Best budget CPU and GPU for streaming heavily modded (scripted) Fallout 3/New Vegas

[MMMMMilash]

Hello guys,

I would be very thankful for an advice on what CPU and GPU should I get for streaming Fallout 3/New Vegas filled with modes (read scripts, basically I could say it's at least twice as much both CPU and GPU demanding as the vanilla game).

First of all, I can give like $300-$400 for both CPU and GPU together (I think I dont need more for the purpose of streaming a 7 year old game), and every saved buck means a lot (especially considering the fact I'm completely broke atm ). Basically I'm looking for a minimum nice working configuration for streaming FO3/NV on say 1080p at 30fps.

Now the important info is that the game(s) are quite cpu demanding (cause of mods/scripts) and they use 2 CORES ONLY. Therefore I know that i5 (actually even i3) would serve the best for gaming only. But when you include streaming, will those 2 remaining cores of i5 be able to cope with the task given? And I think it's not a good idea (not possible ) to try to find an i7 from that price range (around $200).

Basically, for the CPU I'm thinking between i5 6400 and AMD FX-8350 (being approx the same price), or maybe I could invest in 6600k or FX-9590 if needed (but that would make me less happy). But what do u think about i5 6400 vs FX-8350 for this task? I've read several times that FX-8350 is considered the best budget gaming&streaming CPU on the market, but I'm worried about its fps drops (and that's basically the biggest issue in the game(s) I wanna stream - sometimes too many scripts trigger and fps drops like 10 times for a sec (on my current dual core machine)), but on the other hand I've read that fps while streaming on i5 drops A LOT cause of its not very good multitasking capabilities, but then again I'll have completely free 2 cores. Please help, this is one of the most complex decisions I've had to make in my life. xD

And then the GPU. Do I really need a GTX 960 - class GPU for this task? I was thinking about GTX 960 or R9 380, and then I've kinda decided in the favor of GTX (again cause of Radeon's crazy fps drops in crucial moments), but now I'm thinking, maybe GTX 950 would do the task just fine?
And what do you think about $110 GTX 750 Ti?

 

[Ken g6]

But when you include streaming, will those 2 remaining cores of i5 be able to cope with the task given?

So, don't use your CPU for encoding.

On the cheap, I'm thinking i3 and 750 Ti.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

On the cheap, I'm thinking i3 and 750 Ti.

If you want something even cheaper, you might consider either an OC'd G3258 or one of the new Skylake Pentiums. The G4500 seems particularly suited. A 3.5GHz Skylake core is nothing to scoff at... :thumbsup:

In a pinch I'd think the HD530 on it is capable of running FNV all by itself.

 

[MMMMMilash]

but hey, what should i use for encoding then?
@Ken g6, u theink GTX 750 can do the encoding on 1080p @30fps while rendering FO3?

 

[Techhog]

If you want something even cheaper, you might consider either an OC'd G3258 or one of the new Skylake Pentiums. The G4500 seems particularly suited. A 3.5GHz Skylake core is nothing to scoff at... :thumbsup:

In a pinch I'd think the HD530 on it is capable of running FNV all by itself.

Skylake is a more expensive platform though.

 

[NTMBK]

but hey, what should i use for encoding then?
@Ken g6, u theink GTX 750 can do the encoding on 1080p @30fps while rendering FO3?

Modern graphics cards have dedicated video-encoding hardware built in- it won't run on the "graphics processing" part, but on this dedicated hardware, so it doesn't significantly slow down your game. It does use up a little bit of graphics memory, but that's all.

AMD's Gaming Evolved software does the same thing, if you would prefer an AMD graphics card.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Skylake is a more expensive platform though.

True. The only reason for going Skylake at this price point is if you want the Gen9 (HD510/530) graphics.

With Skylake the Pentiums finally have the same graphics core as the ix's.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I am confused. I thought shadowplay only recorded the game play, but will not live stream it, which is what I think the op wants to do.

Edit: I am not an expert on live streaming, but after some reading, I think I am correct on this. FX is a good cpu for live streaming because it ultimately requires x264 encoding, which is one of the strong points of the FX. Unfortunately, Bethesda games require fast per core performance which is *not* a strong point of FX. So unless you go with an i7 or x99, you wont have the ideal cpu. In fact, I think hardcore streamers use a separate capture card or secondary system to live stream because it is so resource intensive.

Since you are on a limited budget, my question is: Do you *really* need to live stream? Could you not just record the game using shadowplay or gaming evolved and then later upload the game to YouTube?

 

[MMMMMilash]

I am confused. I thought shadowplay only recorded the game play, but will not live stream it, which is what I think the op wants to do.

Edit: I am not an expert on live streaming, but after some reading, I think I am correct on this. FX is a good cpu for live streaming because it ultimately requires x264 encoding, which is one of the strong points of the FX. Unfortunately, Bethesda games require fast per core performance which is *not* a strong point of FX. So unless you go with an i7 or x99, you wont have the ideal cpu. In fact, I think hardcore streamers use a separate capture card or secondary system to live stream because it is so resource intensive.

Since you are on a limited budget, my question is: Do you *really* need to live stream? Could you not just record the game using shadowplay or gaming evolved and then later upload the game to YouTube?

Hay thanks for some explanation ^^
Well I really want to stream it (firstly cause I can really earn some money like that hahah, and secondly because it's so much more fun.
Yeah thats the point, Bethesda's games are REALLY CPU per core intensive and beside that I'm using tones of scripts, eg. the Damage Threshold mod I've made is ~20 lines of code being run every frame and ~100 on every hit, and another big point is, as I've said, that FO3 uses (without crashing) 2 cores only.

Buut, yesterday I've seen a guy streaming Fallout NV on i5 3570k @1080p and it was flawless, steady 30fps all the time. So, right now I think of getting 6400 or 6600k (I think I can get those $50 more), and maybe start streaming with my old Radeon HD4870 1GB (the best piece of hardware I've bought (for $150 in 2009) so far). And then, when I get some money I'll buy a new GPU (probably GTX 960), and if I decide to stream something more CPU requiring I'll just get a game capture card.

What do you think, will 2 cores of 6600k do the encoding? But I don't get it, why is encoding so requiring, I mean even the cellphones before smartphone era could record and encode 720p videos no problem (or maybe it wasn't really real time encoding?) and actually whenever u turn on the camera, which are there on the phones from 2000 on, u have the real time encoding of the video captured by camera, right? Now, if those <1ghz single core CPUs can do it, why do modern desktop CPU's have such problems with it?