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We do live streaming via a laptop. We stream in HD and need a very fast processor for sure. I am not sure how important the graphics card is in this but maybe a dedicated one would be best. I had purchased an HP laptop with an i7 quad core in it and a 950 GTX but for some reason it just could not handle the HD coming in as it would almost max out the CPU during our stream and would not work properly. The HP envy that I had said it was a dedicated GPU but it would also work with the CPU too. Can anyone point me in the right direction of a good high powered laptop that would be great for HD streaming? Thanks.

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A short expert summary and practical checklist based on the thread: describes an i7 quad HP Envy with a GTX 950 that still maxes the CPU when encoding HD streams. Common, provable reasons are (a) the encoder is doing CPU-based x264 work instead of using hardware offload, (b) the laptop’s Optimus/hybrid GPU setup or driver config is falling back to the integrated GPU, (c) thermal throttling that reduces sustained CPU clocks, or (d) I/O/network/background-process bottlenecks. ’s point about using the right player is valid for playback, but production/encoding is a different workload than VLC playback. ’s SSD note is also important — fast local storage reduces hitches.

Quick checklist to isolate and fix the problem:

  • Verify whether PlayOn Sports Producer is using hardware encoding (NVENC for NVIDIA or Intel Quick Sync). If not, try an encoder that does (OBS/XSplit) or enable the setting in Producer if present.
  • Force the encoder process onto the discrete GPU in the Nvidia Control Panel (or disable hybrid graphics in BIOS if available) so the GTX is actually used.
  • Update GPU and capture-card drivers, set Windows Power Plan to High Performance, and check for CPU thermal throttling (monitor temps and clocks with HWMonitor/MSI Afterburner).
  • Move OS and recording scratch to an SSD (as did), close background apps, and test lowering frame rate or bitrate to see the CPU impact.
  • If sustained 1080p60 is required and a single laptop still hits CPU limits, consider a small external hardware encoder, a two-machine setup (capture + encode), or a thicker gaming/workstation laptop with better cooling.

Laptop checklist when shopping: choose an H/HQ/HK-series mobile i7 (not a low-power U part), 16GB+ RAM, NVidia GPU with NVENC, NVMe/SSD, gigabit Ethernet and plenty of USB 3.0/Thunderbolt for capture gear. For true reliability, desktops (or external encoders) win for sustained HD streaming; portable laptops are a trade-off between size and thermal headroom.

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Member Avatar for rubberman

The 950gtx is a very good GPU. How fast, and how many cores does your HP laptop CPU have? Also, are you trying to stream 1080p, or 720? 1080p is very bandwidth intensive, as well as a CPU hog. Also, your media application is important. Assuming you are running MS Windows, then you are probably running the default MS video application. Install VLC and use that instead. It is much more efficient, and handles more video types without the need to install additional plugins and drivers.

Member Avatar for fallout4player

try the haswell-e, cpu

that 950gtx is good tho

Member Avatar for fallout4player

buy a desktop pc

Member Avatar for fallout4player

for a really portable latop with every thing u can check out 2015 MacBook pro the 15inch
radeon 295x 2gb. cpu is good too. plus, its a mac! this is the only mac that is actually good for gaming/streaming in hd. comes at a price of around 4 grand though. but good luck finding the right pc ;)

Member Avatar for Member #23858

It has to be portable because we travel to schools to stream our games and many times there is not a lot of room.
These are some I am looking at. If anyone can tell me why these are not good choices I will always listen.
[url]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B015ZG997I/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1JK1WA1PPAW13&coliid=I2Q6NKS9RSXTMU&psc=1[/url]

[url]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B018AX3OHO/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1JK1WA1PPAW13&coliid=I17E9KCU8FCSGW[/url]

[url]http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i7559-7512GRY-Touchscreen-Generation/dp/B015PZ0EHS[/url]

[url]http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-15-r2/pd?oc=dkcwf01m&model_id=alienware-15-r2#overrides=dkcwf01m:11~10P64E;3~16G2D;8~1281TB7[/url]

The deal is as I was experimenting with it I went back and used a 3 yr old Dell i5 dual with 4gb of memory and no dedicated graphics card. It actually performed as well if not better than the new HP Envy i7 Quad core with a dedicated GTX 950 in. The HP falters when streaming and doing graphics so it already needs to be replaced. It is not faulty so I can't send it back but I have found someone to buy it that will not need it for this purpose so I'm not out a whole lot of money. The architecture of the HP just must not be conducive to the HD stream and the program called Producer from PlayOn Sports. Any more input would be appreciated.

Member Avatar for rproffitt

Small world. My son picked the 2GB video ram model at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B015ZG997I/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1JK1WA1PPAW13&coliid=I2Q6NKS9RSXTMU&psc=1[/url] and has no complaints. It did get a video driver update that cured a small hiccup in Metal Gear Solid 5 but he tells me it runs as expected. Everything works.

-> NOTE! We pulled the HDD and cloned it to a 512GB SSD. That was 120USD for the SSD and I used the Apricom USB 3.0 drive clone kit (under 30USD) for the move.

Member Avatar for fallout4player

Click Here

dam check this out!
up to 64gb ram(ddr4)
i7
TWO nvidia 980m graphics cards with up to 16gb vram
or 1 desktop nvidia 980 card!

Member Avatar for fallout4player

Click Here

that thing is perfection!! i7 with 64gb ddr4 ram
and 2 nvidia 980m or 1 desktop 980 both up to 16gb vram

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