The core of my build was
constructed in May of 2018, but I have since
upgraded it to improve the quality of my stream to the level where you see it today. If you're just stopping by to see what I've got in my build and how much it costs, you can find everything in the table below.
|
Core Build (5/7/18) |
Vendor |
Cost |
| CPU Cooler |
Cooler Master Hyper RR-212E-20PK-R2 LED CPU Cooler |
Amazon |
$29.99 |
| Motherboard |
ASUS Prime Z370-A LGA 1151 (300 Series) |
Newegg |
$164.52 |
| Case |
RAIDMAX Cobra Z ATX-502WBU Black/Blue ATX Mid Tower |
Newegg |
$39.99 |
| Operating System |
Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 Bit System Builder OEM |
Amazon |
$101.08 |
| Monitor 2 |
ViewSonic XG2701 27" 144 Hz 1ms Free Sync Gaming Monitor |
Newegg |
$319.99 |
| Ethernet Adapter |
TP-Link TG-3468 Gigabit Ethernet PCI-Express Network Adapter
Card |
Amazon |
$16.29 |
| DVD-RW |
LG Electronics 8X Ultra Slim Portable DVD Writer Drive |
Amazon |
$27.47 |
|
|
Total: |
$699.33 |
|
From Previous Build |
|
|
| Monitor 3 (12/2/12) |
ViewSonic VX2703MH-LED Black 27" 3ms HDMI LED
Monitor |
Newegg |
$239.99 |
| SSD 2 (6/20/16) |
SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 250GB SATA III 3-D Solid State Drive |
Newegg |
$87.69 |
| Mouse
(1/17/18) |
Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum RGB Tunable Gaming Mouse |
Amazon |
$54.29 |
|
|
Total: |
$381.97 |
|
Add-Ons / Upgrades |
|
|
| Cam Stand 1
(6/22/18) |
Smatree Adjustable Jaws Flex Clamp Mount 13.4" |
Amazon |
$13.99 |
| USB Card
(3/4/19) |
Inateck 4 Ports PCI-e to USB 3.0 Expansion Card |
Amazon |
$16.99 |
| Camera 1 (10/21/19) |
Sony Alpha ILCE-6000L Digital Camera with 16-50mm Lens |
Amazon |
$558.00 |
| Capture Card (10/21/19) |
Elgato Cam Link 4K |
Amazon |
$116.22 |
| Cam Stand 2 (10/26/19) |
Smatree Adjustable Jaws Flex Clamp Mount 13.4" |
Amazon |
$13.99 |
| Processor
(10/31/19) |
Intel Core i9-9900K 8-Core 5.0 GHz LGA1151 (300 Series) |
Amazon |
$484.99 |
| M.2 SSD
(10/31/19) |
Samsung 970 EVO 1TB NVMe M.2 V-NAND Solid State
Drive |
Amazon |
$169.99 |
| Capture Card (11/26/19) |
Elgato Game Capture HD60 Pro |
Amazon |
$159.99 |
| Monitor 1
(12/5/19) |
ViewSonic Elite XG270 27" 1080P 1ms 240Hz IPS G-Sync
Gaming Monitor |
Amazon |
$429.99 |
| Monitor Mount (12/11/19) |
WALI Extra Tall Single Monitor Desk Mount (M001XL) |
Amazon |
$37.99 |
| Mic Stand
(1/10/20) |
RODE PSA1 Swivel Mount Studio Microphone Boom Arm |
Amazon |
$100.44 |
| Stream Deck (5/4/20) |
Elgato Stream Deck with 15 Customizable LCD Keys |
Amazon |
$153.36 |
| Camera Light (5/5/20) |
Lume Cube Panel Adjustable Bi-Color LED Light |
LumeCube |
$144.00 |
| Headphones (5/10/20) |
Sennheiser HD 660 S HiRes Audiophile Open Back Headphones |
Amazon |
$543.45 |
| Microphone (5/11/20) |
Shure SM7B Cardioid Dynamic Microphone |
Amazon |
$433.71 |
| XLR Mixer (5/12/20) |
TC-Helicon GoXLR Mini |
zZounds |
$270.49 |
| Side Light (6/29/20) |
Tranesca Selfie Ring Light |
Amazon |
$21.69 |
| RGB Light (7/1/20) |
GLW LED RGB Flood Light, 30W with Remote Control, 16 Color |
Amazon |
$18.99 |
| Camera Lens (8/26/20) |
Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Lens |
Amazon |
$430.21 |
| Power Supply (3/19/21) |
EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G5, 80 Plus Gold 850W, Fully Modular |
Newegg |
$189.77 |
| Memory (4/2/21) |
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (4 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 3200 SDRAM |
Amazon |
$179.99 |
| Camera 2 (4/2/21) |
Logitech BRIO Ultra HD Webcam |
Amazon |
$178.30 |
| Foot
Pedal (5/10/21) |
OLLGEN USB Foot Pedal Mechanical Switch |
Amazon |
$29.99 |
| Video Card (3/10/22) |
EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB GDDR6X Ultra Gaming FTW3 |
eBay |
$1,339.40 |
| Keyboard (7/2/21) |
Logitech G815 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (Tactile) |
Amazon |
$195.54 |
|
|
Total: |
$6,231.47 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Grand Total: |
$7,312.77 |
In the rest of this blog entry, I will go over the core components of my build and important pieces that really boost the quality of my computer and Twitch stream.
CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K 8-Core 5.0 GHz
This was the best CPU available at time of purchase. When it comes to streaming, multitasking is very common with the several apps you'll be running in the background in addition to some CPU-demanding games. I chose the highest CPU since it's the last resource I ever want to be constrained on for what I use the computer for.
