Does overclocking a GPU improve OBS?

amelchor005

New Member
What the title says, does overclocking an RTX 2060 Super improve OBS performance? The reason I'm asking is because I believe either my monitor or GPU is having problems recording in a solid 60 fps. I currently use two monitors: 1440p 144hz and a 1080p 60hz, and before I bought my 1440p monitor I did not have any fps problems on my 1080p monitor. I already tried changing from 144hz to 120hz but the problem still persists. I also tried downscaling both canvas and output to 1080p but nothing changed. Could it be that my GPU is struggling to power two monitors at once or am I just missing something from OBS settings?

Here is my log: https://obsproject.com/logs/ZtSPND8kyC7djn8U
 
D

Deleted member 121471

There's no streaming or recording session in that log file.

 

amelchor005

New Member
There's no streaming or recording session in that log file.


Ok, I uploaded a new log with a recording session: https://obsproject.com/logs/UmOknbr0Hj9QyQUc
 
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Deleted member 121471

1) Turn on Windows 10 "Game Mode";
2) Disable "Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduler";
3) Under OBS audio settings, set sample rate to "48kHz", to match your audio inputs;
4) Under OBS advanced settings, set Colour Space to "709";
5) In order of best performance to worst, use game capture, window capture or, if you really have no other choice, monitor capture;
6) Under OBS output settings, because you are recording, use "CQP" rate control set to 16-20 (lower value = better image quality at the cost of diskspace), "Quality" preset then disable "Lookahead" and "Psycho Visual Tuning";
7) Save to .mkv instead of .mp4, record your entire session then remux through OBS Main Window--->File--->Remux recordings.

After all these, test again with either 60 or 120 FPS cap ingame, if your graphics card can reliably maintain it.
 
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amelchor005

New Member
1) Turn on Windows 10 "Game Mode";
2) Disable "Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduler";
3) Under OBS audio settings, set sample rate to "48kHz", to match your audio inputs;
4) Under OBS advanced settings, set Colour Space to "709";
5) In order of best performance to worst, use game capture, window capture or, if you really have no other choice, monitor capture;
6) Under OBS output settings, because you are recording, use "CQP" rate control set to 16-20 (lower value = better image quality at the cost of diskspace), "Quality" preset then disable "Lookahead" and "Psycho Visual Tuning";
7) Save to .mkv instead of .mp4, record your entire session then remux through OBS Main Window--->File--->Remux recordings.

After all these, test again with either 60 or 120 FPS cap ingame, if your graphics card can reliably maintain it.

I changed the settings you told me to change but nothing improved unfortunately. Do you think it has something to do with the GPU or one of the monitors is causing this problem? Also, I switched to CBR because there was less stuttering than CQP.
 

FerretBomb

Active Member
I changed the settings you told me to change but nothing improved unfortunately. Do you think it has something to do with the GPU or one of the monitors is causing this problem? Also, I switched to CBR because there was less stuttering than CQP.
Post a new logfile of a new recording session, and we can take another look.
CBR is the WORST encoding-target method. It is only really used for livestreaming because the server infrastructure needs it. Please make sure the new logfile uses CQP for the recording, even if it stutters. It'll help us find the problem. A system with your specs should be able to handle CQP easily, so if it can't, there is something very wrong.
 

amelchor005

New Member
Post a new logfile of a new recording session, and we can take another look.
CBR is the WORST encoding-target method. It is only really used for livestreaming because the server infrastructure needs it. Please make sure the new logfile uses CQP for the recording, even if it stutters. It'll help us find the problem. A system with your specs should be able to handle CQP easily, so if it can't, there is something very wrong.

I recorded for a good amount of time (with the settings that Volfield gave me), hopefully this log will help: https://obsproject.com/logs/7TIdR5dabZpoAJ7L

Also, I upload my videos to Youtube so I really don't mind using CBR. Not to mention, CQP records huge files and I want my SSD to live as long as possible.
 
