Streaming with good PC with bad upload

OK, let me get this straight, right on start:

"THIS IS MY OWN SETUP FOR STREAMING, IT MAY NOT WORK FOR U, IT MIGHT LAG OR DROP FRAMES FOR U, BUT IT WORKS LIKE A CHARM FOR ME"

PC Specs:
Intel i5 3570 @ stock speeds
Asus P8B75-V motherboard
8 GB DDR3 1600
Radeon 6850 1GB DDR5
Net: 16MBit down / 1.5Mbit up

As u can see, the upload is kind of crappy but, i will make it work.

What i did is this:

Preset: slow (yes slow)
Quality balance = 6
Bitrate: 1000
Buffer: 610
FPS: 30
Audio: AAC 96kbits
Ingame resolution: 1920x1080
Downscale: 1280X720
Filter: Lanczos 36 samples

Don't know if i got all the values mentioned, but i think thats it.

I use this setup to stream LoL and u can see the result here:

http://www.twitch.tv/momentum2k/b/422206543

I literally never experience ingame lag or input latency or whatever. Also if i get my bitrate over 1100 i start getting lag spikes, obviously because my upload is not good enough to push all the data up to the twitch servers.

I hope this helped someone, as u can see, the stream is quite watchable, HUD text is blurry because i scalled it all the way down in LoL client, so it gets a bit unreadable, but it shouldnt matter, because everything else is looking fairly good with this setup

this upload is not crappy at all, i can see myself doing a lot of stuff with such uploads... right now i'm stuck on 700kpbs if i'm alone on the network ^^

I would die for that upload speed, I can only have 500 kb max buffer =/ On the other hand, I have kinda a beasty computer but that ilterally helps only little. It doesn't matter how much your PC is good if you don't have decent internet.

1.5Mbit isn't so bad indeed. OK, it's only 1% of my upload, but still... ;)

I was having issues with ping spikes while playing and streaming TF2. I had to stream at 800 kbps because of it (I have the same upload). I found this plugin and noticed it listed a Twitch Chicago server. I was using their San Antonio server, and Chicago is much closer to me (I also get better ping). Tested my upload to Dallas and DC (I used testmy.net instead of Speedtest, and it doesn't have a Chicago server) and I got 1.2 in Dallas, 1.4 in DC. So I tried the Chicago server at 1000 kbps and it works! :D

So, use that plugin to find your best server.

Also, try using CBR. It might help.

Edit: Whoops, thought this was the help section. That's what I get for skimming. Still, it might help with your problem with going above 1100.

I'm in the same shoes, but after hours of testing, I've came up with different settings that worked for me. I stream mostly MMORPGs or action games (where you turn around pretty fast and a lot), so my biggest problem was pixelation(?). I'll list settings that helped me to tune it down to barely being noticeable.

My specs:
OS: Win7 Pro 64-bit
Motherboard: GA-Z77X-UP4 TH rev.1 (chipset Intel Z77 rev. 04)
CPU: Intel Core i7-2700K (OC'd to 4.2 GHz)
Memory: 16GB RAM (Corsair DDR3 1600MHz)
GFX: nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti
Capture: Avermedia Live Gamer HD (C985)
Internet: DSL 10m/2m (DL/UL test: 8.74/1.73 mb/s)

OBS settings:
Encoding
*Use CBR checked
*Max Bitrate 1300
*Enable CBR padding unchecked
*Custom Buffer size 3500
*Audio Codec AAC with Bitrate 96

Video
*Custom 1280x720 (I stream 720p)
*Res Downscale None
*FPS 30

Advanced
*x264 CPU Preset fast

Other
*Set Capture card to send 1280x720 video with 30 FPS

I've tried a lot of settings (45 and 60 FPS; CPU presets from veryfast to slow; different bitrates and buffer sizes), but these were the best ones (for my computer setup) from what I've tried. I was testing settings in EVE online while docked. I was monitoring CPU usage and temperatures. My test consisted of spinning my docked ship around really fast. With CPU preset on fast, my CPU usage was around 30% while spinning ship (and streaming ofc). Unfortunately going higher FPS and faster/slower CPU preset resulted in unwanted pixelation, so 30 FPS was optimal for me.

Cheers.

Twitch tv Lag is a common problem, I would suggest to perform the following troubleshooting Solutions:

Change Regional Server:
The server you’re logged in might be busy. Switch to a server of another region/ country.

Refresh DNS through Command Prompt as shown below:
Click the Start button. Type “CMD” in the Search Box.
Right click Command Prompt and select “Run as administrator” option.
In the Command Prompt window type following commands-
ipconfig /flush dns
exit

If problem still occurs then you can find some troubleshooting techniques here:
http://www.shockwaveflashcrash.com/twitch-lag-tips-to-avoid-twitch-tv-lagging.html

Well, people bash Frankfurt server a lot for some reason, but i never had problems with it. I experience lag spikes only if i push up the bitrate and i choke my upload bandwidth.

I don't really know if its helpful but reading these might help in shaping up your TCP traffic if u use Windows 7:

Windows 7 TCP Speed Tweaks
http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php#Vista

Also, choosing a server based on ping times is best u can do to ensure u have a stable streaming connection to twitch.