This Ultimate Streaming Build is for those that really want the best performance currently available, even if it comes with a premium price tag. If you’ve got money to spend and want to put it into a PC that can handle gaming and streaming at high resolutions and high framerates, then this Ultimate Streaming Build is for you.
All the products included have detailed descriptions justifying why I think they are ideal for someone looking to build one of the best streaming PC’s money can buy. Although prices shown are in US Dollars, all amazon links will automatically take you to your local amazon store, so you can see the component in your local currency.
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Part List
CPU
The Intel i9-12900K is one of the fastest CPU’s currently available, and a great choice for high performance gaming.
With the new Alder Lake architectural design, the chip houses 16 cores and 24 threads. It has a base frequency of 3.2 GHz boosting to a massive 5.2 GHz. The “K” at the end of 12900K means that the processor is unlocked, so it can be overclocked if you want to really squeeze maximum performance out of the chip, which is why we’ve paired it with a high-performance AIO cooler.
I’d definitely still recommend using the NVENC encoder that comes as part of the latest NVIDIA graphics cards to handle all of our stream encoding. But if your heart is set on using the x264 encoder, this CPU could absolutely handle it.
- 16 cores, 24 threads (16 performance, 8 efficient)
- 3.2 GHz base frequency up to 5.2 GHz boost
- Support for PCIe Gen 5 and DDR5
CPU Cooler
To take full advantage of the 12900K’s ability to overclock, I’d recommend getting an AIO liquid cooler.
ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II CPU cooler includes two of ARCTIC’s 2x P14 140 mm fans which have great air flow, meaning a cooler CPU. There is also an RGB option if you want to fully pimp out your ride with RGB everywhere.
Since this CPU has been shown to overclock well, I’d definitely encourage you to bump the numbers a little bit if you know what you’re doing.
- Integrated cable management
- 80% less power consumption when idle
- Compatible with Intel’s new Alder Lake processors
Motherboard
Motherboards aren’t the most exciting part of a build, but you do need to ensure that the one you choose is compatible with all your other components.
For the i9-12900K you’re going to need a Z690 chipset motherboard.
The Z690 is a newer chipset and should provide better compatibility with the new Intel CPU’s. The MSI PRO Z690-A ATX is filled with the latest technology, making it perfect for higher performance set-ups.
It supports the very latest PCIe 5.0 and offers huge storage options with 4x M.2 slots. There’s plenty of USB 3.2 connectivity and 4x DDR5 DIMM slots for the option of memory expansion further down the line.
- Supports DDR5 memory
- Lightning fast experience: PCIe 5.0 slots, Gen4 x4 M.2, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2
- Upgraded network solution: 2.5G LAN
Memory
When streaming, you’re likely to have a few applications open simultaneously that will require some memory.
Since we’re in the ultimate build, I’ve chosen a 32 GB kit (2x 16 GB sticks) of the latest DDR5 RAM running at 5200mHZ. This offers an ideal match for the i9-12900K CPU, as it scales very well with faster memory.
If you’ve used the motherboard from this build you’ll still have 2 free slots left afterward if you ever did want to push to 64 GB, but it’s really not necessary unless you’re performing very intensive tasks daily that require additional RAM.
- With an aggressive starting speed at 4800MHz, DDR5 is 50% faster than DDR4.
- On-die ECC (ODECC) helps maintain data integrity
- Intel XMP 3.0-Ready and certified
Storage
You’ll definitely want to be running Windows, and some key applications from an SSD in this build, and with a little more in your budget I’d recommend getting an M.2 drive. “What’s the difference between M.2 and a traditional SSD drive?” I hear you ask. Essentially, M.2 drives operate directly through the PCIe interface whereas traditional SSD drives use SATA which is slower. So your M.2 drive will be fast (like really fast!).
The 980 EVO Plus is almost certainly overkill, but as this is the ultimate build, I wanted to give you the quickest storage option too! This drive has read speeds of up to 7,000 MB/s!
