Can someone explain the differences between the hardware encoding and decoding options?

[KneehighPark]

Just switched to a new network setup (I now have my PC hardwired into a Netgear R6400, which supports 5 GHz AC). Now, I'm trying to figure out whether or not I should have hardware encoding and decoding enabled or disabled.

What are the main differences? CPU is a FX-8350, and GPU is R9 280X (both AMD)

[Dark Elf]

Just try it. It's simply hardware decoding vs. software decoding... Some graphics cards (AMD) are having issues with hardware encoding...

[Greg]

Software encoding is when the CPU copies the image off of the GPU and then encodes it using an H.264 software library. It uses 2-4 threads on your CPU and can cause huge slowdowns.

Hardware encoding/decoding is when the GPU encodes the frame into H264 using dedicated hardware. The CPU's only job is to then transfer that frame over the network. This usually results in magnitudes better performance although the quality and compatibility of the encoders do come into question.

Essentially it comes down to this-

Pros :
Much faster encode times resulting in overall MUCH smoother experience.
Negligable CPU usage prevents streaming from slowing down your gaming experience overall

Cons :
Not compatible with all games
In some games the GPU hardware encoders result in blocky and inconsistent images (this is getting better)
AMD currently has some issues with hardware encoding that from what I understand make it unusable for quite a few people compared to nvidia HW encoding. (this is also getting better)


So to sum it up. You want to turn hardware encoding and decoding ON unless you run into issues that force you to turn it off. Even then you will most likely want to work through or around those issues instead of staying on software.