So I'm a little experienced in the grand old concept of streaming (I've been doing it since November last year), but mostly everything I know is self taught. Things like bitrate, audio quality, HUD information, ect.
I was wondering if you had any advice for me If I wanted to stream a highly taxing Java game (not Minecraft, it's Starmade.) I use OBS because I'm too stupid to create my own software, and too cheap to invest in a monthly subscription to XSPLIT.
I have an AMD Phenom II x4 980 processor running at an overclock of 3.9ghz up from 3.7ghz, 16 gb of ram, and a cossfire'd set of 7870's. (I'd really love to move to NVIDIA and INTEL, but my wallet isn't endless and I was huffing paint at the time of purchase. These AMD drivers are made of glass. :C)
I'm going to upgrade to that AMD FX-8320 you've recommended a little while ago, soon-ish, but are there any other suggestions you might have?
The Phenom II is a good CPU to live stream with,. I have the Phenom II 955 clocked at 4.0 Ghz from 3.2. I get a fair amount of performance.
For the live streaming, it would depend on what your upload speeds are. Most people use 720P for the live streams. I personally use 480P due to the fact I only have a 1mbps upload speed. 720P is a little demanding on my system as it is. Seeing I only have a Sapphire Radeon HD 6790, but can be heavily overclocked to. The 8350 I find to be a good choice for a CPU for live streaming due to the extra cores you can use for the live streaming. I do plan on upgrading in the near future. I need to get a new motherboard, CPU and ram. Then the GPU. It's the extra CPU power I need to get. OBS is a great software to use for live streaming. You don't have to create your own software to live stream. Xsplit is decent as well, but you are limited on what resoultuions you can use. MAX is 720P there.