Since everyone’s storage needs are different, feel free to choose something with more/less capacity and a further mechanical drive should you need it. I’ve recommended a 2 TB drive in this build which should allow plenty of space. It can easily be paired with a mechanical hard drive with a higher capacity for you to store your stream VODs and other media on.
- 2x the data transfer rate of PCIe 3.0
- Read speeds up to 7,000 MB/s
- Compact M.2 2280 form factor
Since mechanical hard drives are much cheaper per GB than SSD’s or M.2 drives, it can be worthwhile getting a large mechanical drive for your build to store your stream VODs and other media on. This 2 TB drive from Seagate is still pretty quick at 7200 rpm and is well renowned for it’s reliability.
- Rock-solid reliability built on over 20 years of BarraCuda innovation
- Multi-tier Caching technology for increased performance
- Up to 220 MB/s maximum sustained data transfer rate
Graphics Card
The RTX 3090 is a beast of a graphics card and can handle pretty much any game at resolutions up to 4K!
This card houses three powerful axial-tech fans keeping your GPU running at low temperatures even when pushing for the highest framerates. Port wise, it has two HDMI 2.1 outputs and three DisplayPort 1.4a outputs.
Since it is based on NVIDIA’s new Ampere architecture, I’d recommend you take full advantage of the new NVENC encoding chips built into them for streaming. This takes a massive workload off your CPU so you can achieve higher framerates in-game.
To learn more about using the NVENC encoder for you stream, watch my video (shown right) on how it compares to x264 encoding and how you should be using NVENC for your stream.
- Axial-Tech Fan Design has been newly tuned with a reversed central fan direction for less turbulence
- NVIDIA Ampere architecture features 2nd generation Ray Tracing Cores and 3rd generation Tensor Cores
- Heat pipes carry heat through a fin stack that fills most of the card’s large, 2.7-slot footprint
Case
Cases are largely personal preference, so feel free to shop around for something you prefer aesthetically. Just make sure that it fits your ATX Motherboard, CPU cooler radiator, and the length of your Graphics Card.
The Fractal Design Torrent RGB is about as overkill as you can get for a case. It’s absolutely packed with features like smoked tempered glass front and side panels, a new visual designed front panel, two custom-made 180 x 38 mm Dynamic PWM or Prisma RGB PWM fans and three 140mm fans.
- Open grille and 180 mm front fans optimised for maximum air intake
- Includes five PWM fans (three 140 mm and two 180 mm) for balancing performance, cooling and noise
- New layout with expansive base intakes and extra-large bottom fan support offers exceptional GPU cooling
Power Supply
The most important thing with a power supply is that it’s a well-reviewed product from a trusted brand. It may be tempting to save some money and pick up one of the cheaper power supplies that are available, but this is what is providing power to every component in your build. If it fails there’s a good chance it could cause some damage to the more expensive components.
EVGA are well known for their reliable and efficient power supplies and this one is 1000 W which is easily enough for this build and it’s efficiency is rated highly at 80+ Titanium certified, pretty much as efficient as you can get. The ultimate build requires an ultimate power supply!
Another great feature of this PSU is that it is fully modular, meaning you only have to plug the cables in that you require. This helps keep the inside of your PC free of clutter since you aren’t having to deal with all the extra cables that you get with a non-modular power supply. Also, if you wanted to upgrade to custom cables in the future, a fully modular power supply allows you to do this.
- 80 PLUS Titanium certified
- Fully Modular to reduce clutter and improve airflow
- 10 Year EVGA warranty included as standard
Monitors, Peripherals and Streaming Accessories
In the future, we will be adding buyers guides for monitors, peripherals and streaming accessories too. If you want to be among the first to hear when we launch those guides, sign up to our newsletter.
Need a cheaper streaming build? Be sure to check out our budget and professional streaming builds as well.
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