Question / Help New GFX Card is Causing Problems with Stream

[Vinh Phung]

Theres some background story to this.
So I recently replaced my PC's graphics card. It used to be an AMD 7870 2GB, but it got burnt out or something.
Now, I have a EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB.

I would've presumed that the 960 4GB would be better than the AMD 7870 2GB.
Keep in mind that every other part (including CPU/PSU etc) have remained unchanged throughout this GFX card transition.

So I used (with my AMD 7870 2GB) to be able to stream any game, such as CSGO, League (easily) and even some MMOs with graphic-intense quality. Now, my stream would be low quality, and it would impair my ingame FPS, but the stream would be low quality but very smooth.

Now, with my GTX 960, my fps ingame is nothing impaired. I feel no fps lag while I'm playing CSGO or League and everything on my end is perfect, as if I wasn't streaming in the first place. However, the stream itself is now choppy, low quality, and just overall not smooth when you watch it from preview or live stream.

SPECS:
CPU: i5-2300 2.80GHZ
RAM: 12GB
OS: 64-bit Windows 7
GFX: EVGA GTX 960 4GB
PSU: 875W

I know my CPU power is lacking, but what baffles me is that with my OLD gfx card, everything in the stream was smooth but my game was impaired. With this NEW gfx card, it seems to be reversed, where my stream is choppy and my gameplay is smooth. However, fps never affected my gameplay as much in the past, unless its CSGO. However, League, a loss of fps never bothered or impaired my fun or gaming; my stream remained smooth too.

Can this be fixed through settings on OBS? What are the ideal settings for my PC.
LOG:
14:56:49: Open Broadcaster Software v0.657b - 32bit (´・ω・｀)
14:56:49: -------------------------------
14:56:49: CPU Name: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2300 CPU @ 2.80GHz
14:56:49: CPU Speed: 2793MHz
14:56:49: Physical Memory: 4095MB Total, 4095MB Free
14:56:49: stepping id: 7, model 42, family 6, type 0, extmodel 1, extfamily 0, HTT 1, logical cores 4, total cores 4
14:56:49: monitor 1: pos={0, 0}, size={1920, 1080}
14:56:49: monitor 2: pos={-1680, 30}, size={1680, 1050}
14:56:49: Windows Version: 6.1 Build 7601 (revision 19160)
14:56:49: Aero is Enabled
14:56:49: -------------------------------
14:56:49: OBS Modules:
14:56:49: Base Address Module
14:56:49: 00FE0000 OBS.exe
14:56:49: 56530000 OBSApi.dll
14:56:49: 71A90000 CLRHostPlugin.dll
14:56:49: 68720000 DShowPlugin.dll
14:56:49: 686C0000 GraphicsCapture.dll
14:56:49: 684D0000 NoiseGate.dll
14:56:49: 71F10000 PSVPlugin.dll
14:56:49: 71EE0000 scenesw.dll
14:56:49: ------------------------------------------
14:56:49: Adapter 1
14:56:49: Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
14:56:49: Video Adapter Dedicated Video Memory: 3221225472
14:56:49: Video Adapter Shared System Memory: 1073676288
14:56:49: Video Adapter Output 1: pos={0, 0}, size={1920, 1080}, attached=true
14:56:49: Video Adapter Output 2: pos={-1680, 30}, size={1680, 1050}, attached=true
14:56:49: =====Stream Start: 2016-05-24, 14:56:49===============================================
14:56:49: Multithreaded optimizations: On
14:56:49: Base resolution: 1920x1080
14:56:49: Output resolution: 1096x616
14:56:49: ------------------------------------------
14:56:49: Loading up D3D10 on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (Adapter 1)...
14:56:49: ------------------------------------------
14:56:49: Audio Format: 48000 Hz
14:56:49: ------------------------------------------
14:56:49: Audio Channels: 2 Ch
14:56:49: Playback device Default
14:56:49: ------------------------------------------
14:56:49: Using desktop audio input: Sennheisers (2- High Definition Audio Device)
14:56:49: Global Audio time adjust: 0
14:56:49: ------------------------------------------
14:56:49: Using auxilary audio input: Microphone (2- High Definition Audio Device)
14:56:49: Mic time offset: 0
14:56:49: Using Window Capture
14:56:49: Scene buffering time set to 700
14:56:55: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
14:56:55: New Scene
14:57:03: Using Window Capture
14:57:20: Total frames encoded: 0, total frames duplicated: 0 (0.00%)
14:57:20: Total frames rendered: 779, number of late frames: 2 (0.26%) (it's okay for some frames to be late)
14:57:21:
14:57:21: Profiler time results:
14:57:21:
14:57:21: ==============================================================
14:57:21: video thread frame - [100%] [avg time: 2.309 ms] [children: 78.2%] [unaccounted: 21.8%]
14:57:21: | scene->Preprocess - [75.1%] [avg time: 1.734 ms]
14:57:21: | GPU download and conversion - [3.07%] [avg time: 0.071 ms] [children: 2.94%] [unaccounted: 0.13%]
14:57:21: | | flush - [2.94%] [avg time: 0.068 ms]
14:57:21: ==============================================================
14:57:21:
14:57:21:
14:57:21: Profiler CPU results:
14:57:21:
14:57:21: ==============================================================
14:57:21: video thread frame - [cpu time: avg 0.36 ms, total 280.801 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
14:57:21: | scene->Preprocess - [cpu time: avg 0.02 ms, total 15.6 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
14:57:21: | GPU download and conversion - [cpu time: avg 0.12 ms, total 93.601 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
14:57:21: | | flush - [cpu time: avg 0.12 ms, total 93.601 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
14:57:21: ==============================================================
14:57:21:
14:57:21: =====Stream End: 2016-05-24, 14:57:21=================================================
14:57:28: =====Stream Start: 2016-05-24, 14:57:28===============================================
14:57:28: Multithreaded optimizations: On
14:57:28: Base resolution: 1920x1080
14:57:28: Output resolution: 1096x616
14:57:28: ------------------------------------------
14:57:28: Loading up D3D10 on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (Adapter 1)...
14:57:28: ------------------------------------------
14:57:28: Audio Format: 48000 Hz
14:57:28: ------------------------------------------
14:57:28: Audio Channels: 2 Ch
14:57:28: Playback device Default
14:57:28: ------------------------------------------
14:57:28: Using desktop audio input: Sennheisers (2- High Definition Audio Device)
14:57:28: Global Audio time adjust: 0
14:57:28: ------------------------------------------
14:57:28: Using auxilary audio input: Microphone (2- High Definition Audio Device)
14:57:28: Mic time offset: 0
14:57:28: Using Window Capture
14:57:28: Scene buffering time set to 700
14:57:45: Total frames encoded: 0, total frames duplicated: 0 (0.00%)
14:57:45: Total frames rendered: 412, number of late frames: 3 (0.73%) (it's okay for some frames to be late)
14:57:45:
14:57:45: Profiler time results:
14:57:45:
14:57:45: ==============================================================
14:57:45: video thread frame - [100%] [avg time: 3.452 ms] [children: 85%] [unaccounted: 15%]
14:57:45: | scene->Preprocess - [82.8%] [avg time: 2.858 ms]
14:57:45: | GPU download and conversion - [2.17%] [avg time: 0.075 ms] [children: 2.09%] [unaccounted: 0.0869%]
14:57:45: | | flush - [2.09%] [avg time: 0.072 ms]
14:57:45: ==============================================================
14:57:45:
14:57:45:
14:57:45: Profiler CPU results:
14:57:45:
14:57:45: ==============================================================
14:57:45: video thread frame - [cpu time: avg 0.53 ms, total 218.401 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
14:57:45: | scene->Preprocess - [cpu time: avg 0.037 ms, total 15.601 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
14:57:45: | GPU download and conversion - [cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
14:57:45: | | flush - [cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
14:57:45: ==============================================================
14:57:45:
14:57:45: =====Stream End: 2016-05-24, 14:57:45=================================================
14:57:45: CLR host plugin instance deleted; removing dynamically loaded localization strings
14:57:45: Terminating 0x40d0
14:57:45: Terminating 0x1318

