OBS causing massive frame drops in game play just by being open

[SuburbanGamerDad]

When I attempt to play games on my PC, just having OBS open often causes severe lag and FPS drops, to the point that the games are unplayable (and not in a "I've barely dropped under 120fps for 2 seconds" kind of way). I have this happen regularly while playing RDR2, Dead by Daylight, Among Us, and others. You can see what I'm talking about in the example recording below (with massive lag starting at around 0:30). The recording includes the FPS in the bottom right corner, as well as my performance monitor. As you can see, nothing is spiking, so I don't believe it's a hardware limitation issue. The lag you see happens whether OBS is idle, recording, or streaming. It only needs to be open to cause it. When OBS is not open, I get steady and smooth gameplay.

Example Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYslyw8y_as

Log file attached (recording starts at 13:52:05.348)

PC Specs:
Dell XPS 15 9500
Intel Core i7-10875H (10th Gen, 8 cores)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650Ti
2nd monitor (HP C-27f-FHD) attached via HDMI using this USB-C Hub

This has been driving me crazy, so I really appreciate any help. Thanks!

 

[SuburbanGamerDad]

I should mention a couple of other things I've tried. The PC doesn't have direct HDMI output, but I did try using the USB-C to HDMI adapter that came with it, instead of running the video through the multi-function USB hub. I also tried running OBS in administrator mode, as suggested by the log file analyzer. Neither resolved the issues

 

[SuburbanGamerDad]

Bumping this, as I've had the change to try multiple things with no result. T\I tried both of the above suggestions, (updating windows, run as admin), and neither made any difference. As for the question about testing only on the laptop's monitor, it seemed to make a bit of a difference, and by that I mean a game that runs at a constant 30fps when OBS is not running, would run at 18-22fps vs. the 7-15fps that would happen when using an external monitor.

 

[Halltron]

OP any luck? Im having the same issue. Literally tired everything.

 

[ColeJJones]

I'm having the same issue. I will just have OBS open and I will get massive frame rate drops. OBS will be opened, it's not streaming or anything... it's just open.

 

[ColeJJones]

I play Gwent. I go from 240fps in the lobby to 57-60fps when OBS opens.

 

[ColeJJones]

I just discovered something. If I move OBS to the same monitor as my game, I get all my fps back!! I need to monitor my OBS on my second monitor though. What gives? How do I fix this????

 

[ThatSovietShiba]

Could always set up hotkeys and keep it on the same monitor, thats what I did