Low FPS when Recording in Hybrid Graphics Mode but not dGPU Only Mode

WLF

New Member
Recently I've been using OBS instead of Shadowplay to record games due to its support for 16:10 aspect ratios and only capturing audio from certain apps. However, I've noticed that when I'm using my laptop in Hybrid mode (dGPU passes through iGPU to get to display), game recordings always look like they're 20-30 FPS. As soon as I switch to dGPU only mode (iGPU disabled), the recording is a smooth 60 FPS.

Now this wouldn't be a problem in most cases, but the extra VRAM that Hybrid mode frees up for the dGPU (by running the OS on the iGPU) actually makes a significant difference, so I would prefer to use Hybrid mode if possible.

Recordings are smooth in Hybrid mode when recording the desktop - it's only when recording something rendered on the dGPU that it looks laggy. In addition, no CPU cores or GPU Encode tabs are maxed out, so I don't think it's a raw performance bottleneck. I'm using the exact same settings for both - recording with NVENC H.264 at 50000 kbps with Game Capture. I've also tried using x264 (on the CPU) and QuickSync H.264, but the results are exactly the same, so it obviously has nothing to do with the GPU encoder. I've also tried switching from Fullscreen to Borderless to no avail.

When recording games with Xbox Game Bar in Hybrid mode, the recordings are perfectly smooth, so this must be an issue with how OBS captures games. I was thinking that maybe preventing OBS from running on the iGPU and instead only using the dGPU could fix this, but even when I set Windows to use high performance graphics for OBS, it still shows utilization under both the iGPU and dGPU (with nothing else open that could also be using them).

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I'm happy to provide screenshots of task manager/OBS or game recordings if need be.

Edit: I've tried forcing OBS to use high performance only using Nvidia Control Panel but it says access denied, failed to apply the settings to your system.

Specs: i7-13700HX, 32 GB DDR5-4800 Mhz, RTX 4060 Laptop
 
Last edited:

WLF

New Member
I disabled hardware accelerated GPU scheduling and the recordings are a smooth 60 FPS in Hybrid mode now. This seems to have resolved my issue, but I'll update here again if something else actually fixed it.
 
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