Looking to build a cheap desktop for 1080p screen recording

[anon5123]

I've got an old ~2009 gaming PC that I use for a game called Stepmania, and while the game itself can be run on a potato, I'm mostly looking to build a system strong enough to screen record it at 1080p and not constantly drop down to 30-40 fps. It's a really old computer, the GPU is a GTX 460 and the CPU is some Intel quad core at 3.0 GHz. It has a modern SSD in it though.

What's the cheapest build I can do that will be able to screen record (OBS Studio) 1080p and not lag/stutter? I literally only use the computer for playing this one game, and have a separate "main" computer for normal use, so I can cheap out and cut corners for this one.

[Kagthul]

You could probably get away with just upgrading the GPU to a GTX 1650/SUPER and using the new NVENC encoder to do the work.

[anon5123]

You could probably get away with just upgrading the GPU to a GTX 1650/SUPER and using the new NVENC encoder to do the work.

I would need to buy a new power supply for that, since the current one is too weak to handle newer GPUs. The computer itself is really old and crappy anyway so I'm kinda wanting to just replace it entirely with something that isn't 11 years old.

[Temp name]

I would need to buy a new power supply for that, since the current one is too weak to handle newer GPUs. The computer itself is really old and crappy anyway so I'm kinda wanting to just replace it entirely with something that isn't 11 years old.

A 460 has a TDP of ~160w. A 1650 has a tdp of ~75w. A 1650 draws less power.

That said, wanting to upgrade it anyway is fine.. But I wouldn't do that now, with covid ruining supply component pricing is ridiculous.

[Kagthul]

A 460 has a TDP of ~160w. A 1650 has a tdp of ~75w. A 1650 draws less power.

That said, wanting to upgrade it anyway is fine.. But I wouldn't do that now, with covid ruining supply component pricing is ridiculous.

Agreed.

But you could still grab the 1650/SUPER now, and carry it over into a new build when supply issues stabilize.

It might get you what you want in the meantime since Stepmania is super lightweight, the NVENC engine should be able to do all the lifting without dropping any frames.

Then build a newer rest of the rig in a few months when things return to something sane.

[anon5123]

A 460 has a TDP of ~160w. A 1650 has a tdp of ~75w. A 1650 draws less power.

That said, wanting to upgrade it anyway is fine.. But I wouldn't do that now, with covid ruining supply component pricing is ridiculous.

Ah, alright. It's just that the PC I have down there right now has a really fucky power supply (says it's 650w but it's not actually 650w), so I didn't want to mess with the gpu or anything, but looking over the specs, it does seem that the 460 uses more power than this 1650 you're recommending.

Any specific brand of 1650 I should go for? They're all around $150-$180 on Amazon. I see ones from MSI, ZOTAC, Gigabyte, etc.

[apen]

Have you tried adjusting settings in OBS? You might not need to buy anything

This might help: obsproject.com/wiki/General-Performance-and-Encoding-Issues

[anon5123]

Have you tried adjusting settings in OBS? You might not need to buy anything

This might help: obsproject.com/wiki/General-Performance-and-Encoding-Issues

Yeah, I've tried messing with all sorts of settings, nothing really helped. I'm already downscaling the output to 720p and the encoder preset is set to the fastest setting.

I'd also like to stream off of the computer if I can; I tried doing that through OBS and while it worked for the most part, getting steady 60fps, it would have tons and tons of lag spikes, like every 25-45 seconds the stream video would just freeze for a couple seconds. So I definitely need to upgrade the hardware, and it looks like getting a 1650 will be the cheapest way to do that.

[Temp name]

Ah, alright. It's just that the PC I have down there right now has a really fucky power supply (says it's 650w but it's not actually 650w), so I didn't want to mess with the gpu or anything, but looking over the specs, it does seem that the 460 uses more power than this 1650 you're recommending.

Any specific brand of 1650 I should go for? They're all around $150-$180 on Amazon. I see ones from MSI, ZOTAC, Gigabyte, etc.

I'd suggest EVGA, because they have fantastic warranties. They also, subjectively, look nicer.
If you can't, then get whatever cheapest card from a brand name you recognize

[anon5123]

I'd suggest EVGA, because they have fantastic warranties. They also, subjectively, look nicer.
If you can't, then get whatever cheapest card from a brand name you recognize

Yeh, coincidentally the 460 is an EVGA, and the 970 that I have in my main PC is also an EVGA. I didn't see any EVGA on Amazon though, so I went with Gigabyte since it was about $30 cheaper than the other ones. Got the 1650 SUPER.

[anon5123]

You could probably get away with just upgrading the GPU to a GTX 1650/SUPER and using the new NVENC encoder to do the work.

A 460 has a TDP of ~160w. A 1650 has a tdp of ~75w. A 1650 draws less power.

That said, wanting to upgrade it anyway is fine.. But I wouldn't do that now, with covid ruining supply component pricing is ridiculous.

Agreed.

But you could still grab the 1650/SUPER now, and carry it over into a new build when supply issues stabilize.

It might get you what you want in the meantime since Stepmania is super lightweight, the NVENC engine should be able to do all the lifting without dropping any frames.

Then build a newer rest of the rig in a few months when things return to something sane.

Got the 1650 SUPER in last night and thus far, it seems to be working flawlessly. I can record Stepmania at 1080p with absolutely no fps drops (both ingame as well as the recording) and I can stream at 1080p too, also with absolutely no fps drops.

Good shit. I'm not too concerned about updating the rest of the rig, since the only thing I use it for (Stepmania recording / streaming) works perfectly fine now.

[Temp name]

Got the 1650 SUPER in last night and thus far, it seems to be working flawlessly. I can record Stepmania at 1080p with absolutely no fps drops (both ingame as well as the recording) and I can stream at 1080p too, also with absolutely no fps drops.

Good shit. I'm not too concerned about updating the rest of the rig, since the only thing I use it for (Stepmania recording / streaming) works perfectly fine now.

Yeah, if what you're doing with it works fine, then there's no reason to upgrade anything else.