Best performance settings for my PC?

[tige64779]

I've been wanting to record on my PC, but it's more on the lower end. But it's enough to where it can decently run games at an average of around 30-60 FPS. For more heavy games like COD, I don't suspect it to run well, but I don't play games like that anyway. My processor is an Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700T CPU @ 2.80GHz, 2801 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s), with no NVIDIA graphics card of any sort.

What I ask for are settings that can at least produce 720p at 60 FPS or even just 30 FPS. As long as the gameplay is decent quality and is seeable, it'd be fine by me. I don't expect high-end results after all. If anyone could help me out, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Here is one of my logs from playing Arsenal from Roblox, a First-person shooter that isn't that much of a heavy game. I can run it on an average of 60 FPS.

https://obsproject.com/logs/kRQDZzJ0B1LF8T3l

 

[tige64779]

If there is anything else you need, reply to my thread and I'll be sure to contact you back.

 

[were491]

The lazy route:

Go to OBS and open the "Tools" tab. Then, click the "Auto-Configuration Wizard".

The slightly harder route:

Find whether the games you play use more of your CPU or GPU. In this case, since you are running off of integrated graphics, it is likely that the games all use more of your GPU. So, you want to go to the "Output" tab, and set the encoder to "x264". If you experience lag this way, change the encoder to "x264 low CPU usage preset" or turn down the video quality.

Of course, there is also the resolution to worry about. Try 720p60fps at first. If you get lag, then step down to 720p30fps. 480p (853x480) is a last resort. If you are fine with 720p60fps, then try 1080p60fps.

The "Hardest" (and often unecessary) route:

Go to the "output" tab as before, but set the settings to Advanced rather than Simple. Then, set the encoder to "x264", and use the preset "veryfast". Set the profile to "main" and the tune to "None" (or "animation"). If you experience encoding issues (dropped frames), then up the preset to "Superfast" or "Ultrafast". You can also go the opposite way ("faster", "fast", etc) but it is not usually worth it.

For the Rate Control, set it to CRF. This encoder can save bitrate because it uses less bits when there is less motion to process, compared to CBR (which always uses the same amount of bits) and VBR (which isn't as effective as CRF). Set the value somewhere between 18-25, with 20 being about the "usual", 18 being "visually lossless" (hard to tell it is a recording and not the game), and 25 sacrificing a little quality but with a smaller file size. You can go outside of this range if you wish, but those are more common values.

In the "Video" tab, configure it the same way as in the "slightly harder" method.



Alright, now to other stuff that may be less important.

1. It is nice to have a recording hotkey so you do not need to click the button to start and stop recordings. It is in the "Hotkeys" tab.

2. Keep your scenes as simple as possible to reduce unnecessary resource usage. Often, without a facecam or other overlays, only a "Game Capture" source for your game is necessary. if "Game Capture" does not work, then try "Window Capture", then "Display Capture" as a last resort.

3. If you plan to record your microphone, you can use the various filters in the "Filters" tab (right-click your microphone source), especially "Noise Supression". This can help to eliminate background noise in your recordings, but a more aggressive (lower) value may interfere with your voice.

 

[tige64779]

The lazy route:

Go to OBS and open the "Tools" tab. Then, click the "Auto-Configuration Wizard".

The slightly harder route:

Find whether the games you play use more of your CPU or GPU. In this case, since you are running off of integrated graphics, it is likely that the games all use more of your GPU. So, you want to go to the "Output" tab, and set the encoder to "x264". If you experience lag this way, change the encoder to "x264 low CPU usage preset" or turn down the video quality.

Of course, there is also the resolution to worry about. Try 720p60fps at first. If you get lag, then step down to 720p30fps. 480p (853x480) is a last resort. If you are fine with 720p60fps, then try 1080p60fps.

The "Hardest" (and often unecessary) route:

Go to the "output" tab as before, but set the settings to Advanced rather than Simple. Then, set the encoder to "x264", and use the preset "veryfast". Set the profile to "main" and the tune to "None" (or "animation"). If you experience encoding issues (dropped frames), then up the preset to "Superfast" or "Ultrafast". You can also go the opposite way ("faster", "fast", etc) but it is not usually worth it.

For the Rate Control, set it to CRF. This encoder can save bitrate because it uses less bits when there is less motion to process, compared to CBR (which always uses the same amount of bits) and VBR (which isn't as effective as CRF). Set the value somewhere between 18-25, with 20 being about the "usual", 18 being "visually lossless" (hard to tell it is a recording and not the game), and 25 sacrificing a little quality but with a smaller file size. You can go outside of this range if you wish, but those are more common values.

In the "Video" tab, configure it the same way as in the "slightly harder" method.



Alright, now to other stuff that may be less important.

1. It is nice to have a recording hotkey so you do not need to click the button to start and stop recordings. It is in the "Hotkeys" tab.

2. Keep your scenes as simple as possible to reduce unnecessary resource usage. Often, without a facecam or other overlays, only a "Game Capture" source for your game is necessary. if "Game Capture" does not work, then try "Window Capture", then "Display Capture" as a last resort.

3. If you plan to record your microphone, you can use the various filters in the "Filters" tab (right-click your microphone source), especially "Noise Supression". This can help to eliminate background noise in your recordings, but a more aggressive (lower) value may interfere with your voice.

Great, I'll definitely take your advice and see what happens. I'll post any updates of what happens.

 

[were491]

A few more notes:

Your audio sources are all 48000hz, so you should probably also record with your audio sample rate ar 48000hz (48khz).

You chose to output at 1600x900 (900p). I don't think that this is necessary as resolutions such as 1280x720p are far more common. Youtube also only shows 720p anyways.

