Question / Help [FIXED] (see my lower comment) Previously good settings are now choppy for streaming and recording

[Wheels.]

As the title states, these settings that I have been using for a while with no issues suddenly produce choppy streaming and recording. I will spare you the details of my hardware, since they will be included in my log, but I will state that the hardware is inside of an Alienware 17 laptop.

Here is my most previous log: see attached "Bad" file (I thought I could place the file in the text here but idk wtf I'm doing)

Here is a log of the same settings working correctly (after switching to superfast preset): see attached "Good" file


As I said in the title, the stream was lagging and skipping, as was the recording, which really sucks because I had some very funny moments in my stream of kingdom come deliverance. You will see in the "Bad" log that I tried multiple settings to fix the issue and what eventually made it acceptable was switching CPU to ultrafast, dropping the FPS from 60 to 30, and lowering the bit rate from 3500 to 3000. Lowering the bit rate may have not been necessary, but I was desperate lol. I went through the most recent log myself, googling what I could with all of my skipped frames, but I am over it and I am hoping one of you OBS whisperers can help me.

Here are some details that may or may not be important: the settings I have for my system are a combination of multiple "how to" videos for the best settings and the OBS settings wizard built into the software itself. And even though I have had this machine professionally cooled with liquid metal thermal paste and Fuji Poli thermal pads, it was still averaging 85°C, and hitting spikes of 93°C that thermal throttled my CPU from roughly 3 GHz down into the 2 range, occasionally.

I don't know if this was a fluke, since I have not had an opportunity to test it, but I figured it would be a good idea to post all of this in the meantime.

 

[Wheels.]

Welp, I was hoping for some help by now, but it's not turning out that way. So while I'm waiting I'm going to back up my shit and then uninstall OBS Studio and reinstall with the latest version. This solved a different problem I had before, so here's hoping it fixes this problem as well. I'll be sure to come back to this post and let myself know how it went lol.

 

[Wheels.]

Alright, so a fresh install of OBS Studio did not fix it. I noticed that my OBS client was showing a low frame rate. On the bottom right corner it showed "CPU: 33%, 24.34 fps". It would hardly go over 25 fps at all. Seeing that, I decided to reinstall my GPU driver.

FIXED: Using DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller), I rebooted my rig in safe mode and let DDU do its thing. Once DDU wiped my driver and restarted my computer, I installed the NVIDIA driver I had downloaded beforehand. The client shows smooth 60 fps and the OBS log shows 0.3% lag, which, I will be tweaking settings till it's at 0%. The driver I was using was the most up-to-date driver, meaning I uninstalled and reinstalled the exact same version. I don't know, maybe it got corrupted. I'm just happy it worked.

Now that that's over, I gotta say, Wheels. dude, thank you! You really helped me through this ordeal and I really appreciate it. I ended up figuring out the solution, but your suggestion led me there. May you be bestowed with wealth and prosperity!

 

[Wheels.]

Now that that's over, I gotta say, Wheels. dude, thank you! You really helped me through this ordeal and I really appreciate it. I ended up figuring out the solution, but your suggestion led me there. May you be bestowed with wealth and prosperity!

My pleasure Wheels., although I gotta say, your wish for me to be "bestowed" is a little strange. Here's some friendly advice, just keep it to a "thank you" next time. People might think you're weird..

 

[RytoEX]

Sorry no one was able to get to this thread and suss out the problem. Indeed, sometimes drivers can get a little wonky, and a clean reinstall can resolve strange issues that don't make sense. Glad you've got it back up and running!

 

[Wheels.]

Sorry no one was able to get to this thread and suss out the problem. Indeed, sometimes drivers can get a little wonky, and a clean reinstall can resolve strange issues that don't make sense. Glad you've got it back up and running!

It's all good. I'm sure there's tons of these "halp me plz" posts everyday. I got it sorted out in the end =). Thanks for the follow up.

 

[RytoEX]

In the past day, it looks like about 55 threads were posted or replied to in the Windows Support forum. That doesn't include support requests in Discord or IRC. It can get pretty busy!

 

[Wheels.]

In the past day, it looks like about 55 threads were posted or replied to in the Windows Support forum. That doesn't include support requests in Discord or IRC. It can get pretty busy!

Wow! I figured it was something like that, that's why I'm not offended. I see that some people looked at my logs, but I'm assuming they didn't respond since there wasn't a clear reason. They probably figured my specs should be able to run the settings with no issues and didn't want to get involved in a big mess. Again, understandable.

