Question / Help How to stop CPU/GPU usage when OBS is not recording?

[MKANET]

I'm not sure what's going on.. .but OBS is constantly banging away at my CPU and GPU when it's not recording; albeit not more than 1.4% of my CPU. What setting do I need to turn off for it to only use CPU/GPU cycles when actually recording?

 

[koala]

There is no such setting. OBS is always compositing, even if not streaming or recording, and this uses CPU and GPU cycles. You have to exit OBS to make it stop using up CPU and GPU cycles.

 

[MKANET]

Thanks. But, this is a completely unnecessary "feature" IMO. Compositing should start when the recording hotkey is pressed; or, at least offer a feature for that. I guess I'll have to make a script that will launch OBS quietly and starts recording when I press a hotkey; and, stop the recording and exit that app quietly when I press another hotkey.

 

[Narcogen]

If compositing didn't start until recording or streaming started you would be unable to preview anything while building a scene. It's also possible to use OBS as an NDI video switcher, and this would prevent that.

There are low impact screen recorders. OBS is not one of them.

Not sure why you think OBS developers should code in an option so you can save... 1.4% of your CPU while you have OBS running and you're not using it.

 

[MKANET]

I only use OBS to record my desktop or game clips. So, it didn't make any sense to me to tolerate OBS wasting CPU/GPU cycles when I'm not using it. I guess if I used OBS several times a day, it would be a different story.

Anyway, it didn't take long for me to make a script that has a video recording toggle hotkey. It quietly launches OBS and starts recording the desktop... then when I press the hotkey again, it stops the recording.. and quietly exits OBS. I didn't have to sacrifice any functionality or switch to another app.