2020 Live Streaming Budget Workstation

2020 Live Streaming Budget Workstation

In 2020 the two viable video encoding standards for live streaming are H.264 and H.265. For each there is a software and hardware encoder. The hardware Nvidia Turing nvenc is currently the best hardware encoder available.

Here's the order of best to worst compression / quality. Use the best available on your streaming platform.

  1. Turing H.265 (HEVC)
  2. Software x265
  3. Turing H.264
  4. Software x264

These are the GPU's that have the Turing nvenc Encoder:

  • GeForce GTX 1650 Super (Only the Super)
  • GeForce GTX 1660 Ti / 1660
  • GeForce RTX 2060 / 2070
  • GeForce RTX 2080
  • GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
  • Titan RTX

Of these the most affordable is the 1650 Super. Be sure to get the "Super", the basic 1650 has the Pascal nvenc which is not quite as good as the Turing. It is currently about $180.

Nvidia recommended OBS settings

CPU

On the CPU side, by brother showed me the excellent value proposition of combining used Xeon server CPUs with new motherboards on aliexpress as the beginning of a workstation or gaming PC.

The current deal is to combine an x99 motherboard ($80-$100) with a Xeon v3 processor with 6 to 12 cores ($20-$90). See PhilsComputerLab and Tech YES City on youtube for more on this.

Frequency unlock the CPU for better performance.

The build:

$76.74 MACHINIST X99 motherboard - could ship from USA for ~$30  more

$21.72 Xeon 2620V3 - ships from USA - upgrade to 12-core 2678v3 for $87 and dropping in price fast - or maybe someday the 18-core will be affordable
 
$330.69 Total
 
* Use DDR4 ram, case, psu, thermal paste that I have
 

Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC

Name: en_windows_10_enterprise_ltsc_2019_x64_dvd_5795bb03.iso
Size: 4330432512 bytes (4129 MiB)
CRC32: D68A78C3
CRC64: E113A663485137B4
SHA256: B570DDFDC4672F4629A95316563DF923BD834AEC657DE5D4CA7C7EF9B58DF2B1
SHA1: 615A77ECD40E82D5D69DC9DA5C6A6E1265F88E28
BLAKE2sp: C696B98C2CDD3999470C9B735E00319C98B2ACF8299382E7E3903CFC39491197

Realtek Ethernet Driver

Win10 Auto Installation Program Install_Win10_10043_09222020.zip

Used Mi899 to flash bios for turbo boot unlock.

  1. Flashed mn-x99z.tu.v3p50.mi8 - Stock Machinist X99Z BIOS, RAM Timings, TU FFS -50/50mv
  2. Reset CMOS with jumper
  3. Booted into BIOS and reset to performance default settings

CPU Torture Test - Prime95

Instructions

GPU Torture Test - Folding@Home

Other notes:

  • Zoom uses H.264 Annex G (SVG) codec which sends a single stream with multiple layers. No transcoding needed.
  • H.265 is kind of a mess, VP9 and/or AV1 is likely to replace it in a few years once better software and hardware encoders are widely available.