Question / Help Help me with CPU preset

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Falx

New Member
Ok, so I have been reading through some of the information about CPU preset but it seems the info I am looking for is scattered and lots of varying opinions on systems that aren't quite like mine. I have a poor upload, but a pretty monster rig, so I am thinking the CPU preset can help with my issue. All I can find is that it affects only some aspects of quality and not others, but no specific information.

I would like to stream at 720p, 30fps

I have found that right now, I can get very little lag on the stream when streaming around a TOTAL of 600 bit rate (includes audio) but the quality is pretty terrible during gaming. What CPU preset can I use, and how EXACTLY is it going to affect my game quality.

The rig -
CPU - I7 3930k (6 cores, 6 HT, all unparked) at a medium overclock of 4.6 ghz (have gotten up to 5.2 stable but don't like the temps) - I am water cooled and well below temps when running 4.6 so not scared of CPU usage/temp issues there
Ram- 16gb corsair vengeance 2133
Mobo - Asrock Extreme6/GB this is an x79 chipset with a standalone sound/lan card to reduce mobo load
GPU - single EVGA 670 gtx FTW factory OCed
HDD - 7200 RPM for games/OBS, 500+ mbps SSD for OS and 'main' games
Connection - 10mps DSL, on speedtest i get 9-11 MBPS down but a max of somewhere around .5-.7 kpbs up

So, how can I improve stream quality with OBS, specifically using the CPU preset settings, and what are the consequences of changing the setting both good and bad?
 
K

Kharay

Member
Can you run a different preset? Sure. How far can you push it? Only one way to find out. By pushing it.

The consequences -- A possible massive increase in quality at the expense of a possible massive increase in CPU time required. But, given the specific CPU and the stable OC in place, I'd say that isn't much of an issue. Start with Fast instead of Veryfast, see how that goes and if the game is still performing well, push it further.
 
dodgepong

dodgepong

Administrator
Forum Admin
The veryfast preset is right in the sweet spot of performance and quality. Superfast and ultrafast will give you better performance, but the quality is very noticeably worse. Slower presets like faster and fast will tax your system more, but the quality increases it gives you are diminishing. I disagree that quality increases above veryfast are "massive"...veryfast->faster is noticeable, but not hugely, and faster->fast is very hard to notice from my experience.

That CPU can almost certainly run the faster preset just fine, probably even fast. However, with that low of a bit rate, you probably won't notice much of a difference. The best thing you can do is get better internet.

In the meantime, lower your resolution to no more than 480p, and your frame rate to 25fps. Then run the fast preset, and that will probably be more or less the best you're going to be able to get with that low of an upload speed.
 
F

Falx

New Member
Yes unfortunately in my current area there is only one internet provider, and I have the highest level of service.

If I can get this damn house sold and move a little closer to a main city I will have no problems with upload speed (100mbps up/down available less than 20 miles away)

Will the quality of the game be BETTER at 480p even though it seems counter intuitive? Is this because the bitrate is closer to what it can actually push out?
 
F

Falx

New Member
I cant tell almost any difference in either performance, and only a little bit of quality when playing with the settings, I guess the big one is that bitrate that I have no true control over.

I can play guild wars 2, maxed out from my SSD with only about a 15 fps loss (which still leaves me around 50 even in the nastiest of WvW pileups) on 'Slow' Setting, but could not tell any difference in quality from slow to medium, and gained about 5 fps.
 
dodgepong

dodgepong

Administrator
Forum Admin
It should look better because instead of having 600kbits to spread over a 720p picture, it's instead spread over 480p. So it will be lower resolution, but higher quality. High resolution does not mean high quality.
 
Z

z0rz

Member
I know this isn't really the best way to compare, but here's a still frame comparison of superfast vs veryfast vs slow presets on 2200 bitrate, 720p, 60fps.

superfast- http://i.imgur.com/JDyjulu.jpg
veryfast- http://i.imgur.com/lfmI2KT.jpg
slow- http://i.imgur.com/AmrJHjj.jpg

Open them in different tabs and switch back and forth and you'll see. Superfast is waaaay worse than veryfast, slow is noticeably better than veryfast but the difference isn't nearly as big.

Superfast takes a huuuuuuge quality hit for little performance gain; slow takes a huuuuuuge performance hit for little quality gain. As everyone says, veryfast is the sweet spot for both quality and performance. With that said, if you have the extra CPU resources then it's probably worth trying presets slower than veryfast for small gains in quality.
 
F

Falx

New Member
Those pics are extremely helpful. but yes I don't see a ton of difference from veryfast to slow. Its there but subtle. I am still toying with settings.

Damn slow internet is my downfall
 
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