Everything you need to get started streaming games

When it comes to streaming video games, a $500 microphone won’t get you 500 viewers. Most new game streamers are lucky to have 100 people watching in their first few months.

It helps to know what makes a difference on day one, whether you’re buying gear for yourself or someone on your gift list.

Not even the best gear will make you a good streamer — personality, practice, and becoming comfortable talking to an audience from an empty room will do that. Start with what you have, and upgrade to better equipment when your audience gives you a reason.

You can watch me walk through the essential streaming gear, along with other holiday shopping advice for the gamers on your list, in a new CNET Group video franchise called Holiday Office Hours From the Labs.

Here’s the short list of what you need to start streaming video games.

Your PC

If your computer already runs your games well, it can probably stream them too. If you’re shopping for a new one, look for three things: At least 16GB of RAM, an SSD instead of a hard drive, and a modern graphics card.

These are important because your PC needs to handle both streaming and gaming. With an SSD, your games can load faster, and a decent-quality graphics card can do the bulk of the work. We recommend the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060.

All the current graphics cards from Nvidia, AMD, and Intel have a built-in hardware encoder, which turns your gameplay into a video stream without slowing down the game. NVIDIA’s encoder is the most widely supported and best-regarded option in free streaming software like OBS. That makes the RTX 5060 the easiest card to set up and forget.

A word of warning: demand from the AI boom has pushed up the prices of RAM and graphics cards, so compare prices before you buy. A prebuilt PC that costs about $1,000 should cover everything above. Used and refurbished listings are worth a look too. I bought my own prebuilt on Facebook Marketplace for $800, and it came with an RTX 5080 Founders Edition card. Deals like that are out there.

Credit: Mashable/Cole Kan

Capture card

If you’re gaming and streaming on the same PC, you can skip a capture card. Free software like OBS captures your gameplay directly. You’ll need one only if you’re streaming from a console or if you use a second PC just for streaming.

If that’s you, our pick is the Elgato 4K S, at about $160.

Microphones

This is the one place we’d tell most new streamers to spend a little extra effort. Your webcam is a small box in the corner of the screen, but your voice carries the whole stream. Viewers will forgive a grainy picture long before they forgive bad audio.

Our pick is a Logitech Creators Blue Yeti, a plug-and-play USB mic that sounds good without extra equipment.

But you don’t need a dedicated mic right away. The headset you already own can sound surprisingly good with some basic noise removal and EQ, and there are plenty of free tutorials that show you how. I don’t own a standalone mic myself. When I need to record, I use my Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones.

Webcam and lighting

For a webcam, a 1080p model is plenty. The Logitech C920x, at about $70, is our pick.

Lighting is what makes a cheap camera look expensive. Our pick is the Philips Hue starter kit, at about $140, at the time of this writing. It includes two smart bulbs and the Hue Bridge, the hub that connects them to your Wi-Fi so you can control them from your phone. Govee makes good options for less.

You can also skip smart lighting entirely. Pointing an inexpensive desk lamp at your face, so your monitor isn’t your only light source, goes a long way.

Stream deck

The Elgato Stream Deck MK.2 is a grid of programmable buttons for switching scenes, muting your mic, playing sound effects, and more. It’s great, and it’s our pick when you’re ready for one. But it’s built for people who stream regularly, so you don’t need it on day one.