Gaming/Streaming PC Build Advice

A buddy asked me to help him put together a gaming rig. He mostly plays League of Legends, and since he’s actually pretty good, he’s thinking about trying his hand at streaming. I told him the streamer market is absolutely oversaturated—especially in League—but he wants to dive in just for fun, or whatever. Anyway, the budget for the PC is between $4,000-$1667, aiming as close to $4,000 as possible without hitting $1667, and that includes peripherals. Yeah, I know, the budget is tight, but it is what it is. What should be the main priority here? Should he go with Nvidia specifically for Shadowplay, or is there better software available from the AMD side? I haven't really delved into the whole streaming setup before, so I'm not an expert on this stuff. I’d probably grab a standard IPS monitor for around $300, and he likely already has a mouse and keyboard. That leaves about $3,500, maybe pushing to a absolute max of $1333 if it makes a massive difference. So, is an Intel Core i3-4170 paired with a GTX 660 going to cut it? Or would something like an 860K plus an R7 265 work better? Would a stronger GPU make things easier?

Oof, that’s a tough one.

He really needs a decent CPU. I’d say an FX 6300 (maybe with some overclocking) paired with a GTX 750 Ti would be his best bet. A buddy of mine who races against me tried streaming something a bit heavier than League of Legends, and he was dealing with constant stuttering and massive FPS drops on his FX 4130 and GTX 660.

I’d probably check out Micro Center for the build components to take advantage of those discounts. For peripherals, though, I'd hit up a different shop since Micro Center doesn't have much of a selection there.

From what I can gather, if you're looking to play League of Legends, an Intel processor is probably a better bet than anything from AMD. I'd also suggest going with Nvidia just so you can take advantage of Shadowplay, since it should hopefully put less of a strain on your CPU

1 x Intel Core i3-4170 Processor (3.70GHz,512KB,3MB,54 W,1150) Box
1 x Asrock H81M-VG4 R2.0, Intel 1150 Socket H81
1 x Gigabyte GTX950 WF2 Overclocked, 2GB GDDR5
1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Kingston, Value, 1600MHz, CL11, KVR16N11/8
1 x FORTRON 400W Power Supply, HEXA Plus 400, 12cm fan
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x MS KNIGHT midi tower case without power supply

$1322
adm

Ryan Hayes82 said:From what I know, an Intel processor is a much better bet for League of Legends than any AMD option. Also, grabbing an Nvidia card would be smart just to have Shadowplay, since it uses fewer CPU resources.

1 x Intel Core i3-4170 Processor (3.70GHz,512KB,3MB,54 W,1150) Box
1 x Asrock H81M-VG4 R2.0, Intel 1150 Socket H81
1 x Gigabyte GTX950 WF2 Overclocked, 2GB GDDR5
1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Kingston, Value, 1600MHz, CL11, KVR16N11/8
1 x FORTRON 400W Power Supply, HEXA Plus 400, 12cm fan
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x MS KNIGHT midi tower case without PSU

$1322
adm

I definitely like this build, it looks solid, but I'm a bit worried about what crimsonstag84 mentioned. Will the lack of physical cores on an i3 cause issues? I can put the build together myself, I'm just stuck on which parts to pick. Is it better to go with the i3 or the FX 6300? Keeping in mind this is mainly for streaming League of Legends. Then again, getting the FX 6300 feels pointless when the 8300 is only slightly $33 more expensive. It’s just not worth it, $300 paying that much for a 6300... ugh. I'm really not sure what the best value move is for this budget. 🤷

Feel free to browse around, but I honestly think League of Legends just isn't built for AMD hardware; in my opinion, even a Pentium might actually outperform an FX 6xxx or an FX 8xxx series chip when it comes to this game.

http://media.bestofmicro.com/R/9/380...iginal/CPU.png

The bigger issue is actually streaming; gaming isn't really the main struggle.

Sure, League of Legends runs on basically any modern integrated graphics these days. I'm just trying to figure out exactly what I need to make streaming actually smooth. Will the single-core performance of an Intel Core i3-4170 be more important than having the extra cores on an AMD FX 6300, or vice versa? Also, should I stick with Shadowplay by Nvidia, or go with the R7 265 since it's technically the more powerful card?

crimsonstag84 said:The real bottleneck is the streaming, not the actual gameplay.

Exactly. Gaming performance stays pretty much the same regardless of which processor you pick.
While an FX 6300 should technically handle streaming better, just like you mentioned regarding $33, there's the FX 8300 which would be the ideal choice here. Honestly, it might be smarter to take the money you save on the CPU difference and put it toward a used GPU instead; the games aren't even that demanding. Plus, when it comes to streaming, your internet connection could still screw you over if you don't have a solid upload speed.

I'm running an 8350 overclocked to 4.2GHz paired with a GTX 770 on Windows 7 64-bit. I can stream everything at 720p 60fps without any issues so far... my main headache is my terrible ISP. I pay for 50/10, but I'm actually getting 60/7, and the packet loss is brutal.

The FX-8350 is perfectly fine for both gaming and streaming. Plenty of people use them and don't run into any more software issues than anyone else. (Those issues are usually caused by bad settings or a bug within the app itself, rather than the hardware.)