Also, your log says that "Multiple instances of OBS are running!" Ensure that OBS is not already running (especially in the background) when you start it by checking the taskbar icon tray in the bottom right of your screen. if you see an OBS icon, click on it to open OBS instead of launching a new instance. It could also be hiding in the overflow menu (^ icon on the taskbar).

 

[tige64779]

The lazy route:

Go to OBS and open the "Tools" tab. Then, click the "Auto-Configuration Wizard".

The slightly harder route:

Find whether the games you play use more of your CPU or GPU. In this case, since you are running off of integrated graphics, it is likely that the games all use more of your GPU. So, you want to go to the "Output" tab, and set the encoder to "x264". If you experience lag this way, change the encoder to "x264 low CPU usage preset" or turn down the video quality.

Of course, there is also the resolution to worry about. Try 720p60fps at first. If you get lag, then step down to 720p30fps. 480p (853x480) is a last resort. If you are fine with 720p60fps, then try 1080p60fps.

The "Hardest" (and often unecessary) route:

Go to the "output" tab as before, but set the settings to Advanced rather than Simple. Then, set the encoder to "x264", and use the preset "veryfast". Set the profile to "main" and the tune to "None" (or "animation"). If you experience encoding issues (dropped frames), then up the preset to "Superfast" or "Ultrafast". You can also go the opposite way ("faster", "fast", etc) but it is not usually worth it.

For the Rate Control, set it to CRF. This encoder can save bitrate because it uses less bits when there is less motion to process, compared to CBR (which always uses the same amount of bits) and VBR (which isn't as effective as CRF). Set the value somewhere between 18-25, with 20 being about the "usual", 18 being "visually lossless" (hard to tell it is a recording and not the game), and 25 sacrificing a little quality but with a smaller file size. You can go outside of this range if you wish, but those are more common values.

In the "Video" tab, configure it the same way as in the "slightly harder" method.



Alright, now to other stuff that may be less important.

1. It is nice to have a recording hotkey so you do not need to click the button to start and stop recordings. It is in the "Hotkeys" tab.

2. Keep your scenes as simple as possible to reduce unnecessary resource usage. Often, without a facecam or other overlays, only a "Game Capture" source for your game is necessary. if "Game Capture" does not work, then try "Window Capture", then "Display Capture" as a last resort.

3. If you plan to record your microphone, you can use the various filters in the "Filters" tab (right-click your microphone source), especially "Noise Supression". This can help to eliminate background noise in your recordings, but a more aggressive (lower) value may interfere with your voice.

Update: Method 1, where you use auto-configuration. Very high-resolution, just what I needed, but very VERY laggy with frame drops. Gameplay is not seeable,

Method 2: Using encoder x264 and 720p resolution. Very clear and seeable, and only sometimes was smooth. Occasionally, frame drops and lag would occur, but I'd really like it if I could record at 720p 60 FPS.

Method 3: Advanced/hard settings. Slightly lower resolution than method 2 and 1. Ran pretty smooth though, with only very slight frame drops and lag.

Is there any way I could get a mix of both Method 2 and 3, where it's higher resolution but smooth? If not Method 3 will do.

 

[were491]

I think that if you have slight drame drops, this could help, if you're willing to exchange potentially better quality with larger files:

Advanced settings as before. Use "ultrafast" encoding preset, and set the CRF value lower, around 19-20 (if I remember correctly, 19 is what the OBS "method 2" uses). I believe that this will help. If you have issues, then I believe you can also try setting the profile to baseline and the tune to fastdecode as well, but I haven't specifically tested that.

If you prefer the higher video quality over framerate, I would recommend you to set the FPS to 30 but the resolution to 1080p.

Small comment: i'm honestly surprised you provided me with this much feedback, in a good way.

 

[tige64779]

Here's

I think that if you have slight drame drops, this could help, if you're willing to exchange potentially better quality with larger files:

Advanced settings as before. Use "ultrafast" encoding preset, and set the CRF value lower, around 19-20 (if I remember correctly, 19 is what the OBS "method 2" uses). I believe that this will help. If you have issues, then I believe you can also try setting the profile to baseline and the tune to fastdecode as well, but I haven't specifically tested that.

If you prefer the higher video quality over framerate, I would recommend you to set the FPS to 30 but the resolution to 1080p.

Small comment: i'm honestly surprised you provided me with this much feedback, in a good way.

Here are my results. Doing ultrafast encoding preset and making the CRF 19, I was able to receive very smooth, good quality results. Next, I tried 1080p at 30 FPS, no problem there. Then I decided to do 1080p at 60 FPS, and wow you wouldn't believe what happened. Almost perfect results, smooth and high resolution. You've been a really really great help. Is there anything else to ensure there won't be any lag spikes or frames at 1080p 60 FPS? I did see slight frame drops but barely.

 

[were491]

I think you can try to increase the process priority in the "Advanced" tab of settings to "high", and it may prevent a few dropped frames. I'm glad to see that the videos are output in good quality. (And hopefully it stays that way!)

By the way, if you think the videos' file sizes become too large, you can use a program called Handbrake to re-encode your video, and in doing so make it more compressed.

 

[tige64779]

I think you can try to increase the process priority in the "Advanced" tab of settings to "high", and it may prevent a few dropped frames. I'm glad to see that the videos are output in good quality. (And hopefully it stays that way!)

By the way, if you think the videos' file sizes become too large, you can use a program called Handbrake to re-encode your video, and in doing so make it more compressed.

Great, thank you SO much for the help. Couldn't do it without you.

 

[Aaryaan]

do you know how to prevent frame drops in games whilst using these settings u reccomended?

 

[DayGeckoArt]

You have Intel graphics right? I would use QuickSync encoder and you should be able to record at full resolution. Maybe not 60fps but I think 30fps is enough for games