Question / Help 144Hz and a 2nd 60Hz monitor - OBS forces framerate

Jaybonaut

Jaybonaut

Member
I have a 144 Hz monitor and a 2nd monitor that is 60. I notice that if I start streaming, it doesn't matter what game it is, I am no longer able to go above 60 fps on the first monitor. If OBS is not running (doesn't even have to be streaming/recording) I am 144+.

I would like to know what things I can try to resolve this issue please. I appreciate any help/support!
 

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Every single game does this - it seems a little too coincidental to be a framerate drop due to the added overhead.
 
I always buy the same matching manufacturer and model for all my multi screen setups in my office and home. Its just not worth the hassle trying to get off brands working together. Its even more of a pain in the rear if you need to put them on monitor rack or if the desktop stands themselves can't be adjusted to line the screens to the same height.

Donate one of them to Salvation Army/Goodwill. Buy the same brand and make. Problem solved.
 
SumDim said:
I always buy the same matching manufacturer and model for all my multi screen setups in my office and home. Its just not worth the hassle trying to get off brands working together. Its even more of a pain in the rear if you need to put them on monitor rack or if the desktop stands themselves can't be adjusted to line the screens to the same height.

Donate one of them to Salvation Army/Goodwill. Buy the same brand and make. Problem solved.
Click to expand...

How to fix a software issue: spend another $400. Yeah.... no thanks.
 
I am using two of the same Dell and model number with OBS Studio on one streaming system and have zero problems. On another system, I have three HP monitors all of the same make and model running OBS Studio without any problems. On another system, I have two Samsung monitors running with OBS Studio with no problems.

There is no reason to keep OBS preview on. You only need to use it when you are testing BEFORE you live stream. When you are satisfied with what you are seeing, disable it. Leaving it on will only suck up more GPU. If you are streaming to YouTube, you leave up a browser window to watch the post process streamed back to you - thats what matters the most.

ideally, it is best to use 3 monitors:
Monitor #1: OBS Studio, OBS stats window, Windows task manager to watch performance
Monitor #2: Chrome browser running YouTube/Twitch to see post process
Monitor #3: If playing and streaming on same box, your game

If you can't afford to buy another monitor, there is nothing anyone can do to help you here. But don't go blaming OBS Studio. For most of us, setups using the same screen device works and works well. If you go put a Michelin snow tire on your Ferrari and a high performance Good Year tire on it as well, you can't go complaining to Ferrari that your car doesn't handle correctly.
 
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Jaybonaut said:
I have a 144 Hz monitor and a 2nd monitor that is 60. I notice that if I start streaming, it doesn't matter what game it is, I am no longer able to go above 60 fps on the first monitor. If OBS is not running (doesn't even have to be streaming/recording) I am 144+.

I would like to know what things I can try to resolve this issue please. I appreciate any help/support!
Click to expand...


Same, I am using a 144hz monitor, and when I record in 60fps, it doesn't look anywhere near 60. If anything it looks like 40 or lower. Also, at the bottom right corner of the app, it says that it's recording at 60fps but it isnt really. Does it have to do with the refresh rate of the monitor you're using for the game?
 
There are three things going on here:
- The rate of your monitor refresh
- The rate you are capturing at
- The rate you are playing your game at

You play your game at a constantly changing FPS rate. This is the time it takes to stuff XXX frames into the GPU memory buffer in one second. It is never always the same number. Lots of factors come into play, too many to list. I'm sure you seen this number bounce around wildly as you play your game.

You ask OBS to capture upt to 60FPS for your stream or recordings. Essentially asking to grab 60 snapshots from the GPU memory buffer while you play your game.

You have a 60Hz and 144Hz monitor. 60 frames per second. 144 frames per second. The monitors poll (grab) the data in those internal GPU memory buffers 60 times a second and 144 times a second and light up the pixels on the screen.

The 60Hz monitor memory buffer has 60FPS data in it.
The 144Hz monitor memory buffer has 144FPS data in it. The 144FPS buffer never looks exactly as the 60FPS capture. It is interpolated data.
 
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SumDim said:
If you can't afford to buy another monitor, there is nothing anyone can do to help you here. But don't go blaming OBS Studio. For most of us, setups using the same screen device works and works well. If you go put a Michelin snow tire on your Ferrari and a high performance Good Year tire on it as well, you can't go complaining to Ferrari that your car doesn't handle correctly.
Click to expand...

I don't believe you are listening to me, sorry.
 
Xaymar said:
Something similar is listed on the bug tracker: https://obsproject.com/mantis/view.php?id=659

I think the last time I asked about this bug it was determined to be a DWM or Driver issue, which is nothing OBS can do anything about. I found two workarounds: Disable the preview or keep OBS on the higher frequency monitor.
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Thanks I will give this a try.

EDIT: yes, this is all it was. Disabling the preview made it smooth as butter. Makes me wonder if I tossed a monitor on the integrated GPU if I could keep it on.
 
