Choosing a CPU for Live Streaming

The Role of the CPU in a Streaming Setup

In the world of live streaming, the CPU is a crucial component that impacts the quality of your streams and how smoothly they run. Essentially, your processor is responsible for making sure your content reaches your viewers without glitches, ensuring a great streaming experience for your audience. Further, the CPU can act both as a software and hardware-based encoder, allowing you flexibility in how you want to process your stream.

How to Choose a CPU for Streaming

Deciding on which CPU to buy for your live stream setup typically depends on the following question:

• What type of content creator are you?
• How big is your budget?

For individuals who are going to stream gaming content and/or multimedia tasks such as 3d modeling and video editing on a regular basis, there are two strategies to go about the processor in your setup. If money isn’t too big of a concern, opt for a model that provides a sufficient number of cores (8+) and threads such as the Intel Core i7-13700K , which features a total of 16 cores from the Raptor Lake Generation. If you are on a tight budget, however, it would be advisable to rather invest in a capable GPU that also functions as a hardware-based encoder (essentially any model supporting NVENC or VCE).

For less compute-intensive activities such as IRL or creative streams, even an entry-level CPU such as the Intel Core i5-13500 should suffice.

Software-Based Encoding

Opting for a software encoder means that you’ll be utilizing the CPU to transcode streaming content into a predefined format. Widely used streaming applications such as Twitch Studio, OBS Studio, and Streamlabs OBS provide the x264 encoder as a software choice. While this encoder boasts compatibility with most standard processors, it is advisable to use a CPU with a at least 6 cores, particularly when engaging in CPU-intensive activities such as gaming.

AMD offers a plethora of commendable models in this context. One prime example is the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X nennen. his CPU consistently delivers outstanding results for almost all x264 presets and boasts an impressive 12 processor cores. In addition to its remarkable performance in live streaming, it excels in multimedia applications that benefit from the processor’s multithreading capabilities. This, in turn, facilitates tasks such as editing and cutting your streaming VODs, rendering them effortless for your system. For increased core count and peak performance, consider its higher-end counterpart, the 5950X.

Be aware that utilizing software-based encoding will affect your average FPS, as it can be quite taxing on your processor. That is because your CPU does not only have to render the gameplay, but also encode the captured content in real-time.

Hardware-Based Encoding

Since the advent of Intel’s Sandy Bridge architecture in 2011, the majority of the manufacturer’s models have been equipped with a specialized processor core exclusively dedicated to media content encoding and decoding. This stands in stark contrast to the x264 encoder, whose utilization under high CPU load can lead to irregular frame rates. The associated Quick Sync Video encoding option is designed to offload the computational demands of the streaming process onto the dedicated core, thereby alleviating the remaining available cores. An alternative hardware option to CPUs is the NVENC encoder, present in all NVIDIA RTX graphics cards, offering a viable alternative.