I'm running an i7-13700K, RTX 3070 Ti, 32GB of DDR5 memory, and an NZXT C650 power supply. I also stream while playing demanding games, but I'm getting noticeable lag during heavier titles. I'm considering upgrading to an RTX 5070, unless there's a better recommendation. Would the 650W PSU be sufficient for gaming and streaming, or could the power supply be contributing to the problem?
3 Answers
A power issue would usually show up as an abrupt shutdown or reboot rather than just game or stream lag. Your 650W unit should probably handle this setup, especially with an RTX 5070, which typically uses less power than a 3070 Ti. Before upgrading, check that your streaming software is using the GPU’s NVENC hardware encoder instead of encoding through the CPU. CPU encoding can reduce your in-game frame rate.
Try undervolting the GPU and testing it under load. You can also set a lower power limit or cap the GPU’s clock speed to create more headroom. If the system remains stable and the lag continues, the PSU is unlikely to be the cause.
It’s worth checking whether your VRAM is maxed out when the stuttering happens. High VRAM usage, encoder settings, CPU load, or simply running out of GPU resources can cause streaming performance problems without indicating a power-supply issue.
I’d monitor GPU usage, VRAM, CPU usage, temperatures, and encoder overload warnings while streaming. Those readings should help identify whether the bottleneck is the GPU, CPU, or streaming configuration.