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What do you meant I wasn't listening?

The solution I offered was to use the same manufacturer and brand. Not to use two different monitors with different frequencies. That was ONE solution. It works for me and for many others who use OBS Studio who have taken this approach.

Then you chimed in saying that you didn't want to spend $400 to solve your problem. Of which I gave you a SECOND solution:

"There is no reason to keep OBS preview on. You only need to use it when you are testing BEFORE you live stream. When you are satisfied with what you are seeing, disable it.."

FPS and Hz are two different things.

You are not going to be able to capture more than 60FPS with OBS Studio. Your game is playing in an entirely different FPS than what you are capturing at.

Another solution is to use Nvidia GSync monitors with a GSync capable GPU card.
 
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SumDim said:
There are three things going on here:
- The rate of your monitor refresh
- The rate you are capturing at
- The rate you are playing your game at

You play your game at a constantly changing FPS rate. This is the time it takes to stuff XXX frames into the GPU memory buffer in one second. It is never always the same number. Lots of factors come into play, too many to list. I'm sure you seen this number bounce around wildly as you play your game.

You ask OBS to capture upt to 60FPS for your stream or recordings. Essentially asking to grab 60 snapshots from the GPU memory buffer while you play your game.

You have a 60Hz and 144Hz monitor. 60 frames per second. 144 frames per second. The monitors poll (grab) the data in those internal GPU memory buffers 60 times a second and 144 times a second and light up the pixels on the screen.

The 60Hz monitor memory buffer has 60FPS data in it.
The 144Hz monitor memory buffer has 144FPS data in it. The 144FPS buffer never looks exactly as the 60FPS capture. It is interpolated data.
Click to expand...


So you're saying that it's really choppy because I have 2 different Hz monitors? Is there a way to fix this by not buying another monitor with 144hz or downgrading back to 60Hz?
 
SumDim said:
What do you meant I wasn't listening?

The solution I offered was to use the same manufacturer and brand. Not to use two different monitors with different frequencies. That was ONE solution. It works for me and for many others who use OBS Studio who have taken this approach.

Then you chimed in saying that you didn't want to spend $400 to solve your problem. Of which I gave you a SECOND solution:

"There is no reason to keep OBS preview on. You only need to use it when you are testing BEFORE you live stream. When you are satisfied with what you are seeing, disable it.."

FPS and Hz are two different things.

You are not going to be able to capture more than 60FPS with OBS Studio. Your game is playing in an entirely different FPS than what you are capturing at.

Another solution is to use Nvidia GSync monitors with a GSync capable GPU card.
Click to expand...

No, sorry, again I question if you are listening. Xaymar made his post before you by the way. I can see you copy and pasting optional solutions given in the past to problems that might have been related but not really. Never once did I ask about capturing more than 60 FPS and never once did I even hint that I might be confused between the two. GSync has nothing to do with my issue even slightly. Keeping the same resolution, the only difference between manufacturer/brand would be the color profile and frequency by the way as far as this scenario is concerned.

...and yes it is a software problem, which is why I am here asking for assistance. There has been wonderful people here in the past when I have visited. I had not streamed since last year and I built a new machine finally in January. I just started messing with streaming over the last couple of days on this new machine. Performing a Google search produces a lot of results for this issue due to how widespread it is.

I always play in fullscreen. Having said that, I noticed even after I talked about how disabling the preview seemed to have helped, that going to the desktop seems to freak out the setup a bit and it takes a few seconds for it to resume beyond 60 fps sometimes. There are even suggestions indicating that it makes a difference which monitor the OBS program is on when it is started up. Even if it is DWM or at the driver level it is still a software issue. I also noticed that disabling Shadowplay (which I wasn't using) made no difference (just wanted to try that in case.)
 
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Anyone reading this thread, do yourself a favor and follow this simple common sense advice:

BUY THE SAME MANUFACTURER AND MODEL FOR YOUR MULTI MONITOR SETUPS
 
Anyone reading this thread, don't buy a gaming monitor as a second monitor to fix this issue.

The brand and model likely has NOTHING to do with it.

If I were to take a stab at it I would guess that it has something to do with Windows 10. I use a mixed 144Hz/60Hz setup without issues.
 
wallrik said:
Anyone reading this thread, don't buy a gaming monitor as a second monitor to fix this issue.

The brand and model likely has NOTHING to do with it.

If I were to take a stab at it I would guess that it has something to do with Windows 10. I use a mixed 144Hz/60Hz setup without issues.
Click to expand...

Is there a solution to fix this bug in Windows 10? Because I really need my setup to work. Please!
 
wallrik said:
Anyone reading this thread, don't buy a gaming monitor as a second monitor to fix this issue.

The brand and model likely has NOTHING to do with it.

If I were to take a stab at it I would guess that it has something to do with Windows 10. I use a mixed 144Hz/60Hz setup without issues.
Click to expand...


Also, are both of your monitors connected to one single graphics card or is one connected to the cpu and the other to the gpu?
 
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