LoL streaming machine upgrade

[dkm777]

Hi guys,

My brother is a hardcore League of Legends player and streams all his matches. He's using a C2Q 9650 OC'd to 4GHz and a GeForce 560 Ti 448 Cores (essentially a 570 with a few more shaders cut off). He uses two old monitors - 17", 1280x1024 and he wants to upgrade to 1080p ones. I imagine that making such a hight jump in resolution a new graphics card will be needed. But since he also streams I'm afraid that the old 9650 won't be up to scratch anymore. He's on a very tight budget and I first suggested to just get the monitors and worry about the rest later, but I still want to ask you guys for advice - does such a jump in resolution usually requires a complete upgrade? Since he can't afford a 3770k is a Vishera system a sound choice for streaming?

 

[mfenn]

A GTX 560 Ti 448 is more than enough for LoL at 1080p. The change in resolution won't affect the CPU demands of the game very much (couple percent at most), so if he's happy with the way the performance is now, I don't expect that to change.

 

[dkm777]

I imagine the 448 Core would be more than enough as far as GPU muscle is concerned, but the low amount of VRAM could be a problem, no?

 

[Sleepingforest]

A GTX 560 Ti 448 is more than enough for LoL at 1080p. The change in resolution won't affect the CPU demands of the game very much (couple percent at most), so if he's happy with the way the performance is now, I don't expect that to change.

I think you (mfenn) misread the OP: he's not switching to a single 1080p monitor, but two 1080p monitors, which is around 35% more demanding than 1440p.

If it's a 1GB card, then you may have to turn down the AA or some effects, but a 2GB card should be able to handle it okay. As for streaming: have him see how the system feels after the upgrade (if it's slower, it should be immediately perceptible). If it's genuinely slower, you may want to try upgrading the CPU, but I doubt it will help significantly unless you open up the budget more.

 

[dkm777]

That's the problem - his system is essentially maxed out. Q9650 is the best LGA775 CPU that is not an Extreme Edition and I overclocked it to 4GHz. Was a nice boost for FPS while streaming (60-70), but this is with a frame size of 1280x1024. I'm afraid that to run a game and encode 1080p size frames will be too much for a Q9650 even at 4GHz.

 

[Sleepingforest]

Well, I think you're seeing the effects of imperfect scaling and diminishing returns; you should still hover around 45-60 FPS, which is generally tolerable.

 

[sm625]

Just get the monitors. Even with two monitors, LoL will only be running on one, right? I dont see how it can run on two. (Or why anyone would want that.) So really we're only talking LoL on one monitor, with the other driving something much less demanding. Shouldnt be a problem for the current hardware.

 

[mfenn]

I think you (mfenn) misread the OP: he's not switching to a single 1080p monitor, but two 1080p monitors, which is around 35% more demanding than 1440p.

You're not going to be stretching the game across both monitors because playing with a seem down the middle isn't conducive to good gameplay. LoL is a very easy game to run, the extra few MB to hold the framebuffer for the other display isn't going to matter, even with a 1.25 GB card (only version of the GTX 560 Ti 448).

 

[dkm777]

I talked to my brother and with your advice we decided to get the monitors first and think about the rest only if there are performance problems. His setup is like this: main monitor displays the game while secondary has XSplit control window, webcam software, Skype and whatever else he decides is needed at the time.

 

[Sleepingforest]

Oh, in that case, he should be totally fine.