Gaming/Livestreaming PC | Need your knowledge

[sneakyazshiite]

Ok i have a problem and there are 2 ways to solve this.

1) i can buy a new pc
2) if its sensible, i can upgrade my current one.

Im trying to game and livestream on my pc at the same time. It handles ok for the two tasks but i cant really do anything else on it. ie skype, pandora, internet surfing. Obviously i want to run games and my stream at top notch quality. If i do anything besides gaming/streaming at once my pc sounds like its going to blow up, and my cpu shoots up in the 90s. (might not be a bad thing? i dont know what it takes to overheat)

Now before you kill me this is a dell. its about 3years old. I wanted to get a custom one so i could just upgrade but i didnt know how to at the time.

Im not sure how to lok up all of my PCs current specs. I knthe basics. I have an i7 860 2.8GHz processor. I dont know what it really means to be honest. I have 8GB RAM. and my video card is new, its 1GB. and new psu which i think is around 800watts. I know this info isnt very specific in part because im at work and the other part because im not sure how to look up a lot of the other specs that may be important.

So im asking you guys:

1)What is most important to streaming/gaming/and running other applications like google chrome and skype?
2)Does my computer seem close to being powerful enough to do these tasks? (ie should i just upgrade a few more parts)
3)My budget is ideally $1k mybe a little more for a new PC. Max of $1300. Id like to get a new monitor so i dont want to kill the PC budget. Can i get a worthwhile pc for that kind of money? Keeping in mind i have a new psu/graphics card of only a year that i could swap into a potential new machine.

Any feedback on these primary issues would be awesome. Also any info on how i can get more important specs would be helpful in getting you guys more information to analyze what i should be doing. Ill try and go from your feedback and get as much system info as possible so we can make a decision. If you reply to this please subscribe to the thread so we can all put our heads together. Thanks for taking the time to read this, judging by other threads ive read you guys are a pretty helpful community!

=)



Ok here is a link to my PSU/GPU

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005C31F2M/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004MYFODI/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i01

Any other information needed such as mobo youll have to tell me how to find, because i dont know how to look that up =O

 

[AMD Radeon]

2)Does my computer seem close to being powerful enough to do these tasks? (ie should i just upgrade a few more parts)
exactly yes, nothing can beat i7 even if it is older generation.... we dont want you to spend 1000 with slightly better setup

upgrade it

let see what is your video card and psu. be specific on them

and is it USD/canada?

 

[sneakyazshiite]

2)Does my computer seem close to being powerful enough to do these tasks? (ie should i just upgrade a few more parts)
exactly yes, nothing can beat i7 even if it is older generation.... we dont want you to spend 1000 with slightly better setup

upgrade it

let see what is your video card and psu. be specific on them

and is it USD/canada?

USD

Ok ill have to get back to you when i get home for specifics. Ill look up on amazon. Also will my motherboard/RAM have any bearing on this situation? If i can get away with an upgrade id like to use the money saved for a dual monitor so i can game on one screen and have everything on the other. Rather than a constant ALT+TAB which can be a hassle interfering with the game and stream interface.

Also thank you for taking the time to reply =)

 

[AMD Radeon]

love that dual monitor plan

 

[sneakyazshiite]

love that dual monitor plan

Ok i updated my original post with my new information of PSU/GPU

 

[bgunner]

have you though about getting a media card to stream with? usually they are a PCI-e x1 card that your system should have a slot for already. it will take the strain off the rest of your system as it handles most of the streaming process on its own. this leaves more CPU and GPU performance for you. cost for a good one is around $230.

 

[sneakyazshiite]

have you though about getting a media card to stream with? usually they are a PCI-e x1 card that your system should have a slot for already. it will take the strain off the rest of your system as it handles most of the streaming process on its own. this leaves more CPU and GPU performance for you. cost for a good one is around $230.

Nope. never heard of them.

 

[AMD Radeon]

the msot viable option for upgrade is adding an SSD and switch GPU to 7970 which is 3-4x 6870 performance

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($379.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $599.98
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-15 01:24 EST-0500)

 

[sneakyazshiite]

the msot viable option for upgrade is adding an SSD and switch GPU to 7970 which is 3-4x 6870 performance

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($379.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $599.98
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-15 01:24 EST-0500)

Am i keeping both graphics cards or swapping them out?

Also what do i need an ssd for?

Finally. If i were to setup a dual monitor how does that affect my setup? Do i need another card? or will the computer be able to support a dual display? (have 1 experience with a dual display.) I remember trying to play a game on the second screen but it never worked. My hope is that i can game on one screen and handle all of my browser/other activities on the second screen. This is viable id assume?

 

[AMD Radeon]

Am i keeping both graphics cards or swapping them out?

Also what do i need an ssd for?

