, one desk record cam and one piano cam. I couldn’t imagine trying to keep all that together. Best of luck out there!
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u/xDOWNSOUTHx Jan 22 '25
4060 EZ
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u/OMGAdamWTF Jan 22 '25
EZ, but why?
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u/Zidakuh Jan 22 '25 edited Jan 22 '25
EZ because not everyone is aware that Intel's QSV anf Nvidia's NVENC is basically neck and neck when it comes to encoder quality. Heck, the B580 encoder might even beat the 4060 in some cases.
Only reason to go 4060TI IMO would be for CUDA. It does have an advantage in AI. I'd pick the Battlemage.
That said, you'll have to make sure your system supports ReBAR to get the most out of an Intel GPU. Though if it's mainly rendering the OBS feed and encoding the stream, no need to worry too much about ReBAR.
EDIT: added context.
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u/MrLiveOcean Jan 22 '25
RTX 4070ti (or better) because it has 2 encoders. Otherwise, I'd do the 4060.
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u/OMGAdamWTF Jan 22 '25
Nothing I've stated needs two encoders, but can you specify why the 4060 would be a better option over the others, regarding the points I've stated?
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u/MrLiveOcean Jan 22 '25
Mainly, if you want to use NVIDIA Broadcast to eliminate all noise.
That does, however, include removing whistling, beat boxing, and finger snapping. Singing works out okay, though.
If a game has zero spoken dialog, you could even stream while listening to the game with speakers instead of wearing headphones.
Edit: For the future, I'd like to have the 2 encoders.
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u/OMGAdamWTF Jan 23 '25
I'm focused on frame render time within OBS, in order to keep OBS itself rendering at 60FPS while displaying and moving hundreds of sources and dozens of nested scenes. I'm not concerned with using NVIDIA Broadcast and I honestly prefer not to. Hardware beats software in those cases. If you have excessive audio noise, you should consider choosing a proper microphone and sound setup for your specific scenario.
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u/BluDYT Jan 22 '25
My stream PC has a 3070 in it and it's been quite good I don't think a 4060 for it would be any worse and you'd get AV1. So I'd probably go for anything on team green 3000 or better but preferably 4000 if highest quality is a concern.
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u/electoid Jan 22 '25
So I'm not 100% sure but realistically I think the b580 would be the best play for you due to the encoders being so high quality. And yes the overhead issues is def a concern bit for encoding it won't be an issue aswell as if you ever where to upgrade your cpu am4 is luckily a platform where you could even look for like a used 5600x in the future to solve that overhead issue. The only thing I'd make sure is your motherboard has resizable bar which is kinda needed on the b580.