Broadcasting the desktop to a streaming service requires capturing the desktop, converting the video and transmitting it over the Internet.

Suggested codec: H.264

1. Don't spend too much on hardware (try low-end)
2. 720p@25fps
3. Render, convert and broadcast on a single device
4. (1080p@60fps in the long run)

• Open source (on Github)
• Probably requires compiling
• Twitch plays Pokémon uses it

• OBS: Homepage
• OBS: Stream Settings Estimator
• Live Streaming Video using AVConv and the Raspberry Pi (from 2013)
  • Uses some obsolete and basic commands but might be helpful for low-end device settings

• Test H.264 configurations
• Look one that's fast on the CPU
  • Some programs may support GPU
• In a second step mind the network usage

• FFmpeg Wiki: Encode H.264
• FFmpeg Wiki: Encoding for streaming sites
• Arch Linux Wiki: Streaming using twitch.tv
• Stack Overflow: Calculating CPU usage of a process in Linux