Gaming/Streaming PC

[Joycie]

Hi guys,

So I quit my job and I'm using my savings to have go at this streaming lark. Been spending the last couple months doing the rounds, waiting for new CPUs/GPUs to launch, watching reviews etc... with the release of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and the RX 9070 XT I'm ready to start narrowing down a build. Here are my needs... I want to stream the games I play on my PC and Xbox console. I currently have this PC (below in blue) and my thinking is this could potentially become my streaming PC, so a dual PC set-up w/capture card. However, if the build in black below is more than adequate to game and stream from at the same time then I can sell my current PC to a mate for a few quid.
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3800X Eight Core CPU (3.9GHz-4.5GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER

AOC - Q27G2U Quad HD 27" Gaming Monitor

The types of games I play are mainly RTS, grand strategy, Total War series, Football Manager, but I want to start utilising Game Pass for PC ie: Stalker 2, Starfield, upcoming games like Fable, the new Gears game. Not to sound too up my own a**, I'd like to stream a variety of different games, from AAA to indie. I play games in 1440p and I know Twitch has a cap on the quality you can stream so I think gaming at 4k would be pointless.
How will the below build handle the load of playing these types of games in 1440p while streaming them? Again, I have a PC there that could be my streaming PC, so don't be afraid to say "keep the old PC as your streaming PC". I'd like the pricing to not go over £2700, because I have budgeted on top of this for peripherals (camera, mic, 2nd monitor, external capture card etc).

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000T RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D 16 Core CPU (4.3GHz-5.7GHz/128MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE X870 EAGLE WIFI7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair DOMINATOR TITANIUM DDR5 6400MHz CL32 (2 x 16GB) KIT
Graphics Card
16GB GIGABYTE RADEON™ RX 9070 XT GAMING OC - 2 x HDMI, 2 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR ELITE MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 7000 MB/R, 6200 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ ATX 3.1, MODULAR, CYBENETICS GOLD
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR ICUE LINK TITAN 240 RX LCD RGB HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price: £2,706.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/JBzRAANR6W/

Sorry for the length of post.

Thank you in advance.

 

[MrWilson]

Solid start, the 9950X3D is the ‘have it all chip’ and will smash gaming and streaming on the same system.

The 5000T and LCD display on the cooler are both luxury picks, they are both great, but by no means essential, so would be the first things I would look to cut back on to fit your budget as you can get the same function for a lower cost with other components.

I would probably get a bit more storage as games are getting bigger and bigger these days, so it depends what you would want to bring across from your old PC that would determine what would be needed on top. Similarly you can save money by transferring your windows license across from your old build.

Up the PSU to 1000W for a bit more headroom, and silver warranty for a fiver is a no brainer.

 

[Joycie]

Solid start, the 9950X3D is the ‘have it all chip’ and will smash gaming and streaming on the same system.

The 5000T and LCD display on the cooler are both luxury picks, they are both great, but by no means essential, so would be the first things I would look to cut back on to fit your budget as you can get the same function for a lower cost with other components.

I would probably get a bit more storage as games are getting bigger and bigger these days, so it depends what you would want to bring across from your old PC that would determine what would be needed on top. Similarly you can save money by transferring your windows license across from your old build.

Up the PSU to 1000W for a bit more headroom, and silver warranty for a fiver is a no brainer.

What could I swap the case and cooler for? Idc about what the computer actually looks like tbh

PS. I have a 2tb M.2 SSD that I have in the old PC that I'll pop into the new one

 

[Ekans2011]

What could I swap the case and cooler for? Idc about what the computer actually looks like tbh

PS. I have a 2tb M.2 SSD that I have in the old PC that I'll pop into the new one

I'd make the following changes to fit your £2700 budget.

Case: Corsair 4000D - Good quality case, IMHO
MB: X870E AORUS ELITE (better chipset and overall quality than the Eagle).
M.2 - 512GB is sufficient for the OS, apps, and game launchers.
PSU - 1200W HXi - enough for the entire system's lifespan.
Cooler - For the 9950X3D, I'd recommend at least a 280mm AIO.
Extra fan - only for aesthetic; remove if not needed.
Warranty: £5 for a full year C&R. It’s worth.