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Deleted member 121471

It is recommended to have as few capture sources in the same scene collection, as they will interfere with each other so simply create separate scenes, one for display capture and the other for game capture, in your case.

You can save a bit of space by recording audio at 160 bitrate and/or increasing the CQP value. Huge filesizes are expected due to the resolution and frame rate chosen. Most people record at such large filesizes then reencode it to their preferred settings.

Outside of OBS, you could try setting power management to "Max performance", in your NVIDIA control panel then doing the same with Windows 10 power plan.

Other than that, your log isn't really showing any issues recording. The only judder that might be visible is due to either the graphics card not being able to maintain consistent ingame FPS at 60 or 120FPS, thus causing OBS to duplicate frames or, if you watch your own recordings at 60FPS in your 144Hz monitor, because 144 doesn't divide evenly into 60, you will see judder that isn't actually in the recorded video.

As for the SSD comment, it's incredibly hard to wear out enough cells in a modern SSD to the point of failure, as long as you leave around 10-15% free space for all wear-leveling solutions to extend its lifespan, even if you write large amounts of gigabytes of data every single day. Assuming each cell can change its state 3000x (worst quality scenario), it'll still require a mammoth amount of data to be written. In every single case I've seen of SSD failure, the controller failed or lack of free space led to excessive wear. The former was just a quality control issue while the latter is the most common user error. As long as you buy from a reputable brand, you'll be fine.

I'll update this post if I remember something else.
 
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amelchor005

New Member
It is recommended to have as few capture sources in the same scene collection, as they will interfere with each other so simply create separate scenes, one for display capture and the other for game capture, in your case.

You can save a bit of space by recording audio at 160 bitrate and/or increasing the CQP value. Huge filesizes are expected due to the resolution and frame rate chosen. Most people record at such large filesizes then reencode it to their preferred settings.

Outside of OBS, you could try setting power management to "Max performance", in your NVIDIA control panel then doing the same with Windows 10 power plan.

Other than that, your log isn't really showing any issues recording. The only judder that might be visible is due to either the graphics card not being able to maintain consistent ingame FPS at 60 or 120FPS, thus causing OBS to duplicate frames or, if you watch your own recordings at 60FPS in your 144Hz monitor, because 144 doesn't divide evenly into 60, you will see judder that isn't actually in the recorded video.

As for the SSD comment, it's incredibly hard to wear out enough cells in a modern SSD to the point of failure, as long as you leave around 10-15% free space for all wear-leveling solutions to extend its lifespan, even if you write large amounts of gigabytes of data every single day. Assuming each cell can change its state 3000x (worst quality scenario), it'll still require a mammoth amount of data to be written. In every single case I've seen of SSD failure, the controller failed or lack of free space led to excessive wear. The former was just a quality control issue while the latter is the most common user error. As long as you buy from a reputable brand, you'll be fine.

I'll update this post if I remember something else.

Ah, I did not know that, thanks for letting me know. I kept the "game capture" source and moved the other sources to their own scenes. I actually changed NVIDIA settings to max performance a while ago and I guess that seemed to improved but the stuttering still remains. I should also mention I tried turning off the second monitor and downscaling the canvas and output to 1080p but it still stuttered so it might not be the graphics card struggling for power after all.

I am convinced the stuttering has something to do between the monitor and the graphics card weird settings. Like what I said, I never had this issue with my 1080p 60 hz monitor until I bought the 1440p 144hz. At this point, this probably has nothing to do with OBS but with an hardware setting. Should I move on to NVIDIA forums and ask for help from there?

I think this is worth mentioning but I play on an emulator that can only display games at 60 fps max, maybe OBS is trying to duplicate/display more frames? I also changed my monitor settings to 120hz to reduce the stuttering.

And for the SSD information, thanks for giving a good explanation about their lifespan.
 
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Deleted member 121471

If the games are ran at 60FPS and you're capturing at 60FPS, it should have no issues. I do have issues watching 60 FPS content on my 144hz monitors though, which is why I sometimes cap my refresh rate to 120Hz, since it's a multiple of 60.

