Question / Help Best way to deal with high CPU utilization?

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podonnell

Member
Certain applications suck all the juice from my CPU, and when I stream it causes a major difference in FPS ( over 20fps). Without streaming, the application or game that uses alot of CPU still runs quite decently, but running OBS alongside the application and trying to capture it usually is when my FPS suffers.

What is the best way to deal with the high CPU utilization? I have a Lynnfield i7 Quadcore.

Only certain applications that are heavy on the CPU cause the problem for me.

Any ideas? Thanks.
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Forum Moderator
Your options are fairly limited. You could cap the game's frame rate by enabling vsync or using a program like Dxtory to reduce system load, or you could use NVENC to encode if you have a 600-series or later NVIDIA GPU. Otherwise your only real options are to lower your stream settings or upgrade your PC, unless you want to build a separate dedicated streaming box.
 
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podonnell

Member
Sapiens said:
Your options are fairly limited. You could cap the game's frame rate by enabling vsync or using a program like Dxtory to reduce system load, or you could use NVENC to encode if you have a 600-series or later NVIDIA GPU. Otherwise your only real options are to lower your stream settings or upgrade your PC, unless you want to build a separate dedicated streaming box.
Click to expand...

I do have a 600-series NVIDIA GPU. Where could I find more information on NVENC?

Thanks for the ideas!
 
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podonnell

Member
Sapiens said:
Make sure you're running OBS 0.60b and get the new beta GeForce drivers from http://www.geforce.com/drivers

Check the "Use Nvidia NVENC" option in OBS under Settings > Advanced
Click to expand...

Currently installing drivers, will check the box and try it out tomorrow. Thanks so much.

I was unable to find any information on NVENC --- does it have to do with the built in streaming support that NVIDIA now has? Except you can use OBS as the portal to it perhaps? What are the advantages of using NVENC, and any disadvantages?

Thanks!
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Forum Moderator
Yes, NVENC is the same hardware encoder used by ShadowPlay. As of 0.60b OBS can utilize it as well. The advantage is that a dedicated chip on your GPU handles the video encoding instead of your CPU, which means better performance while streaming. The downside is that it isn't as efficient as the x264 software encoder, so you sacrifice a bit of quality to use it. Ideally you should continue using x264 when possible, and switch to NVENC when performance/CPU load is an issue.
 
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