Question / Help Need Help With OBS Studio Stream Settings/ AMD Ryzen 7 3700x

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SnapApple

New Member
Hello there! I'm new to the forums so please forgive me if I'm posting this in the wrong section.

For the past week or so I have been trying to get good quality on my stream, but I seem to be missing something because the quality isn't there. I tried using the recommended x264 presets veryfast, faster, fast, medium, and even slow with 6000-8000 kb. I even did what most Fortnite streamers do and set my output resolution to 900p but the quality is nowhere near as crisp as theirs. Am I missing something? I also can't stream using the presets because my CPU usage skyrockets to 70% just by moving around in-game.

This happens with Faster-Slow presets. I had to resort to using custom x264 settings, which I will provide down below, to stream a somewhat decent looking stream. The video doesn't even look 60fps and my CPU usage is nowhere near 100%. It stays somewhere between 20-50% depending on what x264 options I use. That's while playing a game like "Metro Exodus". I understand that the more there is to encode and compress the worse the quality of the video/stream will be. What can I do to improve my stream quality and what are the others doing that I am not?

Trying to get good 1080p 60fps stream quality
x264 custom settings:
8x8dct=1 aq-mode=2 bframes=1 chroma-qp-offset=2 colormatrix=smpte170m deblock=0:0 direct=auto ipratio=1.41 keyint=240 level=3.1 me=uhm merange=16 min-keyint=auto mixed-refs=1 no-mbtree=0 partitions=i4x4,p8x8,b8x8 psy-rd=0.5:0.0 ratetol=10 rc-lookahead=30 ref=1 scenecut=40 subme=7 threads=0 trellis=2 weightb=1 weightp=2

level=4.2 no-cabac=1 ref=2 bframes=1 b-adapt=1 direct=auto deblock=-3:2 me=uhm merange=20 subme=6 no-mbtree=1 trellis=0 weightp=1 deadzone-intra=6 deadzone-inter=18 rc-lookahead=0 threads=6 lookahead_threads=0 sliced_threads=0 **** The one I use to Stream action type games ****

Log File: https://obsproject.com/logs/kxp8mh0LcBvFG85N


Games currently being playing
Paladins (PC)
Burning Soul Worker
Metro Exodus
Onigiri
Fortnite

PC Specs
CPU : AMD Ryzen 7 3700x
GPU : AMD RX 580 GTS Black Edition 8GB
RAM: 16GB of 3200mhz G.Skill Ripjaws
Platform: Windows 10 Pro 64bit


Screen Shots: Don't mind the Placebo preset as the x264 options completely ignore any preset I select. Tried and tested myself and there were no noticeable changes in anything.
OBS stream settings.png

OBS advanced settings.png

OBS video settings.png
 
D

Deleted member 121471

8000kbps is not nearly enough to stream high quality medium to high motion games at 1080p and 60FPS, which is why so many streamers downscale to 720p@60FPS or 900p@60FPS.

Stick to using default presets that have been tried and tested over the years to find the best ratio of quality vs CPU encoding needs.

I recommend the following settings:

1) 720p or 900p and bicubic/lanzcos downscale filter.;
2) Encoder: "x264", CPU preset: "Fast" or "Medium", Profile: "High", 8000kbps, for starters. Not sure if youtube allows for higher bitrate though;
3) You can try adding "threads=10" to x264 options, as it leaves CPU threads available for other software. Tune set to "None", "Animation" (a bit less detailed but less blocky) or "Film" (retain grain and detail, potentially blockiest) are also personal preference, though the latter 2 only really help if bitrate starved, I found;
4) Change CPU priority back to "Normal";
5) Disable all forms of motion blur or any other blurring effects in your ingame settings.


I own an overclocked Ryzen 1700 that can cope with these settings so your Ryzen 3700x, assuming it's paired with fast RAM set at their rated speeds instead of default, should breeze though these.

I noticed a lot of topics and friends of mine looking at popular streamers and commenting they look amazingly detailed through their rose-coloured glasses.. Aside from Eposvox, most popular streamers I've watched have pretty terrible to average image quality on their streams while new streamers seem to notice every single flaw on their own streams. You'll never achieve perfect quality but don't compare yourself to others and don't repeat their mistakes.
 
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SnapApple

New Member
Eposvox is my go to OBS guru, so his videos where the first set I watched and used. But his streams look amazing even at 720p. There's very little to no fuzzy/grainy pixels. Which is what I am trying to achieve.

