Question / Help Getting framedrops when playing uncapped

[C-Dude]

I'm not sure if this is in the right category. I don't know if it is a bug or just something that happens to me.

If I play a game with my framerate uncapped OBS gets a lot of frame dropping, this is regardless of if I am recording or not. For example in Overwatch I get around 100 fps in game, but OBS framerate drops to around 45-50. However, if I change the game settings in Overwatch: Either Max framerate to 60, or V-Sync ON. Then OBS runs perfectly fine getting a constant 60fps.

I also tried rocket league with the same results. Around 45 fps in OBS when Uncapped in Rocket League (In game I get around 100fps) Yet when capped to 60 or v-sync on obs works fine.

I tried capping my framerate to 80 out of curiosity and somehow OBS also managed to get a constant 60fps.

This made me think that my game was using up too much resources so OBS didn't have enough to run smoothly. I set the process priority to High in both OBS and through the task manager. This did not make a difference, I still got low framerates in OBS when Uncapped and steady 60fps when capped.

When I set the Output Resolution to 1080p I got around 50fps and when set to 720p I got around 58 fps (Keep in mind my In game framerate was fine)

I prefer to play games uncapped which is why this is a problem for me.

I am running these games in 1440p Windowed mode and have my settings in OBS set to 1440p
CPU - i7-3770
GPU - GTX-970
Ram - 32 GB

I'm recording to mp4 via NVENC H.264.
Bitrate 80000 VBR

I don't know if the log will help but here it is anyways: https://gist.github.com/4bb94d5e50054248d8bbf1e3c3e56ec2

 

[Adrian Schofield]

Your log doesn't include an actual streaming session, make sure you gather a log with a streaming session in by checking that the log contains the following line before you upload:

==== Streaming Stop ================================================

I expect we'll see that your CPU can't cope with an uncapped framerate. When you switch off vsync the game will take up as much GPU power as is available this often leads to very high cpu utilisation which then means that OBS does not get enough processor time.

 

[C-Dude]

Your log doesn't include an actual streaming session, make sure you gather a log with a streaming session in by checking that the log contains the following line before you upload:

==== Streaming Stop ================================================

I expect we'll see that your CPU can't cope with an uncapped framerate. When you switch off vsync the game will take up as much GPU power as is available this often leads to very high cpu utilisation which then means that OBS does not get enough processor time.

I uploaded a new log file. https://gist.github.com/4bb94d5e50054248d8bbf1e3c3e56ec2. My cpu seems to be running about 50% on all 8 cores. I don't understand why changing the process priority didnt fix it though.

 

[Sapiens]

Yes, when you max out your GPU it negatively affects OBS performance because OBS uses the GPU as well. Not a bug, stop maxing out your GPU.

 

[OG See OH Zee]

It is an issue because the problem is significantly worse with OBS on Windows 10 than in 7/8.1. While maxing out the GPU is a no-no in general with OBS, it's not supposed to be this severe on Windows 10.

EDIT: If you're running Windows 10, I'm thinking it's possible to install Windows 8.1 via Media Creation Tool (official website by Microsoft of course) on a separate partition and compare the logs on the exact same settings on both OBS and in-game. I haven't tested this since my current setup was originally 8.1.

 

[EBrito]

A QUESTION FOR DEVELOPERS:

About this problem, maybe.

A day ago I was helping another user in this forum.
He began testing settings in Twitch and I began watching it live to help.
He was playing CSGO above 200fps. Streaming was clear and fine, no lag, no stuttering.
Ingame he had some stuttering.
After 1 hour testing different bitrates, CPU encoding levels, NVENC options, we couldn´t find a solution.

Can it be related with OBS network layer?
OBS Classic had "minimize network impact option" and the code , as far as I know, was some kind of adaptative to network conditions.
OBS Studio is hard coded.

Thank you.