I'm pretty much good here, unless, that is, you might have some recommendations for how I may be able to make my settings more efficient for my hardware. I only ask because I'm basically clueless lol. I would think that my CPU should be able to handle the veryfast preset, but that gives me skipping, I'm stuck with super or ultrafast, unfortunately. Also, when it comes to recording, I've been using the same settings as my stream, but with the CBR set at 30,000 (as seen in an "OBS BEST SETTINGS 1080P 60 FPS NO LAG 2018 OMG SUBSCRIBE4MOREVIDS" video), but I'm not happy with the quality. I'm gonna test NVENC CBR 50,000 right meow, but I figured I should ask your opinion while I have your attention, just in case. No obligation though.

 

[RytoEX]

Generally, for recording, you can avoid using CBR because it's not very efficient. If you want to stick with x264 on superfast, switch to using a CRF between 15 and 25. Alternatively, you can reduce CPU load considerably by using the 1080's hardware encoder (NVENC), and setting that to a CQP between 15 and 25. NVENC is pretty good on the 10-series cards. Once you've switched to either of those, you can experiment with the exact CRF/CQP value you want (lower is higher quality, but larger file size or bitrate).

If you could consolidate several browser sources into fewer browser sources, that may result in lower system load. Reducing the number of sources in general is always a good step towards reducing system load.

Capping your game frame rates down to your display refresh rate is also a good step towards reducing load (mostly GPU).

 

[Wheels.]

Browser, as in Firefox? Or programs in general? Regardless, I always close all unnecessary programs when streaming/recording. I have capped my frame rates too. I'll give those settings a shot, thank you!

 

[RytoEX]

Browser, as in Firefox? Or programs in general?

No, the sources in OBS referred to as "Browser" or "Browser Source". You use these for things like alerts and overlays and follower/sub counts. Browser sources are essentially running browser tabs in OBS. They use more resources than you'd think, so it's good to consolidate them when possible.

 

[Wheels.]

Ohhh.. okay. MY streaming setup has quite a few of those. Forgive my n00b, but how can I combine them?

 

[RytoEX]

I'm not sure the best way to do that, as I don't really use browser sources or overlays often. It largely depends on how you currently have them set up and whether or not you're currently using an overlay service or if your browser sources are local files.

 

[Wheels.]

Well, damn. My problems are not over. Whenever I would open programs such as Spotify or Adobe Premiere my screen would go black for about 5 seconds, then I would get some glitchy, colorful pixelation on the top part of my screen, whereupon I would get my screen back with the brightness cranked to 100%. So I did yet another GPU driver clean install. The black screen is gone, but now the OBS problem is back.

I used to stream 1080p, 60fps, on veryfast; now I have to do 720p, 30fps, on ultrafast to get a smooth stream. Wtf is going on... I'm gonna try going back a driver version or two.

 

[Wheels.]

After doing some more Googling I came across this post: https://obsproject.com/forum/thread...o-rendering-lag-gpu-problems-look-here.79146/
which suggests that this is a very common problem, stemming from Windows 10's Creators Update not playing very well with OBS in terms of GPU resource management.

There are only two real FIXES: switching back to Windows 7, or capping the frame rate of your game. Capping the frame rate does the trick flawlessly for some games, and not well at all for others. This reason is why I struggled for so long. I was doing my testing with No Man's Sky, a game that still results in OBS having low frame rate, regardless of a cap (at 60 fps, gonna try 30 fps next time), therefore I didn't think that solution was working; until I tried it with Wreckfest. Capping Wreckfest at 60 fps allows me to stream at 1080p, 60 fps, and veryfast preset smoothly.

So there you have it. If you're having issues with high fps in game, but low fps in OBS, cap the frame rate of the game to leave some GPU head room for OBS. I've been using NVIDIA Inspector to do the capping. For instance, I get 70-120 fps in Wreckfest, therefore capping it at 60 fps leaves plenty of GPU for OBS, whereas I get 45-75 fps in No Man's Sky, so capping at 60 does not have the same effect. That fps is on ultra settings. I'm going to lower them and try again. I hope this helps.

