In context: It is no secret Nvidia’s NVENC media engine in GeForce GPUs has been the popular possibility for streamers for years, however AMD and Intel have just lately completed an honest job of catching up. That mentioned, Workforce Inexperienced claims its RTX 40 collection GPUs are nonetheless higher than AMD and Intel equivalents in relation to AV1 {hardware} encoding.
Not too long ago, AMD has been extolling the VRAM capability of its Radeon RX 6000 and RX 7000 collection graphics playing cards, whereas criticizing Nvidia choices just like the RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Ti which supply lower than comparable Radeon fashions despite the fact that they’ve a better price ticket.
This occurred simply as Nvidia was on the point of launch considered one of its Ada choices, so it was solely a matter of time earlier than Workforce Inexperienced would fireplace again at AMD. In a brand new weblog detailing the launch of OBS Studio 29.1, the corporate explains how GeForce RTX 40 collection GPUs are extra succesful than each AMD and Intel options in relation to AV1 encoding.
The brand new model of OBS comes sizzling on the heels of YouTube including assist for AV1 reside streaming over Enhanced RTMP, which is supposed to enhance video high quality whereas additionally lowering bandwidth necessities. AV1 is way more computationally intensive than the extra generally used H.264 (AVC) codec, however now there are a number of built-in and devoted GPUs on the market that include partial or full assist for decoding it in {hardware}, so it is no shock firms are utilizing each event to put it up for sale over the older format.
Nvidia says the AV1 encoder in its RTX 40 collection GPUs is able to real-time AV1 {hardware} encoding, permitting you to stream in 4K at 60 frames per second. That is wherever between 30 to 50 % extra environment friendly than reside streaming utilizing H.264, which means you will solely want round 10 Mbps of add bandwidth for a 4K60 stream.
Workforce Inexperienced claims it’s also possible to get significantly better video high quality utilizing the NVENC unit inside RTX 40 collection versus opponents’ {hardware}, however we’re solely getting a screenshot for comparability the place Intel and AMD encodes do look slightly underwhelming. The corporate says it examined a 4K60 AV1 stream utilizing a GeForce RTX 4080, a Radeon RX 7900 XT, and an Intel Arc 770 with the OBS Studio default settings at 12 Mbps.
After all, impartial reviewers do not all the time arrive on the identical conclusions of their testing of those applied sciences. YouTuber EposVox just lately appeared on the new OBS Studio function whereas it was in beta and located that media engines within the latest Nvidia, AMD, and Intel GPUs are fairly related in relation to AV1 stream high quality. The one subject is that RX 7000 collection GPUs wrestle with 4K60 streaming, however that may little doubt be corrected by software program updates.
It is also price noting Nvidia’s GeForce software program stack has areas the place it’s sorely missing compared to AMDs. The Nvidia Management Panel is arguably a relic at this level, GeForce Expertise can’t be used with out an Nvidia account, and the Nvidia ShadowPlay function has seen a lot much less love than AMD’s ReLive in recent times.
If something, we would like to see AMD work on one thing just like Nvidia’s RTX Remix for the sport modding neighborhood. It might additionally carry Home windows assist for ROCm (AMD’s different to Nvidia CUDA) on client Radeon GPUs.
The latter will really occur someday within the coming months, however the former will probably stay a pipe dream. In the meantime, Intel’s Arc Management software program has usually been well-received by players and presents a pleasing consumer expertise, save for some small quirks.