You want to leave some room for the system to process other tasks at the same time, like watching chat or leaving a web browser open in the background. No matter which style of encoding you choose, aim for no more than 80 percent CPU utilization, and 85 to 90 percent for the GPU. What you find to be the better option depends largely on how your streaming PC is configured, and what streaming software you use. GPU encoding, on the other hand, utilizes the built-in encoders on the hardware-which is why integrated graphics can step up to the plate-and is much faster. This task can be done in one of two ways: Software-based encoding leans on your processor (CPU), while hardware-based encoding puts your graphics card or even a CPU’s integrated graphics (if available) to work.ĬPU encoding is slower and greatly stresses older chips with fewer cores, but some people believe its quality is higher. The primary purpose of this PC is to encode your gameplay, voice-over commentary, and webcam feed, then push them out to your streaming platform of choice.
What you need Hardware Streaming PC Brad Chacos/IDGĪ computer used for streaming often will use a dedicated graphics card, but depending on how powerful its CPU is, you may be able to forgo one.