 

[JasonVP]

So there you have it. If you're having issues with high fps in game, but low fps in OBS, cap the frame rate of the game to leave some GPU head room for OBS. I've been using NVIDIA Inspector to do the capping. For instance, I get 70-120 fps in Wreckfest, therefore capping it at 60 fps leaves plenty of GPU for OBS, whereas I get 45-75 fps in No Man's Sky, so capping at 60 does not have the same effect. That fps is on ultra settings. I'm going to lower them and try again. I hope this helps.

OBS doesn't really like it when GPU load goes to 100%. It uses the GPU to help put together what you're recording and/or streaming; even when not using the NVENC encoder. So if you've pinned your GPU at 100% in a game, OBS' performance will suffer. It's an unfortunate lesson in Resource Management, 101.

Want to see a real annoying example of this? I just put a vid up on YouTube that demonstrates it. It's so bad on my system, I even disable the preview window on my gaming rig, just to help a little bit. But even with it disabled, I still get frames dropped. To be fair, I'm pushing my Titan X Pascals hard. Very hard. I'm trying to push Rainbow Six: Siege in 4K at 140FPS because I have that new Asus display that can do it. The AnvilNext engine underpinning Siege is sooooo inefficient at 4K, however. And the load on my Titans goes right to '11'.

 

[Wheels.]

Nice analysis. And holy shit that is a beast of a setup you have there. Good for you man.

 

[RytoEX]

I'm pushing my Titan X Pascals hard.

Not to derail this thread...
On most systems, running multiple GPUs runs the risk of starving the system of PCIe bandwidth. To verify that, you'd have to double check the PCIe mode they're operating in, and check the motherboard documentation to see what PCIe mode gets used when multiple GPUs are installed, and also check the motherboard and CPU specs to see how many PCIe lanes you actually have available.

Now, your setup isn't like most, so you might have escaped that issue. At a quick glance, it seems your motherboard's maximum supported PCIe lanes is 44, and the CPU also supports 44. Without knowing the full details of your setup (what's plugged in where), your PCIe slots are either in x16/x0/x16/x8 or x16/x8/x8/x8, unless you've got something in M.2_2(DIMM.2), in which case your fourth slot will run at x4. If you've plugged something into Slot 2 (PCIex8_2), then Slots 2-4 will run at x8 at max. If your TITAN Xp cards are in Slots 1 and 3, with nothing in slot 2, then they should be running at PCIe 3.0 x16 (in theory).

But yeah, the issues with multiple displays, refresh rates, application frame rates, and drivers are so varied it's hard for us to pin down exactly what is causing which issues.

 

[JasonVP]

On most systems, running multiple GPUs runs the risk of starving the system of PCIe bandwidth.

Right. Not even remotely the case here. Both are happily chugging along at 3.0 x16. And that leaves 12 lanes remaining. Four to the GT 1030, one for the SoundBlaster, and the remaining lanes to the DIMM.2.

If your TITAN Xp cards are in Slots 1 and 3, with nothing in slot 2, then they should be running at PCIe 3.0 x16 (in theory).

Titan X Pascals, not the Xp. The first card, not the second one. :-) And as mentioned, they're both running x16. At least according to the BIOS (and GPU-Z) they are. But I still think they have a hardware limitation built in to them that NVidia hasn't told us about.

the issues with multiple displays, refresh rates, application frame rates, and drivers are so varied it's hard for us to pin down exactly what is causing which issues.

I'm about 99.999999% positive I know what's going on with my specific issue: the GPUs are getting worked. The usage graph tells the whole story. When it hits 100% for either of them, OBS can no longer properly composite the screen. Frames get dropped.

...and somewhere, a kitten dies.

 

[RytoEX]

Right. Not even remotely the case here.

To be fair, that's why I said, "Now, your setup isn't like most".

Titan X Pascals, not the Xp.

Why must NVIDIA name two GPUs "TITAN X" with different architectures...

But I still think they have a hardware limitation built in to them that NVidia hasn't told us about.

Plausible.

I'm about 99.999999% positive I know what's going on with my specific issue: the GPUs are getting worked. The usage graph tells the whole story. When it hits 100% for either of them, OBS can no longer properly composite the screen. Frames get dropped.

Sure, possible. My statement there was aimed less at you and more in general at people with those issues. My broader point was that your setup is far from the norm that we see from users, and so one should not assume that their setup can do what yours is doing, and that in general, the render issues described are a bit difficult to diagnose. As an aside, "dropped frames" in OBS means frames dropped during an attempted network transmission, not during render.