Question / Help OBS eating 30% CPU

Warpwnge

New Member
So I was streaming earlier and it hit me about 30 minutes in to bring up my task manager to monitor my CPU usage in order to make sure that my stream would look good (I've noticed before that if I max out my CPU, my stream ends up being laggy and choppy). I was streaming Cites: SKylines and it was taking up, on average, about 60% which is usually normal for a game on my PC. Then I saw that OBS was taking up 30% of my CPU, and the rest of my normal OS was using the last 10%, maxing out my usage.

I can't remember clearly, but I'm almost certain OBS didn't used to eat so much, maybe used at most 25% at times, normally 21%. Here's my log if that helps.

https://gist.github.com/29fedc92e645b722593df4ba89994c7f
 

C-Dude

Member
Try using the 64 bit version of OBS. Also you are getting memory leaks.

00:12:07.213: Number of memory leaks: 28
 

Warpwnge

New Member
How would I fix the memory issue?
In the meantime ill figure out how to get the 64 bit version, though I dont easily see it.

Note: Found the 64 bit
 
Last edited:

C-Dude

Member
How would I fix the memory issue?
In the meantime ill figure out how to get the 64 bit version, though I dont easily see it.

Note: Found the 64 bit
I don't know there are many things that can cause memory leaks and I'm not good with that kind of stuff. Hopefully someone else comes in here that knows.
 

Warpwnge

New Member
If it is Shadowplay, then I'll report back later. It's odd though cause I never used it, nor knew that it was on. I just turned it off, but don't have time to test the new things out. Thank you guys.
 
The items that use the most amount of cpu in obs are:
1.) downscale/filter, this is when you are playing a game in 1080p but scale the video down to something smaller in order to match the kbps you're able to put out or plan on using. Anytime you downscale you want a Lanczos filter to keep everything looking the best it can.
2.) FPS, weaker cpu's really have a difficult time running higher fps in both obs and xsplit. All of this work is done on the cpu, unless you specifically set it to use the GPU (gpu rendering is not recommended for most setups and more so with your 950 gpu). Even with an i7, i recommend staying at or under 45fps. fps scales 1:1 with kbps unless you're using pretty heavy cpu presets. This means in order to output the same visual clarity/quality, you'd have to murder people on your stream with 2x the kbps vs 30fps.
3.) x264 CPU Preset (original obs) or Encoder Preset (studio), This is where the quality/filters are applied. The slower the preset, the better the quality but uses a more cpu per tick.

generally when i set up streams i look at the hardware being used, then match it up for the best quality based on cpu and kbps that can/will be used.
For you, i'd simply just kick down from 60fps to 30. None of the past broadcasts on your stream would look much different in fluidity, but visual quality would jump up. You'd likely notice the quality bump a lot more in things like minecraft or any game that is faster paced than city. in short, you'll drop pixelation, and the cpu wouldn't be as taxed.

Personally i stick with the original OBS simply because it's interface/layout is far superior. granted you lose a lot of the new options but for most people, those are features people aren't using anyways.
Additionally chroma key, is WAY better in original. This is about 90% of why i will not stream with studio. Not sure why it's so bad in studio but that really needs addressed.
 

Warpwnge

New Member
Alright, thanks for the tips. I'll stick with Studio still though, I feel like it's "nicer" with me. The chroma key I do have issues with sometimes, but some simple tweaking can make it perfect again, so I deal with it for now until I get A: Better camera, or B: There's an update to improve that.
 
Top