1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3P, AM3+, AMD 970 SB950, 4x DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1866
1 x AMD FX-Series X8 8300 Processor 3.3GHz, 16MB, 125W, AM3+, FD8300WMHK
1 x Kingston 8GB (1x8GB) DDR3, Value, 1600MHz, CL11, KVR16N11/8
1 x Seagate 1TB HDD, Serial ATA III, 7200 rpm, ST1000DM003
1 x LC Power Cosmo Cool, 92 mm, Hydraulic bearing, 800-2200 rpm,
1 x Fortron 500W Hyper Power Supply, PPA5005003, 12cm fan
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. ATX standard

$1049 AMD

plus tax/shipping
http://www.craigslist.org/f/graphics-cards-listing-16883324

+ maybe a Full HD monitor for $200 on Craigslist

+ everything else for peripherals comes to roughly $1500

crimsonstag84 said:1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3P, AM3+, AMD 970 SB950, 4x DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1866
1 x AMD FX-Series X8 8300 Processor, 3.3GHz, 16MB, 125W, AM3+, FD8300WMHK
1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Kingston, Value, 1600MHz, CL11, KVR16N11/8
1 x Seagate 1TB HDD, SATA III, 7200 rpm, ST1000DM003
1 x LC Power Cosmo Cool, 92 mm, Hydraulic bearing, 800-2200 rpm,
1 x Fortron 500W Power Supply, Hyper, PPA5005003, 12cm fan
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. Standard MB size

$1049 ADM

Plus, for example...
http://www.craigslist.com/video-cards-listing-16883324

Plus some FHD monitor for $200 on Craigslist

Plus the rest of the peripherals brings it to about $1500 total

Nicely put together; I think this would be a solid solution. My only thought is that the 6950 is a bit underpowered. It's noticeably weaker than an R7 265—maybe around the level of a 750Ti, if not lower—plus, since it isn't Nvidia, you can't use Shadowplay. THIS looks like a brutal deal to me. Honestly, it's so good it makes me suspicious. BTW, what's the deal with that LC cooler, is it actually better than Kepler?

The reason they swapped out the Kepler is mainly because of the quieter fan and the PWM support. It’s a bit less efficient than the Kepler or the LC-CC-95, but honestly, it still beats the stock version by quite a bit, and just $26 😉
.
If you have the extra cash in your budget, you could always go for a more expensive card, maybe a GTX 660($267)/GTX 570(650-$233).

It’s definitely not too weak for League of Legends. It performs similarly to an HD 7850, and I actually know a guy who runs the game on an HD 7850 paired with a Phenom II, hitting high FPS even at a competitive level.

crimsonstag84 said:The reason they swapped it for the Kepler is because it has a quieter fan and supports PWM. It’s slightly less efficient than the Kepler or the LC-CC-95, but still way better than the stock version, and honestly just $26 😉
.
If your budget allows, you could go for a more expensive card, maybe a GTX 660($267)/GTX 570(650-$233).

But the 660 is significantly weaker than the 270X, whereas $233 is while the 660 is $267. CLICK
That’s why I keep saying the 270X is an absolute steal.

Timothy Kim60 said:It isn't too weak for League of Legends. The HD 7850 was similar, and I know a guy who plays it on an HD 7850 paired with a Phenom II and gets insane FPS at high competitive settings.

Of course it isn't—League of Legends isn't demanding. But still, the 270X is noticeably stronger and newer, plus $33 is more on its side. I just hope there isn't a catch, because it really is a great value.

Anyway, going with the FX 8300 and a used GPU will probably be the best move to stay within budget. 👍

Wait, what? The GTX 660 sits right between the HD 7850 and the HD 7870/R9 270 😛

I'm not even sure if that 270X is still available... though it's probably gone already if it actually is.

This looks like a solid deal, though I’m a little suspicious. If it hasn't sold yet, what's the catch?

crimsonstag84 said:Wait, what? The GTX 660 sits right between the HD 7850 and the HD 7870/R9 270 😛

I'm not sure if that 270X deal is even legit... honestly, it's probably already gone if it actually was.

Yeah, so it's between the 7850 and 7870—meaning the 270—but this is a 270X, which is stronger than all of them. You can see an FPS difference of up to 40% here.

Timothy Kim60 said:It's a good deal, just feels a little suspicious. Either it's sold, or if it isn't, why hasn't anyone grabbed it yet?

I know, I'm worried too. I'd probably sell my 260X for 600 and grab this one for 700. 🤣 I'll shoot them a message and see how it sounds.

I think you might be mixing up the R9 280X; the 270X is really just a slightly overclocked R9 270 😉

crimsonstag84 said:You're getting it mixed up with the R9 280X; the 270X is just a slightly overclocked R9 270 😉

Honestly, I can't tell if you're messing with me right now or what 🤣 CLICK man

Have you noticed that CoH2 is the only thing showing such massive discrepancies in a hundred different ways?
It’s undeniable that it's 270x more powerful, but I wouldn't say it's quite 40% stronger.

Timothy Kim60 said:Have you noticed how CoH2 is just on a whole different level when it comes to these massive performance gaps?
It’s indisputable that it's 270x more powerful, just maybe not quite by a full 40%.

Of course, the GPU isn't actually that much stronger in general terms, which is why I mentioned it might have UP TO about 40% more FPS in certain spots. Most of the time we're talking a difference of 5-10 FPS, but still. If the ad is legit, that kind of jump would be absolutely insane for a boost.