Question / Help NVENC Quality got worse, no settings changed

[Gurrut]

I stream with NVENC because I’m only running an i5. I have clips recorded a month or two ago with 1600x900, 6000 bitrate, 48 FPS, and they look really good. Now when I try to use the exact settings, down to the same number of B-frames, it looks about 60% as good. I’ve tried using the same settings and also technically better settings, but it still looks significantly worse. I record with the “use stream encoder” thing by the way, I’m testing for livestreams. I can’t even get 720p30 @8000kbps to look as crisp as CDNThe3rd’s 720p60 @6000kbps. I know he uses a slow preset and cpu encoding, but I can’t match it even with 100k bitrate. ;(
Is it possible a recent Nvidia update killed NVENC’s efficiency? I’ve tried two different OBS versions already to test this.

 

[Boildown]

but I can’t match it even with 100k bitrate. ;(

100k bitrate is too damn low! /meme

I assume you meant 100Mbps? That's too damn high. /meme

Anyways, post some log files and VOD links that demonstrate what you're talking about. NVEnc isn't as good as x264 (depending on the preset, technically), it requires more bitrate to look good. Its best for recording to the hard drive, not streaming, although with Twitch's increased bitrate softcap of 6000kbps it can look ok. I'm not aware of any problems with newer driver releases but I don't update every time NVidia says boo, only a few times a year after the driver has been out for a while without causing problems.