Question / Help Dual PC Stream via NDI To Use 2nd GPU NVENC Encoder - Is this possible?

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Darklyte

New Member
Hey guys I had a question,

I find that when using NVENC to stream on my 1080ti while playing Apex my stream/game still stutters and maxes the GPU using low settings. Could I use the NDI plugin to NDI to a second PC that has a 1660 ti in the stream PC and still use NVENC to upload it to Twitch?

Would this also allow me to use the new NVENC tech in the 1660ti (stream pc) while using the 1080ti (gaming pc) to devote to gaming? Or is there a better way to approach this?

I'm trying to hold over until the new 3000 series launches and pray the the latest NVENC chip is better than the 1080ti one. Since there wasn't a 2080 ti refresh the 2080 ti hybrid equivalent of my 1080 ti hybrid is double the cost of what i paid for the 1080 ti in Canada. The current prices are absurd for the performance increase associated between 1080ti and 2080ti.

1080 ti ftw3 hybrid cost $1180 CAD
2080 ti ftw3 hybrid cost $2172 CAD

Gaming PC
9900k
1080ti
32gb ram

Stream PC
4790k
1660ti
16gb ram
 
Narcogen

Narcogen

Active Member
Aside from two specific features (psycho visual tuning and lookahead) using NVENC does not introduce more GPU load. So trying to use NDI to shift load to a 2nd PC this way isn't going to help-- in fact, you'll introduce more CPU load as the NDI plugin will use it to encode the video feed.

If your OBS scenes are complex, then you could use NDI in this fashion and remove the compositing GPU load from the gaming PC to the streaming PC.

Apex if I recall is also pretty CPU intensive, so adding NDI as opposed to capture hardware might make things worse.

How many of the above pieces do you already have, as opposed to ones you're looking to buy?

I can vouch for the quality of the encoder in the 1660, I use one myself and I'm very happy with it.

It may help to see a logfile from an output session to see where your problem actually lies, in order to determine if the suggested change above would help.
 
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Darklyte

New Member
I guess my thoughts were not so much offloading the GPU load to the other GPU but to utilize the newer NVENC chip in the 1660ti that the 1080ti doesn't have. I was thinking this might be a cheaper holdover since there isn't currently a 2080ti refresh and the current cost of a 2080ti is extremely high. Getting a 2080 Super would be a downgrade from a 1080ti FTW3 I believe? (not entirely sure).

A 1660ti would be much cheaper than a 2080ti, I was kinda looking for a cheaper way to get the newer NVEC chip performance and features. This potential 1660ti purchase would just be a holdover until the 3000 series GPUs are released sometime next year, then i'd resell it.

Of the above pieces I have everything already except the 1660ti for both the gaming PC and the potential/former stream PC. Maybe this is something I can solve without needing to reintroduce my stream PC to the picture. I can probably do a log file this weekend and spin up a stream if that would help

I also have an Elgato HD60 in a box somewhere that I put away in favor of NDI back when I was using the 4790k as in a dual PC stream setup because I game on 144hz and the existing methods at the time to reduce/remove tearing weren't working as well as NDI at the time. (i'm not sure if we made any better headway on that, the better Elgato capture card wasn't out at that time).

Appreciate your help in this!
 
Narcogen

Narcogen

Active Member
If you don't have a performance bottleneck, and want to use the 1660's better encoder, just replace the 1080 with the 1660.

Also I'd note that there have been a number of complaints in this forum regarding performance of the 2080 series. I don't know if it's that the drivers aren't fully baked, or people just have expectations that are too high, or what, but every 1660 user I know is pretty happy with the bang for the buck that they got, and with the Turing encoder, but more often than not from 2080 users what I hear is, "what's wrong with OBS, my machine ought to be able to do this". YMMV.

Framerates above 60 present issues for multiPC setups regardless of whether capture cards or methods like NDI are used, mostly because the capture hardware that support them are rarer and more expensive, and the CPU load associated with HFR NDI feeds also can be problematic.
 
Narcogen

Narcogen

Active Member
I don't know? Maybe, maybe not?

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1660-Ti-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1080-Ti/4037vs3918

In terms of quality apparent to the user, having used a 1060, a 1070, an RX 580 and the 1660Ti, the improvement in the encoder performance is more noticeable when watching a stream than whatever additional visual fidelity you can get out of the original render.

This wouldn't be true if you were doing local recordings at high bitrates and then uploading, but since you're livestreaming, the better encoder is worth a small tradeoff in quality, at least I think so.
 
Narcogen

Narcogen

Active Member
Neither log contains an output session.

From during a session, the log is incomplete-- performance data is written at the end.

From the one AFTER, you either chose "last log" instead of current log, or quit the program and selected "current log" because there's no output session in that one either.
 
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