Question / Help FPS Dropping in OBS. Solutions? Please?

[Mark S.]

I'm attempting to stream Destiny 2 while running OBS but I can't seem to find a solution to my problem.

When running Destiny 2, the performance of my OBS craps out (the fps in the bottom right corner will fluctuate around 45-60fps when it's set to 60fps), and the result on Twitch just looks horrible (so much lag).

As a result, I've already lowered settings in Destiny 2 to the lowest possible, and my OBS has the following settings on:
Output:
- Output Scale set to 1280x720
- CPU Usage Preset set to "veryfast" (I try to avoid anything above that since I don't want my image to be pixelated)
- Bitrate: 3500
Video:
- FPS: 60
Advanced:
- Process Priority: Rotate between "Above Normal" and "High"

Sometimes I lower the settings to improve CPU performance but it comes at a cost at low stream quality, which I do not want.

I will try to provide as much information about my system as possible. Straight up, I want to know if I can fix the lag in OBS somehow or hear advice on what I need to upgrade (i.e. hardware) to improve performance.

Report from DxDiag:
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64-bit (10.0, Build 17134) (17134.rs4_release.180410-1804)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
System Model: 700-529
BIOS: 80.20 (type: UEFI)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790 CPU @ 3.60GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.6GHz
Memory: 12288MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 12228MB RAM
Page File: 7262MB used, 7781MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 12

PC Specs:
Processor: Intel Core i7-4790 @ 3.60 GHz
Graphics Card: Asus Dual GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
Memory: 12 GB RAM

On another note, I use 3 monitors. 2 PC monitors, and my TV as a 3rd.
And another note, during streams I have the game, OBS, and 3 internet windows open (sometimes I use Edge instead of Chrome to to reduce CPU usage)
And finally one last note, the system seems to work almost perfectly when running a game that takes has less CPU usage (i.e. Overwatch)

Ideally, I'd love to hear solutions that won't cost me money. Perhaps there is something I can change to improve overall CPU performance (or GPU? I don't know.)

However, I'm prepared to upgrade any hardware parts if necessary. So if there isn't anything I can do with the system that I got, I'd appreciate suggestions on what I need to upgrade and to what extent must the quality of that product be.

NOTE: Sometimes I change my settings up to increase performance. As of right now, this is the log from OBS, which is attached.



Thank you.

 

[Mark S.]

Bump

 

[Narcogen]

Quickest answer is that your version of Windows 10 is slightly out of date, and is therefore missing a toggle in PC Settings to turn off "game mode" that is on by default and cannot be turned off. You need to do the Creators Update from October 2018 and turn off Game Mode. That will most likely help significantly, to start with.

You've got the Game Bar and Game DVR features off, which is correct, but one build of Windows from last year had "Game Mode" (designed to let a single application monopolize the PC) turned on by default and had the toggle to turn it off disabled, so that might help as a start.

Beyond that your log does not contain a streaming session, so the performance information needed to analyze what may be causing poor quality or poor performance is not there. You need to start a session, observe your issue, stop the session, then upload the log. But turn off Game Mode first.

 

[Mark S.]

Quickest answer is that your version of Windows 10 is slightly out of date, and is therefore missing a toggle in PC Settings to turn off "game mode" that is on by default and cannot be turned off. You need to do the Creators Update from October 2018 and turn off Game Mode. That will most likely help significantly, to start with.

You've got the Game Bar and Game DVR features off, which is correct, but one build of Windows from last year had "Game Mode" (designed to let a single application monopolize the PC) turned on by default and had the toggle to turn it off disabled, so that might help as a start.

Beyond that your log does not contain a streaming session, so the performance information needed to analyze what may be causing poor quality or poor performance is not there. You need to start a session, observe your issue, stop the session, then upload the log. But turn off Game Mode first.

The attached log file should be of my last stream. I started off by attempting to stream Destiny 2, went into a bunch of problems, and gave up and switched to Overwatch.

Thank you for your reply btw.

 

[Mark S.]

Quickest answer is that your version of Windows 10 is slightly out of date, and is therefore missing a toggle in PC Settings to turn off "game mode" that is on by default and cannot be turned off. You need to do the Creators Update from October 2018 and turn off Game Mode. That will most likely help significantly, to start with.

You've got the Game Bar and Game DVR features off, which is correct, but one build of Windows from last year had "Game Mode" (designed to let a single application monopolize the PC) turned on by default and had the toggle to turn it off disabled, so that might help as a start.

Beyond that your log does not contain a streaming session, so the performance information needed to analyze what may be causing poor quality or poor performance is not there. You need to start a session, observe your issue, stop the session, then upload the log. But turn off Game Mode first.

So I was able to turn Game Mode off, OBS seems like it's working pretty well now. However, now the in-game frames drop. I just wanna know if there is anything else I can do about it based off the setup I have now. If I can't, then I'd like to know what I need to upgrade to get it to work. Not sure if this is a RAM problem or CPU or what.

EDIT: I did a test stream prior to this post and here is the log.

 

[DEDRICK]

x264 increases CPU usage, when you increase CPU usage your ingame FPS goes down because you create a CPU bottleneck.

For your setup I would suggest using NVENC, you can get comparable quality to x264 Very Fast.

Though for now keep it on x264, I want to see how high your CPU usage is while playing Overwatch, you shouldn't be struggling with 720p Very Fast

11:38:19.619: Video stopped, number of skipped frames due to encoding lag: 616/34183 (1.8%)

But the log indicates you are.

 

[Mark S.]

x264 increases CPU usage, when you increase CPU usage your ingame FPS goes down because you create a CPU bottleneck.

For your setup I would suggest using NVENC, you can get comparable quality to x264 Very Fast.

View attachment 41938

Though for now keep it on x264, I want to see how high your CPU usage is while playing Overwatch, you shouldn't be struggling with 720p Very Fast

11:38:19.619: Video stopped, number of skipped frames due to encoding lag: 616/34183 (1.8%)

But the log indicates you are.

Next time I stream Overwatch, I'll post the log and let you know! thank you for your assistance!