However, you my friend are a my savior. That "threads" command with the "medium" preset has really made a difference, but now I'm running into another problem. Even with having reduced the output scale to both 720p and 960p 60fps, I keep receiving an "Encoding overload" message even at 720p 6000 kbs. As far as I know that means that the CPU is being pushed to it's limits and reaching 100%, but for me it isn't. Total CPU load sits barely around 85%, with both "Metro Exodus" and OBS using around 40% cpu give or take. It happened with Fortnite too with a total CPU load at around 70% max with me spinning the camera around like crazy.

I did take note that you mentioned RAM speeds and I believe mine have been set to 3200 mhz; however, when I check on the CPUZ program it says that the frequency is 1596 MHz. Could that be the problem?


Below is the log file for when I used fast and medium presets with the film tune and threads command.
log file: https://obsproject.com/logs/QL1UR-7ulzElyJH7



Thank you Volfield for the settings in the post above. I am now one step closer to achieving the stream quality I want.
This is what my stream looks like now thanks to those settings: 720p 60fps Medium Preset
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/472058587?t=54s
 
D

Deleted member 121471

SnapApple said:
I did take note that you mentioned RAM speeds and I believe mine have been set to 3200 mhz; however, when I check on the CPUZ program it says that the frequency is 1596 MHz. Could that be the problem?
Click to expand...

This is normal for DDR memory, just multiply that value by 2 and you have your 3200mhz. It is set correctly.

Change CPU preset to "Fast", which should have a minimal hit on image quality but significant decrease in CPU resources, set "Threads=12" and Tune to "None". If this works, you can try different tunes, if you want, though it shouldn't be necessary at your chosen bitrates. As I said before, the tunes are most useful in bitrate-starved streams.

Lastly, if you're recording, change your recording format to .mkv, as any issue that interrupts a .mp4 recording will make it unrecoverable. You can remux after your session through "File-->Remux Recordings".
 
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SnapApple

New Member
I found the witchcraft Eposvox uses on his streams! I found a very helpful video that lead me to his personal OBS settings and they are wonderful! Even the Very Fast and Faster presets look amazing now. I just have to figure out how this encoding overload works and I can be on my merry way to streaming high quality content. Fast and Medium are the only ones that can't keep up, but I'm chalking that up to the processor not being fast enough to encode the frames even though there's low CPU usage.

Thank you Volfield for the help!

A small sample of what my streams look like at 720p 60fps
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/472498054##
 
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SnapApple

New Member
That looks great! Tried it myself and I think the image is better during lots of pixel changing scenes like during heavy snow in Metro. Thank you for the suggestion.

If I may ask, what kind of CPU are you using? I ask because mine can't handle the medium preset at all. I tried countless times but it always goes into "encoding overloaded" even though only 50% of the cpu is being used with all programs running. I ran across another forum that had almost an identical problem as mine but no one was able to answer the question.

Edit: The source of my problem was that the hard drive wasn't keeping up with the encoding. Actually streaming to a platform makes a huge difference. I can almost safely stream at 8000kbs using the medium preset. There are just a few hiccups during the games scenes where I can't control the character.
 
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Toastfalter

Toastfalter

Member
I have a Amd Ryzen 7 2700x.
Maybe your chipset driver is to old. That was my problem. Befor i updatet my driver, i cant use medium.
I dont stream at the moment, so i dont cant say something about a long test.
Maybe i try a longer test on the weekend.
For recordings i use Nvenc CQP 18 (Nvidia Card).
 
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samfisher

New Member
SnapApple said:
I found the witchcraft Eposvox uses on his streams! I found a very helpful video that lead me to his personal OBS settings and they are wonderful! Even the Very Fast and Faster presets look amazing now. I just have to figure out how this encoding overload works and I can be on my merry way to streaming high quality content. Fast and Medium are the only ones that can't keep up, but I'm chalking that up to the processor not being fast enough to encode the frames even though there's low CPU usage.

Thank you Volfield for the help!

