I want to record streams on Twitch while gaming at the same time. I've got an RTX 3080 right now, but it can't handle both high resolution and video encoding simultaneously anymore. Should I go for an RTX 5080 or would it be better to look at Radeon? Which card is better for NVENC and video processing in Adobe?
I have a graphics card at home that I got back in the day to handle multiple tasks, and here's what I've noticed: for streaming with video processing, Nvidia's encoder is really more convenient than AMD's because Adobe integrates better with it. If a 3080 is already struggling at high resolution, a 5080 will give you not just more memory, but an improved NVENC - you'll really notice the difference when streaming at 1440p or 4K while recording in the studio simultaneously. Radeon is a good option if your budget is tight, but you'll lose some convenience working with Adobe because the software is optimized primarily for CUDA. It's easier to just get a newer Nvidia than to deal with workarounds in the software later.
You're approaching this the wrong way - you don't necessarily need to jump straight to a top-tier card if your current one can't handle the load. The problem often isn't the GPU's raw power, but how you're distributing tasks. An RTX 3080 is perfectly capable of running a game and encoding through NVENC simultaneously if you configure your bitrate and stream resolution correctly. Maybe you're just trying to max out everything at once - 4K in-game, 4K stream, maximum encoding quality?
My friend had a similar situation once: she bought a more powerful card, but it barely helped until she reconfigured OBS. Turns out she was running the game on high settings AND the stream at maximum bitrate at the same time, then trying to process video in After Effects on the same system. Once she split things up - game on one drive, stream recording on another, video processing after streaming - everything fell into place. The RTX 3080 handles it fine if you're not doing everything at once.
You're right about NVENC being more convenient than AMD solutions. If you do decide on a new card, look at the RTX 4090 or 5090, not the 5080 - those are the ones that give you the real boost for parallel tasks. But first try optimizing your current setup: lower your stream resolution to 1440p or even Full HD, reduce the bitrate, move your files to a separate SSD. It usually helps!
Before you swap out the card, check what's actually hitting the ceiling - the GPU itself or the CPU. If your processor is already maxed out during streaming and gaming, even a 5080 won't help; it'll just be underutilized. RTX 3080 for simultaneous streaming and gaming at high resolution is borderline, yeah, but often the issue gets solved by tweaking the stream bitrate and NVENC settings. If the card is still burning after all that, then yeah, stepping up to the next generation makes sense, and NVENC in newer Nvidia cards really does work better than Radeon - for Adobe that's definitely a plus.
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