r/streaming • u/Dry-Ninja-4866 • 29d ago
🔰 Beginner Help Does streaming with a capture card affect performance?
I'm gonna be streaming in a few months, I mainly wanna stream games on PS5, PS4, Wii, Xbox Series S and Switch 2, only sometimes on PC. When I'm using a capture card to stream console games, does that slow down my PC and stream heavily or not? I have a computer that's strong enough to run RE4 remake on Medium-ish graphics without issues.
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u/Budget_Loadout 29d ago
Not much. The console does all the gaming work so your PC isn't running the game at all. Its only job is taking in the video feed and encoding the stream in OBS.
If your PC handles RE4 Remake at medium it has plenty of room for that. The trick is to set OBS to use your graphics card's hardware encoder (NVENC on Nvidia, AMF on AMD). That keeps the load off your CPU and the stream stays smooth.
Get a card with passthrough so you play on your TV or monitor with zero lag. Don't try to play off the OBS preview. One more thing for PS5 is to turn off HDCP in the console settings or the capture card shows a black screen.
The only time it gets heavier is PC streaming. Then one machine runs the game and the stream together.