SSD: Samsung 970 EVO 1TB NVMe M.2 V-NAND Solid State Drive
Most won't see a noticeable benefit from NVMe drives over standard SATA SSDs, as the gain is mostly seen with multi-threaded operations that most Windows 10 applications don't currently utilize. However, SSDs are significantly faster than traditional spinning HDDs, so I would never recommend anyone putting an HDD in their computer unless they are on a very tight budget. Bottom-line, get at least a 500GB SSD for OS and games.
GPU: EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB GDDR6X Ultra Gaming FTW3
When it comes to streaming on Twitch, I can't recommend anything less than the RTX 20 series cards from NVIDIA. If you are going to use OBS or Streamlabs OBS, you will want to take advantage of the newest NVENC hardware encoder that comes with these cards. If you follow the
bitrate and encoding guidelines from Twitch, you'll learn that these cards produce similar quality to that of "Medium" with the x264 encoder via CPU. The GPU cost to encode is minimal and saves valuable CPU usage to the point where you can get away with pairing it with a lesser i7 CPU and still produce great stream quality. I know they're expensive, but if you're gonna play on it almost every day, it's worth it. Also, I love EVGA products!
Capture Card: Elgato Game Capture HD60 Pro
I went with the HD60 Pro because arguably it provides better response time than the HD60 S. I also like the internal PCI-E mini connection. I plug my PS4/Switch console directly into the card via the HDMI input and then I output it to my gaming monitor via a SLOBS source projector.
Gaming Monitor: ViewSonic Elite XG270 27" 1080P 1ms 240Hz IPS G-Sync Gaming Monitor
When it comes to gaming monitors, the decision right now is between 1440p x 165Hz or 1080p x 240Hz. This is a personal preference, but I elected for the frames over the visual quality to improve gaming and response for competitive battle royale games like Fortnite. I currently own 3 monitors, which is extremely helpful for multitasking, but at least two monitors are necessary for effective streaming (1 to game on, 1 to read chat and notifications). As for brand, I am very loyal to ViewSonic monitors. I've owned several over the past couple decades and have never had a single problem with any of them.
Camera: Sony Alpha ILCE-6000L Digital Camera with Sigma 16mm f/1.4 Lens
I first started with a Logitech C920, arguably the best webcam for streaming on Twitch when it comes to cost and quality. I then learned about digital cameras operating as webcams and they are on their own level in terms of camera quality. I chose the Sony a6000 because it's the same camera used by a couple popular streamers I like to watch, plus I love its mirrorless picture. The Sigma lens is not necessary, but it will increase the sharpness of the picture even more so. You'll need the "Elgato Cam Link 4K" and an AC power source adapter in order to get it working with your computer as a webcam.
Lighting: Lume Cube Panel Adjustable Bi-Color LED Light
This lighting kit was on display at Twitchcon 2019 and it's a beast in terms of producing light. I currently run mine at just 15% brightness, which speaks how powerful it is. Lighting can be more important than the camera itself in terms of producing a good picture, so you need to invest in a good light. For some environments, multiple lights are preferred as well as a dark background, depending on what kind of image you are trying to produce.
Microphone: Shure SM7B Cardioid Dynamic Microphone
The first microphone I used was a Blue Yeti, which for its price is a very good microphone for streamers. I recently upgraded to an XLR microphone because I was curious and I could hear the higher audio quality on other streams. I decided to go with a Shure SM7B based on popularity and reviews. Make sure you have a good mic stand to go with this microphone so that you can have it close to your mouth when you speak. I highly recommend the "RODE PSA1 Swivel Mount Studio Microphone Boom Arm". It's more expensive than average but it's extremely sturdy.
XLR Mixer: TC-Helicon GoXLR Mini
A mixer for the XLR microphone is not necessary, but it's really nice to have. The GoXLR Mini comes with a compressor, gate, and equalizer to really fine-tune the quality of your voice. It has a USB output so that you can plug your XLR cable directly into the mixer and then the mixer does the rest. I will say that the software for the GoXLR is not great, but hopefully the bugs will disappear and functionality will improve over time.
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 660 S HiRes Audiophile Open Back Headphones
My first pair of headphones were the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro closed back headphones that I owned for almost a decade. They were very good headphones, but they were starting to feel worn out and outdated, so I went for an upgrade. I decided to stick with Sennheiser because I am loyal to their brand, having owned a set for so long with complete satisfaction. I am very impressed with the HD 660 S. The spatial sound is impressive and open back headphones really immerse you into the audio environment of the game you're playing. This set is also much lighter than my previous set and ultimately more comfortable.
Stream Deck: Elgato Stream Deck with 15 Customizable LCD Keys
A stream deck is completely optional for streamers, but once you have one, you'll love it and never go back to life without one. It's extremely useful and can perform actions that you cannot do easily within OBS or Streamlabs OBS. You can change scenes easily, disable/enable sources quickly, and even add multi-actions to generate special scenes unique to only those who possess a stream deck. 15 keys is a must-have minimum. 6 is too few and I feel like 32 would get harder to manage and take up valuable desk space if you don't have much to begin with.
ATrain's Build:
That pretty much covers the important components that contribute to my stream and its quality. The rest is pretty straightforward. 16GB of RAM is the sweet spot in terms of memory. The additional USB card in my computer is helpful since I have 9 USB connections. A foot pedal is helpful to act as a push-to-talk button and save valuable keystrokes when gaming. Make sure you have a nice gaming chair and it's designed ergonomically, critical for your long-term health when you'll be playing for several hours in the same spot. My computer might be expensive, but it's so nice to play on and if you're gonna spend as much time on this thing everyday, you might as well put nice things in it.
Hope you enjoy the stream! Feel free to say hi to me at
https://www.twitch.tv/atrain64 and thanks for watching!