Could you post an example of a video that has the stuttering?
Do other games give you the same issues?
Have you tried setting Dolphin to borderless windowed then capturing it on OBS with Window or monitor capture?
 
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amelchor005

New Member
If the games are ran at 60FPS and you're capturing at 60FPS, it should have no issues. I do have issues watching 60 FPS content on my 144hz monitors though, which is why I sometimes cap my refresh rate to 120Hz, since it's a multiple of 60.

Could you post an example of a video that has the stuttering?
o other games give you the same issues?
Have you tried setting Dolphin to borderless windowed then capturing it on OBS with Window or monitor capture?

So sorry for the late response, it took a while to upload the video. Here it is: https://youtu.be/PBHfh3QVX3A.

Not sure if this is necessary but I posted another log of the recorded video: https://obsproject.com/logs/pB19UFtnLp0uWWMt

It doesn't stutter the whole time but every 15-20 seconds the fps drops by 30 frames for a few seconds and jumps back to 60 fps. But to answer your question, yes my game and capturing is always at a solid 60 fps and I capped my monitor refresh rate to 120hz. I don't record other game except for Dolphin Emulator so I don't really care if the other games stutter while recording. I also tried recording the game borderless but nothing changes (here's the log with the borderless record): https://obsproject.com/logs/7O0V4nA8C_JrRPtv

And to help furthermore with the investigation, I took a screenshot of the GPU usage in task manager while playing on Dolphin and recording at the same time. Hopefully this is helpful: https://prnt.sc/10kt4fs
 
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Deleted member 121471

After watching the video posted, it seems similar to something I've experienced while trying to run games on Wine, stuttering when shaders were compiled as new effects or areas were loaded.

A quick web search of "Dolphin shader compile stuttering" led to some results that may indicate it's an old issue innate to the Dolphin Emulator and the term "Uber shaders" and "Async Compilation" seem to be thrown around as potential solutions or mitigations. I'm not familiar with Dolphin though beyond knowing what this tool does.

Testing another game would help determine if Dolphin itself is the culprit.
 
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amelchor005

New Member
After watching the video posted, it seems similar to something I've experienced while trying to run games on Wine, stuttering when shaders were compiled as new effects or areas were loaded.

A quick web search of "Dolphin shader compile stuttering" led to some results that may indicate it's an old issue innate to the Dolphin Emulator and the term "Uber shaders" and "Async Compilation" seem to be thrown around as potential solutions or mitigations. I'm not familiar with Dolphin though beyond knowing what this tool does.

Testing another game would help determine if Dolphin itself is the culprit.

I've heard one of the settings before, I tried them but it adds more stress to the GPU unfortunately. I played several 3D games such as Minecraft, Call of Duty, and Unravel, which all resulted worst than Dolphin. I was able to play the games and capture at a solid 60 fps but they didn't stuttered every 20 seconds like Dolphin. In fact, the recorded footage didn't even reach 60 fps, probably around 50? (I can't tell the difference between 50 and 30 fps). However, a 2D game that I played (called Friday Night Funkin) was able to be recorded without any stutters, a full 60 fps! But the game barely uses any GPU power so that's probably why.

And I have yet another log of all of the games that I recorded: https://obsproject.com/logs/OKzb9KAjyQDdUrUb . Here's another video example of the 50(?) fps that I recorded: https://youtu.be/ZsRGswv84Ds and a comparison of how it should look in 60 fps: https://youtu.be/hGiN44ZjYLs?t=102 . I'd figured I would post Unravel instead of Call of Duty because it was easier to determine if the footage was 60 fps or below.

I am very sorry for bothering you with this. You've really helped out a lot and I will completely understand if you can't find no more solutions. Thank you so much for the help.
 

amelchor005

New Member
Update: it's been a month now and I came here to say I finally fixed the problem. Turns out, the FreeSync feature on my monitor was causing FPS problems on my videos so I turned that setting off on the monitor's settings. Also, setting the common FPS value to 59.94 further helped with the dropped FPS.
 
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