Does Hardware like CPU/RAM/Motherboard affect the performance?

[Darempid]

Hello everybody.
I have a pc with following specs: I7 920 Quad Core processor, 16 GB DDR3 Ram, and GTX1050ti 4GB.
Now the problem is, that on this PC (using elgato Camlink 4K) I can only receive HD output, and that with a high latency. When switching HDMI out (on camera) to full 4K, the screen just shows black. So the GPU is not the problem, as I build it into my gaming PC, streaming at full 4K, with no latency at all.

So now I´m wondering: what is bottlenecking the other PC? What can it be? The CPU? Maybe a crappy USB-port?
Please help me, I dont know what to do

 

[FerretBomb]

Does the issue still occur with the Elgato capture software?
Are you sure it is plugged into a USB 3.0 port?
Have you reached out to Elgato for support with their device?

Many USB 3 host controllers on motherboards from the i7 920's era had... pretty significant compatibility issues. Elgato would know more, and be able to troubleshoot their hardware more efficiently. If it's sending to OBS at 1080p, OBS isn't the issue here.

 

[Darempid]

Does the issue still occur with the Elgato capture software?
Are you sure it is plugged into a USB 3.0 port?
Have you reached out to Elgato for support with their device?

Many USB 3 host controllers on motherboards from the i7 920's era had... pretty significant compatibility issues. Elgato would know more, and be able to troubleshoot their hardware more efficiently. If it's sending to OBS at 1080p, OBS isn't the issue here.

So yes I took a look at the system requirements of the camlink 4k, and they say at least a i5 gen 4 4 core cpu is needed. So I think I will have to upgrade the cpu. A i5-9600k should be fine, correct?

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

That CPU i7-920 is over 10 years old (I know as I have one in my primary PC that just died a few months ago... RIP).. maybe closer to 12 years old??
real-time video encoding is VERY computationally demanding. real-time video encoding of 4K is that much more demanding.
I recommend monitoring hardware resource (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc) utilization [for ex. using Task manager’s Performance tab and/or Resource Monitor] to see if your system is being maxed out with your settings [which I'm suspecting is the case]

Be aware that your PC is old, and under-powered for such work. IF it will work (and I don't know that it will), you are going to need a simplistic OBS setup, and optimize OS and OBS for an under-powered PC.

I tried to stream with an Intel i5-6300HQ (2.3GHz 4c/4t circa Fall 2015), 8GB RAM, SATA SSD Win 10 Home edition, Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M and failed as the PC wasn't up to the task (no gaming, just alternating between USB webcam and simple pre-recorded videos, alongside a PPTx slide show window capture, streaming at 720p 30fps with no OBS effects/filters). I’ve learned a lot more about OBS since then, and I might be able to just squeak it out, but wasn’t worth it
So 5+ generations older CPU, in PCIe v2 (only USB2) motherboard with a PCIe v3 GPU ... uh, be careful with expectations.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

Which CPU you needs depends on your specific setup.
And what level and quality of 4K processing you plan to do? Are you planning to do any post-processing (Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, etc)? if high-quality 4K livestream while also gaming at 4K is your desire, then I'd think you'd be stretching it with an mid to lower range 9th gen i5. Can you get it to work, with optimization expertise... maybe... depends.
And a GTX 1050Ti for 4K gaming? at real low settings? or ??. For a better NVENC GPU encoding offload, you are looking at Turing or Ampere based, so GTX 1650 Super or better [and with mining driven GPU pricing, hopefully the mining limiting RTX cards due out in May will give non-mining consumers some price relief

Demanding 4K games at mid/higher quality settings can swamp an 10th/11th gen i9, and GPU in the xx70 range [game dependent]. So if you want a performant 4K rig that can handle the extra workload of real-time video encoding, I'd be thinking a Ryzen 5 5900X or better (maybe a 5700X.. depending on title), at least 32GB RAM and at least an RTX 3070... but I'm not a gamer, so take other folks word over mine

 

[Darempid]

Which CPU you needs depends on your specific setup.
And what level and quality of 4K processing you plan to do? Are you planning to do any post-processing (Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, etc)? if high-quality 4K livestream while also gaming at 4K is your desire, then I'd think you'd be stretching it with an mid to lower range 9th gen i5. Can you get it to work, with optimization expertise... maybe... depends.
And a GTX 1050Ti for 4K gaming? at real low settings? or ??. For a better NVENC GPU encoding offload, you are looking at Turing or Ampere based, so GTX 1650 Super or better [and with mining driven GPU pricing, hopefully the mining limiting RTX cards due out in May will give non-mining consumers some price relief

Demanding 4K games at mid/higher quality settings can swamp an 10th/11th gen i9, and GPU in the xx70 range [game dependent]. So if you want a performant 4K rig that can handle the extra workload of real-time video encoding, I'd be thinking a Ryzen 5 5900X or better (maybe a 5700X.. depending on title), at least 32GB RAM and at least an RTX 3070... but I'm not a gamer, so take other folks word over mine

No that wont be for gaming. Just 4k kamera output to obs, and from there record/stream. For that a i5 9600 should be totaly fine?

 

[FerretBomb]

An i5-9600 should be fine. Unfortunately, upgrading from a first-gen i7 will require a completely new motherboard and RAM as well; you can't just swap in a new chip. The 1050 GPU should be fine to carry across. It supports NVENC, which can record two 4K60 streams simultaneously. The biggest concern is decoding the captured 4K video input; likely where the 920 failed. I have the same CPU in an older streaming system, and it's... pretty slow, by modern standards, and I'd doubt its ability to even play 4K video in realtime.

 

[Darempid]

An i5-9600 should be fine. Unfortunately, upgrading from a first-gen i7 will require a completely new motherboard and RAM as well; you can't just swap in a new chip. The 1050 GPU should be fine to carry across. It supports NVENC, which can record two 4K60 streams simultaneously. The biggest concern is decoding the captured 4K video input; likely where the 920 failed. I have the same CPU in an older streaming system, and it's... pretty slow, by modern standards, and I'd doubt its ability to even play 4K video in realtime.

Yeah, I know that I need to change the motherboard. But I think it is worth it

 

[FerretBomb]

Then yes, an i5-9600 should be fine then, assuming it isn't a U-variant (U models are mostly used in laptops though; they're ultra-low-power versions that give up a HUGE amount of compute performance in the name of power savings, and really shouldn't be given the i5, i7, or i9 designations at all).