Finally. If i were to setup a dual monitor how does that affect my setup? Do i need another card? or will the computer be able to support a dual display? (have 1 experience with a dual display.) I remember trying to play a game on the second screen but it never worked. My hope is that i can game on one screen and handle all of my browser/other activities on the second screen. This is viable id assume?

swap the card, sell your old 6870

ssd is a really really fast HDD. if you need improvement of your PC, SSD is a must

for dual monitor setup, see this graphic ports on 7970 i listed above

there are 4 ports
u can connect up to 4 displays to that ports

for 2 display, use that DVI and HDMI ports

My hope is that i can game on one screen and handle all of my browser/other activities on the second screen. This is viable id assume?
this is normally what people do on dual display PC. game only works full screen on the first/main display make sure you set the first/main correctly. if it is windowed games, you can put/drag the game to 2nd/secondary display

good luck d

 

[bgunner]

an SSD is not going to really help with the live streaming and your GPU is more than powerful enough because I used to run duel monitor setup on my old 9800GTX+.

Dont get me wrong Upgrading to An SSD is a great improvement along with the GPU but IF what your main concern is live streaming and running duel monitors this is your best solution.

1 purchase one similar to this card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815100100

ths card takes the stress off the rest of the system of recording and streaming which will alow you to browse the net with the rest of the system resources.

2 Your GPU is more than fast enough for duel monitors. I run duel monitors on a HD 5770 But having a more powerful card will give a higher FPS for newer games coming out.

3. get a new CPU cooler. for a Cheap but good cooler i recommend this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099 . while this one is not the best performer it has one of the best performances for its Cheap price range.

do what you want but I have an SSD and have friends that live stream and have helped them witht their systems. the ssd will not help with live streaming! the GPU you have is about equal to a new HD 7770 with the newer one playing DX11 games better due to newer advances in the tech.

what you need to do is relieve the burden of the system doing all the video transcoding and processing of the streaming video. the media capture and streaming card will do just that.

good luck and do more research because I strongly disagree with the advice AMD Radeon gave you.

 

[sneakyazshiite]

an SSD is not going to really help with the live streaming and your GPU is more than powerful enough because I used to run duel monitor setup on my old 9800GTX+.

Dont get me wrong Upgrading to An SSD is a great improvement along with the GPU but IF what your main concern is live streaming and running duel monitors this is your best solution.

1 purchase one similar to this card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815100100

ths card takes the stress off the rest of the system of recording and streaming which will alow you to browse the net with the rest of the system resources.

2 Your GPU is more than fast enough for duel monitors. I run duel monitors on a HD 5770 But having a more powerful card will give a higher FPS for newer games coming out.

3. get a new CPU cooler. for a Cheap but good cooler i recommend this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099. while this one is not the best performer it has one of the best performances for its Cheap price range.

do what you want but I have an SSD and have friends that live stream and have helped them witht their systems. the ssd will not help with live streaming! the GPU you have is about equal to a new HD 7770 with the newer one playing DX11 games better due to newer advances in the tech.

what you need to do is relieve the burden of the system doing all the video transcoding and processing of the streaming video. the media capture and streaming card will do just that.

good luck and do more research because I strongly disagree with the advice AMD Radeon gave you.

Ok ill look into the stream card a little more before making a decision. I was hoping not to upgrade my GPU after i just did last year. Itd be nice to have a dedicated card to stream off of and itd also making recording a ton easier.

As for the SSD what is the purpose of having one? I have a 500gb HD that i run everything off of and dont see the big fuss of SSD?

I do not know if this ties into what we are discussing. Recently ive been having issues watching livestreams. Compared to a friend who has similar internet but not close in computer power as mine, im constantly getting a freeze every few seconds. Other people report no issues. My internet is 30down 4.3 up so surely that cant be it. Using google chrome. Also this is a variety of stream sites, not just one. Could it be a computer issue where something isnt running up to par?

Your CPU cooler link doesnt exist =O

 

[bgunner]

Sry about the cooler link I have no idea what happened. here it is again. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

the difference between an SSD vs. HDD is access and wright speeds. example: standard HDD your windows would boot in 40-60 seconds an SSD would boot in 20-35 seconds. For games an SSD's best advantage is loading levels they will load much faster. Programs will launch much faster and saving and install time are cut also.

as for the stuttering your getting. are any of your components overclocked? the reason i'm asking is an unstable overclock can cause issues as you describe. yes a part not being up to snuff can also cause the stuttering. you may want to try asking this question in the network section as they will have more experience with this.


I also edited the old link to the CPU cooler to make it valid.

 

[sneakyazshiite]

Sry about the cooler link I have no idea what happened. here it is again. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

the difference between an SSD vs. HDD is access and wright speeds. example: standard HDD your windows would boot in 40-60 seconds an SSD would boot in 20-35 seconds. For games an SSD's best advantage is loading levels they will load much faster. Programs will launch much faster and saving and install time are cut also.

as for the stuttering your getting. are any of your components overclocked? the reason i'm asking is an unstable overclock can cause issues as you describe. yes a part not being up to snuff can also cause the stuttering. you may want to try asking this question in the network section as they will have more experience with this.


I also edited the old link to the CPU cooler to make it valid.

No i havent overclocked anything. Ill head over there and see what they can do for me. I appreciate your help.

For now im going to look into the avermedia. that way i can get my dual monitor and be well under budget. If i upgrade in the future for newer games the information from AMD Radeon will be helpful for the graphics card.

Thanks everyone for helping out!

 

[sneakyazshiite]

Best answer selected by sneakyazshiite.