Choosing between NVENC and x264 is one of the most important decisions for your streaming setup. This guide breaks down the differences, quality comparisons, and when to use each encoder.
Quick Answer
- NVENC (New) — Best for most streamers. Minimal performance impact, excellent quality on RTX GPUs.
- x264 — Better quality at the same bitrate, but uses significant CPU resources. Best for dedicated streaming PCs.
What Is NVENC?
NVENC (NVIDIA Encoder) is a hardware encoder built into NVIDIA GPUs. It uses a dedicated chip on the GPU — separate from the cores that render your game — to encode video. This means encoding has near-zero impact on your game's FPS.
Supported GPUs: GTX 600 series and newer. RTX 20/30/40/50 series have the best quality ("NVENC New" or "Turing/Ada NVENC").What Is x264?
x264 is a software encoder that runs on your CPU. It's the reference implementation of H.264 encoding and offers the best quality-per-bitrate of any H.264 encoder. The tradeoff: it uses significant CPU resources.
Quality Comparison
At the same bitrate (6,000 Kbps, 1080p 60fps):
| Encoder | Quality | CPU Usage | GPU Usage | Best For |
| NVENC (New/Turing+) | Excellent | ~2% | ~5% (dedicated chip) | Most streamers |
| NVENC (Old/Pascal) | Good | ~2% | ~5% | Budget setups |
| x264 Medium | Excellent+ | 30–60% | 0% | Dedicated stream PC |
| x264 Slow | Outstanding | 60–90% | 0% | Dual PC setups |
| x264 Faster | Good | 15–25% | 0% | Weak GPU + strong CPU |
When to Use NVENC
- You have an NVIDIA RTX GPU (2060 or newer)
- You're streaming from a single PC
- You play GPU-intensive games (but NVENC uses a separate chip, so this is fine)
- You want the simplest setup with minimal troubleshooting
Recommended NVENC Settings
- Encoder: NVENC H.264 (New)
- Rate Control: CBR
- Bitrate: 6,000 Kbps (Twitch) / 8,000–12,000 Kbps (YouTube)
- Preset: P5 (Slow) for best quality, P4 (Medium) if you notice any GPU impact
- Profile: High
- Look-ahead: Off
- B-frames: 2
When to Use x264
- You have a powerful CPU (Ryzen 7/9, Intel i7/i9) with cores to spare
- You have a weak or AMD GPU (AMD's AMF encoder is lower quality than NVENC)
- You're running a dedicated streaming PC (capture card setup)
- You play CPU-light games (League of Legends, Minecraft, visual novels)
Recommended x264 Settings
- Encoder: x264
- Rate Control: CBR
- Bitrate: 6,000 Kbps (Twitch) / 8,000–12,000 Kbps (YouTube)
- Preset: Medium (best balance), Fast (if CPU is struggling)
- Profile: High
- Tune: None
What About AMD GPUs?
AMD's hardware encoder (AMF/VCE) has improved significantly but still trails NVENC in quality. If you have an AMD GPU:
- RX 7000 series: AMF quality is close to NVENC. Usable for streaming.
- RX 6000 series: AMF is decent but noticeably below NVENC at the same bitrate.
- Older AMD GPUs: Use x264 instead.
What About AV1 Hardware Encoding?
NVIDIA RTX 40 series and newer support AV1 hardware encoding. AV1 provides ~30% better quality than H.264 at the same bitrate. However, platform support is still limited:
- YouTube: Supports AV1 live streaming ✅
- Twitch: Does not support AV1 ❌
- Kick: Does not support AV1 ❌
If you stream on YouTube with an RTX 4060+, AV1 encoding is worth trying.
Bottom Line
For 90% of streamers in 2026, NVENC on an RTX GPU is the right choice. It's simple, high-quality, and has zero impact on game performance. Only consider x264 if you have a dedicated streaming PC or a very powerful CPU with a weak GPU.
Use our Bitrate Calculator to find the optimal bitrate for your resolution and codec, or check your upload speed with the Bandwidth Calculator.