Sunshine Streaming Host Specs: What Hardware You Actually Need

Sunshine is a self-hosted game streaming server designed for Moonlight. It provides low-latency video and functions as a robust cloud gaming backbone, supporting hardware encoding for AMD, Intel, and Nvidia GPUs. If a graphics card lacks dedicated hardware support, software encoding acts as a fallback. Sunshine is compatible with any Moonlight client on any device and is managed via a web browser. Once clients are paired, the connection remains established whether the host machine sits in a home closet or a remote data center.

Minimum Specs to Get Running

These requirements represent the absolute baseline. You will need at least this hardware to turn a PC into a Sunshine host.

GPU

• AMD: VCE 1.0 or newer. Refer to the OBS AMD hardware support list for compatibility.
• Intel (Linux): Requires VAAPI compatibility. Consult the VAAPI hardware support list.
• Intel (Windows): Skylake or newer with QuickSync encoding support.
• Nvidia: Any card with NVENC. See the Nvidia encode support matrix for specific models.

CPU

• AMD: Ryzen 3 or better.
• Intel: Core i3 or better.

RAM

• 4GB minimum.

Operating System

• Windows: 10 or later. Note that Windows Server is unsupported as it lacks virtual gamepad support.
• macOS: 13 or later.
• Linux/Debian: 12 (Bookworm) or later.
• Linux/Fedora: 40 or later.
• Linux/Ubuntu: 22.04 (Jammy) or later.

Network

• Host: 5GHz WiFi or 802.11ac.
• Client: 5GHz WiFi or 802.11ac.

Requirements for 4K Streaming

Minimum specifications will launch a stream, but they cannot produce a clean 4K image. High-resolution streaming requires more processing power.

GPU

• AMD: Video Coding Engine 3.1 or newer.
• Intel (Linux): HD Graphics 510 or newer.
• Intel (Windows): Skylake or newer with QuickSync.
• Nvidia: GeForce GTX 1080 or better.

CPU

• AMD: Ryzen 5 or better.
• Intel: Core i5 or better.

Network

• Host: Wired CAT5e Ethernet or better. No exceptions.
• Client: Wired CAT5e Ethernet or better.

HDR Support Requirements

HDR metadata adds significant overhead, and older hardware often struggles to encode it quickly enough. These are the cutoffs for a functional HDR experience.

GPU

• AMD: Video Coding Engine 3.4 or newer.
• Intel: HD Graphics 730 or newer.
• Nvidia: Pascal architecture (GTX 10-series) or newer.

CPU

• AMD: Ryzen 5 or better.
• Intel: Core i5 or better.

Network

• Host: CAT5e Ethernet or better. WiFi latency is generally too high for reliable HDR color accuracy.
• Client: CAT5e Ethernet or better.