Question / Help CPU Usage too high

[H4rry Gaming]

Hello,

I have tried streaming for some time now but I always have the same problem, which is that my CPU Usage is way too high. If I have a game running and playing and my stream running using OBS my CPU usage is always at 100%, no matter what game. I have tried it with CS:GO and The Division. The game usually uses about 70% of my CPU and OBS about 35% so my CPU is overloaded and can't handle all the processes.

No other processes are running that are consuming a lot of CPU. ( < 1% )

I have tried to lower the games' settings but it didn't help.

My CPU is a Intel i5 4570 3.20GHz

Is it really that basically my CPU is too bad to be streaming or am I doing something wrong. My CPU isn't too bad so I don't understand why it wont work.

Below my streaming settings. I have tried superfast in the x264 preset but it didn't change anything.

Thanks!

 

[Boildown]

CPU usage is correlated with your x264 preset, resolution, and framerate. If OBS is using too much, then turn those things down.

For x264 preset, that means use UltraFast instead of SuperFast, or SuperFast instead of Very Fast. For resolution that means using a bigger Resolution Downscale. For framerate that means streaming at 20fps instead of 30fps (for example).

CPU usage can also be high if you use a bad capture method, you should prefer Game Capture over anything else.

You'll need to post an OBS log file from a 5 minute or longer attempt at the best settings you can think up yourself, if you want specific advise instead of generalities.

 

[dping]

Hello,

I have tried streaming for some time now but I always have the same problem, which is that my CPU Usage is way too high. If I have a game running and playing and my stream running using OBS my CPU usage is always at 100%, no matter what game. I have tried it with CS:GO and The Division. The game usually uses about 70% of my CPU and OBS about 35% so my CPU is overloaded and can't handle all the processes.

No other processes are running that are consuming a lot of CPU. ( < 1% )

I have tried to lower the games' settings but it didn't help.

My CPU is a Intel i5 4570 3.20GHz

Is it really that basically my CPU is too bad to be streaming or am I doing something wrong. My CPU isn't too bad so I don't understand why it wont work.

Below my streaming settings. I have tried superfast in the x264 preset but it didn't change anything.

Thanks!

CS:GO is CPU heavy but not that CPU heavy so you must be just speaking of The Division which is known to bring a i7 to 80-90% usage...

In CS:GO do not use launch options like -high or -threads

In the Division, uncheck 3rd party keyboard support un 3rd party options. that should help a little but in the division, you are screwed until they fix it's CPU usage.

All around, you'd be better off doing quicksync in this case and leaving x264 alone. if you have NVENC that is a possibility as well.


Lastly, as boildown said, post a link to your logfile from the help menu after streaming for at least 5 minutes.

 

[H4rry Gaming]

CPU usage is correlated with your x264 preset, resolution, and framerate. If OBS is using too much, then turn those things down.

For x264 preset, that means use UltraFast instead of SuperFast, or SuperFast instead of Very Fast. For resolution that means using a bigger Resolution Downscale. For framerate that means streaming at 20fps instead of 30fps (for example).

CPU usage can also be high if you use a bad capture method, you should prefer Game Capture over anything else.

You'll need to post an OBS log file from a 5 minute or longer attempt at the best settings you can think up yourself, if you want specific advise instead of generalities.

Hello Boildown, thank you for your answer. I know that the x264 is correlated with the resolution, framerate and preset. I have tried a lower preset but I don't really want to go lower than 30 FPS and 1280x720 downscale, because the stream would just look shitty and no one would want to watch. As I said, I have tried other presets, but nothing got better.
I do use game capture.

CS:GO is CPU heavy but not that CPU heavy so you must be just speaking of The Division which is known to bring a i7 to 80-90% usage...

In CS:GO do not use launch options like -high or -threads

In the Division, uncheck 3rd party keyboard support un 3rd party options. that should help a little but in the division, you are screwed until they fix it's CPU usage.

All around, you'd be better off doing quicksync in this case and leaving x264 alone. if you have NVENC that is a possibility as well.


Lastly, as boildown said, post a link to your logfile from the help menu after streaming for at least 5 minutes.

Thanks for your answer dping!
I know that CSGO is quite CPU heavy but it shouldn't take 70% of all my CPU though. I have removed the -high in my start options, which was in there actually, and I will try that out. I will try your advice for The Division, too.
I have not tried quicksync yet. However, I have worked with NVENC but that doesn't have a very good quality and freezeframes every like 5 to 10 seconds, which is severly annoying.

https://gist.github.com/eba215252eb3ba66d04e (Link to the latest log file)
https://obsproject.com/analyzer?url=https://gist.github.com/eba215252eb3ba66d04e (Link to the latest log files' analysis)


Thank you guys for your help!

EDIT: I have tried CSGO without the -high in the launchoptions and it is only a little bit better now. CSGO is using 65% of the CPU instead of the 75% as it was before. I still get to 90-100% CPU usage. Quicksync is not available to me appearently.

 

[alpinlol]

is it actually possible that you reach way too high cpu temps, leading into cpu throttling?

would be interesting, if you could monitor your cpu temps

 

[H4rry Gaming]

is it actually possible that you reach way too high cpu temps, leading into cpu throttling?

would be interesting, if you could monitor your cpu temps

Hey, thanks for replying!
I do monitor my CPU temps they don't go beyond 65°C

 

[dping]

Hey, thanks for replying!
I do monitor my CPU temps they don't go beyond 65°C

65c still seems somewhat hot for a 4 core 22nm CPU. either way, with close but within range I guess. it doesn't mean its not thermal throttling, it just means its not at the max which I believe is 72c at the IHS.

 

[H4rry Gaming]

65c still seems somewhat hot for a 4 core 22nm CPU. either way, with close but within range I guess. it doesn't mean its not thermal throttling, it just means its not at the max which I believe is 72c at the IHS.

Yes I noticed that it is kinda hot but still within an acceptable range. That shouldn't be the cause. I guess my CPU is just too weak to handle both, OBS and a game.

 

[dping]

Yes I noticed that it is kinda hot but still within an acceptable range. That shouldn't be the cause. I guess my CPU is just too weak to handle both, OBS and a game.

Lastly, don't watch your own stream on your stream/gaming PC. this will use up extra CPU. use a popout chat. That might get some extra CPU back.

 

[H4rry Gaming]

Lastly, don't watch your own stream on your stream/gaming PC. this will use up extra CPU. use a popout chat. That might get some extra CPU back.

Ok I will try that. But that are only minor tweaks. I will try it anyway. Thanks for all your help guys! Really appreciate it.

 

[dping]

Ok I will try that. But that are only minor tweaks. I will try it anyway. Thanks for all your help guys! Really appreciate it.

all you need to free up is 10% more as far as I can see. some streams can eat up as much as 25% of CPU just in decoding. This is why its not smart to use chrome or firefox to watch stream. in your case you just shouldn't do it at all.

 

[alpinlol]

on my "i bench around pc" running an i5 2500k@4,5ghz im getting into 10-25% usage with an 720p60 stream and 35-60% with 1080p60 stream.

Yes Flash is garbage ;(

You could aswell try going down to 540p on your webcam.