 

[FerretBomb]

We need a log from a live session with active gameplay at least 5 minutes in length to get good metrics; that one is less than a minute overall. That's also an incomplete logfile. We really do need the whole thing.

 

[Vinh Phung]

I'm back!
Log file: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/de717e604f2d362ac8f70c2961c55282

This should be around 6 mins of gameplay.

 

[FerretBomb]

Is this for local recording only, or streaming? If streaming, to which site?
None of the settings in play fit either scenario, and the logfile includes a few different sets of settings.

For local recording only:
https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/how-to-make-high-quality-local-recordings.16/

For streaming to Twitch:
720p (or lower), 30fps (even divisor of monitor refresh will give smoother looking framerate as it won't 'stumble'), 2000kbps, x264 Veryfast (or lower).
You also need to set your Keyframe Interval to 2 under Advanced, and leave CBR enabled.

Beyond that, you have a low video thread frame (~3ms) so it isn't the video card. Likewise, you have a duplicate/late/skipped count of under an aggregate 1%, so the recordings should be fine. I'd suspect the 25fps to be causing hitching issues unless you have a 100hz monitor.
It does appear you have another graphics hooking program active, which could cause some capture issues, but the log doesn't list what it is (aside from the Discord overlay, which I don't believe causes issues with OBS, but could be disabled to check).

 

[Vinh Phung]

I didn't get to thank you!
It was the FPS! I changed my monitor to a 144HZ monitor, and I kept testing my settings based around 20-25FPS. I put it to 30-60, and the cursor and everything started to move much smoother.

Thank you so much. I also applied the 2 Keyframe Interval, I'm not sure what it did but if it contributed to the smooth and cleanliness of my stream, then once again, I thank you!

 

[FerretBomb]

Glad to hear it! Quite welcome. :)