Question / Help OBS consumes a TON of CPU Usage! 70% - 80%+

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georgeh9897

New Member
Hi everyone.

I need some help as each time I stream with OBS Studio it consumes a ton of my CPU usage and I don't know why.

I stream games through my PS4 with my El Gato HD60.

My CPU usage will shuffle between 70% - 80% and very rarely is around the 60% mark which it ocassionally hits.

1. I don't play videos in the background or run a lot of programs.
2. My Stream Capture screen isn't full of much stuff besides my game capture which covers the whole screen.
3. I DONT record while streaming in OBS studio. I just broadcast on twitch.


I have a very good PC that is powerful so the PC is definitely not the issue here. If you need some of my PC details, it's 16GB Ram, Win10, GTX 980 Ti.



Here are some pics of my current OBS configuration;

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c3r1c3

c3r1c3

Member
If you posted a log (as requested when posting in these forums), you could have saved yourself the trouble of posting all those images, and me of having to write this response.

Instead I could be already telling you how to fix your issue...
 
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georgeh9897

New Member
c3r1c3 said:
If you posted a log (as requested when posting in these forums), you could have saved yourself the trouble of posting all those images, and me of having to write this response.

Instead I could be already telling you how to fix your issue...
Click to expand...

It's saying I cannot insert the log because messages with no more than 1000 characters can be posted?
 
Harold

Harold

Active Member
I would recommend changing the RECORDING encoder to nvenc, as the quality per bitrate of the encoder is terrible and not really suitable for streaming.
 
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georgeh9897

New Member
Harold said:
I would recommend changing the RECORDING encoder to nvenc, as the quality per bitrate of the encoder is terrible and not really suitable for streaming.
Click to expand...

But even if I don't use the recording option to record anything with OBS? I just mainly stream on OBS that I'm having high CPU issues with.
 
c3r1c3

c3r1c3

Member
1. You have a lot of Browser Sources. Make sure your Browser Sources are set to shutdown when not active.
2. That log has no streaming or recording attempts in it. Do the following and post it:

Please post a link to a clean log file. To make a clean log file, first restart OBS, then start your stream/recording for ~30 seconds and stop it again. When you're done select Help > Log Files > Upload Current Log File. Copy the URL and paste it here.

3. In general, I don't recommend running an Elgato at 1920x1080@60p, because it's a USB2 device. Not saying it's impossible, but people seem to have more issues with that then 1280x720@60p. Also given that you're streaming at 1280x720, it would make sense to run the Elgato and OBS at that same resolution.

4. If you stream PC games as well, then you should create 2 profiles (one or PC gaming and another for Console streaming), and have 2 scene collection (same as before), and switch between them as you need to.
 
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georgeh9897

New Member
c3r1c3 said:
1. You have a lot of Browser Sources. Make sure your Browser Sources are set to shutdown when not active.
2. That log has no streaming or recording attempts in it. Do the following and post it:

Please post a link to a clean log file. To make a clean log file, first restart OBS, then start your stream/recording for ~30 seconds and stop it again. When you're done select Help > Log Files > Upload Current Log File. Copy the URL and paste it here.

3. In general, I don't recommend running an Elgato at 1920x1080@60p, because it's a USB2 device. Not saying it's impossible, but people seem to have more issues with that then 1280x720@60p. Also given that you're streaming at 1280x720, it would make sense to run the Elgato and OBS at that same resolution.

4. If you stream PC games as well, then you should create 2 profiles (one or PC gaming and another for Console streaming), and have 2 scene collection (same as before), and switch between them as you need to.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the response.

Here is the new and current log file: https://gist.github.com/a47e11ac99e5abda47fe357a6ec1b3cb


Some questions:

1.) How do I make it so I know my Broswer Sources are set to shutdown when active?

2.) Should I switch my Elgato and OBS settings to both 1280x720 since you said Twitch does not allow streaming in 1920x1080(?)

3.) Should I keep my bitrate at 200kbs or increase it a bit or decrease it?
 
c3r1c3

c3r1c3

Member
1. Right-click on the Browser Source->Properties->checkbox at the bottom.

2a. I didn't say that Twitch doesn't allow for it, but rather that Elgato units seem to be more problematic at 1080. To change the resolution of the Elgato, you have to change the resolution of the console you have hooked into it (i.e. set your XB1/PS4's resolution to 720p).

2b. You shouldn't stream to Twitch in 1080 unless you're a Partner. There isn't enough bitrate to have a good/clean looking stream running at 1920x1080@30p or 60p at 3500kbps.

3. 2000kbps is a good setting for Video. That way people can watch you, but the quality isn't too horrible. ;-)

Now as to the log you posted, everything seems in order. You're streaming at one setting, and recording at a different setting. This means you're doubling your CPU usage.

You can either record at the same quality you stream at, change your recording settings to use less CPU, or go into advanced output mode and use x264 for streaming and NVENC for recording... cutting your CPU usage in half-ish.
 
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jds4578

Member
ughhhh - use x264 for streaming... - you wouldn't be able to stream a high-end PC game with x264, and most home PC users would use at least 4 (i3 hyperthreading - i5 processors), or 8 processors (i7 hyperthreading), plus the CPU would not be able to cope with x264 encoding & the PC game your playing at the same time, you would only be able to stream console games via a capture card. Unless your using a CPU with at least 12 processors(i have not seen many people with those, those who do must be rich) .... chances of that ?

I also just noticed, the OP, streams a PS4 console through a capture card.

I would say, if your worried about the amount of CPU usage your using, and that you don't care that much on twitch stream quality, i do agree on the 2000 bitrate though, even 2500 is good, the only method other than x264, is NVENC for streaming.
 
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