Cheap Nvidia card for host hardware encoding

[Reginald1927]

Hi all,
I'm wondering what the lowest price or spec wise Nvidia card would be suitable to provide hardware encoding on the host streaming is?

I've got a pc for my fiance so she can play some newer titles that aren't on a ps3 comprising of a core i7 920, 16gb ram and a R9280x. As you can see the CPU doesn't have the igpu for encoding and AMDs encoding is terrible in my experience. I've been messing around with settings and seems the software encoding works better for streaming but gives a noticeable hit on out right FPS. Looking for something cheap to add to take the load off the cpu. Cheers for any help.

[Sleepy205]

Well you don't want to run AMD and Nvidia GPU side by side (driver conflict, endless headache). So if you want Nvidia then that 280X must go. 1060 is probably the go to Nvidia GPU for most people.

[Xjph]

I tested a GTX 680 side by side with my RX 480 and it worked fine as an encoding card. Steam had no problems using it, but the latency was worse than using the RX 480's own encoder, probably on account of having to move all the data from one card to the other for encoding.

That said, I've also had no issues at all with the RX 480's encoder, I just wanted to see if it was possible.

[Reginald1927]

I've been looking at something like a GT 710 or 730 to carry out the hardware encoding, I'm guessing as long as it supports the NVENC it will do the job?

I'm not prepared to shell out for an Nvidia 1060 to be used with an i7 920 as it doesn't seem to be a great value for money upgrade. I'd sooner just get something with an intel gpu and quicksync tbh.

[Sleepy205]

Well if you want to run them by side by side then pick up an used GPU. 710 and 730 are probably too weak to encode video at 60 fps real time. There are some 730s out there that are Fermi based and they don't support NVENC at all.

Although like you said, upgrading CPU makes more sense. Maybe an used Haswell set? That way you can reuse DDR3 rams.

[Reginald1927]

Surely the nvenc chip will be the same regardless of GPU?

[Xjph]

Originally posted by MrQuiche:

Surely the nvenc chip will be the same regardless of GPU?

All Kepler cards should have the same NVENC revision, yes, but some of the low-end 700 series used Fermi GPUs.

[Sleepy205]

Actually, Nvidia website hints that 730 does not support NVENC, even if it is Kepler based.

730 Specification: http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-730/specifications
750 Specification: http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-750/specifications

Notice that under supported technologies, 750 has Nvidia GameStream (which uses NVENC) but none of the 730 variant has it.

Also this post in OBS Studio forum suggests only the GTX lineup has NVENC,
https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/cheapest-nvenc-video-card.51786/

[Reginald1927]

Great to know that, saved me bidding on a lemon on eBay! How about a 710? From what I can see they all have Kepler gpus

[Xjph]

Originally posted by Sleepy205:

Actually, Nvidia website hints that 730 does not support NVENC, even if it is Kepler based.

730 Specification: http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-730/specifications
750 Specification: http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-750/specifications

Notice that under supported technologies, 750 has Nvidia GameStream (which uses NVENC) but none of the 730 variant has it.

Also this post in OBS Studio forum suggests only the GTX lineup has NVENC,
https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/cheapest-nvenc-video-card.51786/

There were actually three different GPUs used in GT 730 cards, one of which was Fermi. (GK-301-A1, GK-400-A1, and GF-108).

[Reginald1927]

The primary game being played on this system is rise of the tomb raider.
When just directly on the host, the game runs at around 60fps at medium settings @1080p in dx12. Trying either the AMD or software encoding to the steam link causes a stuttery mess of about 30fps with the regular appearance of slow encode message. Running the game in dx11 and with software encoding means slightly worse performance on the host, but a playable at least experience and a smoother stream. The AMD encoding is still a no go though 😞.

I've taken a gamble on a GT710 as was only £15 delivered, hopefully this will provide the 60fps streaming experience. If not, then it's a long HDMI cable for now. I'll post the results when it arrives.

It would be great if Steam could provide a bit more clarification as to what is required for a GPU to provide hardware encoding to ensure optimal steam link performance, the current blurb of "Nvidia 650 and above", isn't that clear as evidently some of the GT730 GPUs wouldn't.