A small sample of what my streams look like at 720p 60fps
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/472498054##
Click to expand...
Any chance you have the video that shows his settings? Having similar problems with my 3700x and streaming Destiny 2, but I don't hit any encoder limits even on Medium, 8000kbps.
 
blender

blender

New Member
SnapApple said:
Even with having reduced the output scale to both 720p and 960p 60fps, I keep receiving an "Encoding overload" message even at 720p 6000 kbs. As far as I know that means that the CPU is being pushed to it's limits and reaching 100%, but for me it isn't. Total CPU load sits barely around 85%, with both "Metro Exodus" and OBS using around 40% cpu give or take. It happened with Fortnite too with a total CPU load at around 70% max with me spinning the camera around like crazy.
Click to expand...
I have exact same issue with my 2700x. When I went in and changed profile to high from main, and tune from none to film, plus added the threads=12, it screwed up my encoding and now I get encoder overload all the time. I was able to encode 1080p60 8000Kb Medium preset with no encoder lag, and now I get 80% skipped frames due to encoder lag.
Thing is, putting my old settings back doesn't even fix it, it's like OBS glitched up.
 
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Deleted member 121471

Post a new logfile with a streaming or recording session.
 
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SnapApple

New Member
blender said:
I have exact same issue with my 2700x. When I went in and changed profile to high from main, and tune from none to film, plus added the threads=12, it screwed up my encoding and now I get encoder overload all the time. I was able to encode 1080p60 8000Kb Medium preset with no encoder lag, and now I get 80% skipped frames due to encoder lag.
Thing is, putting my old settings back doesn't even fix it, it's like OBS glitched up.
Click to expand...


Setting threads is only recommended on higher end CPU's with high core counts like say a 3900x and up. At least from my experimenting that held true. I no longer set threads to anything and encoding overload isn't a problem.
These are the custom x264 settings I use from EposVox that work for me:

direct-pred=spatial trellis=1 rc-lookahead=60


rc-lookahead adds some strain to the CPU so if it's giving you encoding issues try removing it and see how it performs.
It also heavily depends on what game is being streamed. For example I can stream 1080p 60fps 8000 kbs medium preset on "Metro Exodus" with no issues at all but I have to compromise some in-game graphic settings. If I want high/ultra settings I have to lower down the stream to 720p. While a game like "Little Witch Academia" I can stream max settings at 1080p with no issues. This is with a few overlays only. If I start adding a lot of overlays to the stream then I have to lower down the bitrate to 6000 kbs. It's good to note that I also have, what use to be, the lower mid-tier GPU RX 580 8 GB

One last thing I promise. If you by some chance get rendering lag try starting OBS up with admin rights. With the latest OBS update there's a hidden feature where it will try to balance out GPU resources as efficiently as it possibly can. Still experimental but is working wonders for me! I'm 100% sure there are many grammar mistakes in this post but I'm no literary/writing/grammar expert so sorry in advance to those who care.
 
D

Deleted member 121471

SnapApple said:
Setting threads is only recommended on higher end CPU's with high core counts like say a 3900x and up. At least from my experimenting that held true. I no longer set threads to anything and encoding overload isn't a problem.
Click to expand...

This was not the case a few months ago until a certain Windows 10 update that fixed scheduling and other minor issues on Ryzen CPU specifically, which required using thread command, Lasso and/or core affinity settings in certain scenarios. Right now, it's not necessary anymore except in the case you mentioned.

Also, only rc-lookahead command is doing anything on "Medium" preset, the other 2 are already default on it.
 
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SnapApple

New Member
Volfield said:
Also, only rc-lookahead command is doing anything on "Medium" preset, the other 2 are already default on it.
Click to expand...


Take my words with a grain of salt because I'm still a complete novice with this stuff, but on "Medium" and lower they are set higher(?) so it demands more from the CPU or something along those lines. That's why EposVox adds them to the custom commands, I think. Unless they fixed it in recent patches/updates. In my case if I don't set those commands manually my CPU does not stream/record well at all even at 720p 30fps 3000kbs.
 
koala

koala

Active Member
In general it's not advisable to take over the settings from someone else, because that person will certainly have a different computer with different computing and graphics power, and he will certainly capture/record something different than you. It's better to find the right settings by varying the parameters yourself than to copy just some settings in the hope they will work. Mostly, they don't work.

Using completely custom settings as in the OP is also not advised. There is years of work and experience included in the x264 presets. They are provided for a reason. The settings they collect and provide are already tweaked and optimized, and they are consistent as a whole.

Usually, everyone will find the best compromise between computing resources required and compression (aka streaming quality) gained by choosing one of the presets between veryfast/faster/fast/medium. The other presets either produce vastly inferior quality (superfast, ultrafast) and you will tune down resolution and/or fps instead. Or they produce only a negligible amount of more quality (slow, slower, placebo) and only waste computing resources without giving better quality that can actually be perceived and is not only some fractional number in a PSNR benchmark test. There is no setting for perfect quality without CPU demand. Really.
 
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