Case
CORSAIR FRAME 4000D RS ARGB MODULAR
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D 16 Core CPU (4.3GHz-5.7GHz/128MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz CL30 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB GIGABYTE RADEON™ RX 9070 XT GAMING OC - 2 x HDMI, 2 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HXi SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM V2
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR ICUE LINK TITAN 280 RX RGB HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
3 x Corsair RS120 ARGB PWM Fan
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price: £2,693.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/vXfhrNUmm2/

 

[Joycie]

I'd make the following changes to fit your £2700 budget.

Case: Corsair 4000D - Good quality case, IMHO
MB: X870E AORUS ELITE (better chipset and overall quality than the Eagle).
M.2 - 512GB is sufficient for the OS, apps, and game launchers.
PSU - 1200W HXi - enough for the entire system's lifespan.
Cooler - For the 9950X3D, I'd recommend at least a 280mm AIO.
Extra fan - only for aesthetic; remove if not needed.
Warranty: £5 for a full year C&R. It’s worth.

Case
CORSAIR FRAME 4000D RS ARGB MODULAR
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D 16 Core CPU (4.3GHz-5.7GHz/128MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz CL30 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB GIGABYTE RADEON™ RX 9070 XT GAMING OC - 2 x HDMI, 2 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HXi SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM V2
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR ICUE LINK TITAN 280 RX RGB HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
3 x Corsair RS120 ARGB PWM Fan
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price: £2,693.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/vXfhrNUmm2/

Thank you for your recommendations. What's your thoughts on this build handing the gaming/streaming load? Just out of interest, if the RX 9070 XT wasn't an option, what other GPU would you choose?

 

[Ekans2011]

Just out of interest, if the RX 9070 XT wasn't an option, what other GPU would you choose?

The logical option would be a 5070ti, but NVIDIA's price/performance ratio in this generation is on the verge of disaster. Based on the early benchmarks, I believe AMD is ahead for 1440p unless Ray Tracing/Path Tracing is important.

What's your thoughts on this build handing the gaming/streaming load?

I think that would be a pretty good PC, however I am not a streamer.

 

[Joycie]

I think that would be a pretty good PC, however I am not a streamer.

Damn, really hoping you were! haha. Technically neither am I

If anyone sees this with a bit of streaming knowledge I'd love to hear your two cents

 

[Joycie]

In terms of streaming, it depends how you set it up. If you use OBS with default encoding, then all the work will be done by the GPU...if you switch to software encoding, then the workload will switch to the CPU. I just did a quick test with Starfield running 4k, so CPU load is a bit less than if running the game at 1440p.....GPU encoding was around 5-10% extra load on the GPU; CPU encoding was around 15% extra load, although I was also recording to my hard drive as well so it would have had more than normal load. My CPU is a 7800x3D so last generation.

For gaming/streaming "normal AAA games", I'd say the 9800x3D would be fine...however, if you are planning to stream things like Total War etc, then the 9950x3D is definitely a good shout. But, if you are planning to stream massively heavy CPU bound games like that, then I'd definitely consider the 2 PC approach as it will offload any encoding and processing to the other system allowing your game CPU to focus fully on the game.

From the little info I know and some test streams using my current system, I'll definity be using the GPU hardware to encode. I know AMD has trailed behind Nvidia's nvenc encoder, but from what I hear AMD has improved their encoding on the RX 9070 XT so that it's not as trash as it was. I have zero beef with Nvidia, love my GTX 1660 Super, but like Ekans mentioned Nvidia's price to performance ratio is terrible and it's putting me off Nvidia.

You've probably worked out the method in my madness. I've leaned towards the 9950x3D because the CPU will have to deal with a CPU heavy game like TW: Warhammer 3, run OBS, have Twitch open, Discord, all that jazz in the background. But then there's that wee devil on my shoulder saying don't even worry about that and just use the old system to stream on.