OBS Frames missed / AVG Render time oddly high

Uxmbra

New Member
Hi - Been using OBS for years, experienced my fair share of problems over the time, but this one in particular has me scratching my head.

I have a dual PC setup but as of recent my partner has shown some interest in gaming and schooling/business stuff could really benefit from the extra horsepower compared to the existing mac book from god-knows when.

I found a good deal on an old think-server and upgraded it to some of the better parts for the existing sockets etc.

The specs of the think-server now:
2x XEON E5 2695V4 18C/36T
128GB DDR4 2133 ECC
Intel ARC 310 (Upgraded from the 2060 for AV1 recording and quick-sync streaming)
970 EVO M.2 1TB boot drive (Windows Server 2022 - All updates)
Elgato 4K60 Pro MK.2
Elgato Facecam (1080p60)
Logitech C922 (1080p30)


The issue is with the rendered frames and the average time to render frames.

On all my other machines, I have no dropped frames unless I absolutely go mental with the quality settings but with the server, even without having a recording active, with a single scene, it can sometimes drop frames and have upwards of 2ms of avg time to render a frame, yes I know 60fps is somewhere near 16.666ms but, it seems unusual that while just having OBS open with a capture card scene can warrant almost 2ms worth of time to render a frame or even drop frames without any active recording.

I have found disabling preview does help marginally but only removes about 0.1-0.3 ms of avg render time and makes it less common for a frame to drop.

Now I understand its older hardware and I am not especially knowledgeable on how NUMA aware OBS is. but even single 2695 V4s should be fine considering they wipe the floor with some CPUS I've seen run similar setups just fine.

I'm willing to give anything a shot, I will also upload a log file when I have access to both my PCS again.
 

Uxmbra

New Member
Put the 2060 back in. The A310 is a serious downgrade from the 2060.
In what sense of the matter?

the 2060 isn't able to do AV1 encoding, the 310 has quite a fair amount of reviews giving props for its capabilites as an encoding card.

The machine will not be used for gaming, more recording and streaming. and game servers virtualized.
 

Uxmbra

New Member
I see the error in the post - The PC that is listed is my new second PC, 3AM Brain.

The other PC is a 5900x system.
 

rockbottom

Active Member
Those dual Xeon's are fairly powerful, benchmark for the pair is over 35k. Better than a 12700k, not too shabby. Have you tried encoding SVT-AV1? There appears to be more than enough muscle to do it. Start with Preset 10 if no lag try 9 * so on. Try it while the A310 is in, if it works then you can put the 2060 back in & get the rendering performance back on track. The A310 just can't render enough frames fast enough for 60 FPS.
 

rockbottom

Active Member
 

Uxmbra

New Member
Set the capture card to capture at 60fps, not 240.
So, theres another dilema when it comes to that. Elgato for some reason when setting to 60FPS in OBS, doesn't actually drop to 60, it drops to something similar to 15 fps. Only when my passed-through monitor is at 240hz. which I am unwilling to change.

I have found work-arounds but those work arounds cause further audio issues with my go-xlr for some un-knowning reason as the capture card is a PCIE card

https://youtu.be/nlErJJe9s_M - here is a test I did with all, settings the same but capture card set to 60 FPS
 

Uxmbra

New Member
Those dual Xeon's are fairly powerful, benchmark for the pair is over 35k. Better than a 12700k, not too shabby. Have you tried encoding SVT-AV1? There appears to be more than enough muscle to do it. Start with Preset 10 if no lag try 9 * so on. Try it while the A310 is in, if it works then you can put the 2060 back in & get the rendering performance back on track. The A310 just can't render enough frames fast enough for 60 FPS.
I honestly do think the A310 has the performance to do the recording, I've seen a few videos online about people adding these cards into their main machines along with actually testing it in my case, I've tried it in my main PC as a secondary card (i9 13900K & 7900XTX) and records just fine.

The CPUS themselves are quite impressive, but I am trying to only stream with X264 as I do run game servers and don't want to starve performance when gaming (granted with those chips I don't think I will come close but as a precaution)

I have swapped the 2060 back in for the time being to run some more tests as I recently had to BIOS mod this board to allow Resizeable Bar.
 

Uxmbra

New Member
So, theres another dilema when it comes to that. Elgato for some reason when setting to 60FPS in OBS, doesn't actually drop to 60, it drops to something similar to 15 fps. Only when my passed-through monitor is at 240hz. which I am unwilling to change.

I have found work-arounds but those work arounds cause further audio issues with my go-xlr for some un-knowning reason as the capture card is a PCIE card

https://youtu.be/nlErJJe9s_M - here is a test I did with all, settings the same but capture card set to 60 FPS
For example: One work around is to keep the Elgato 4K Capture utility open, fixes the capture cards FPS in OBS, but if that window becomes a background window or isn't selected, my audio from only the server/streaming machine becomes choppy and down-right unuseable.

or another is to fiddle with custom resolutions until I can make Elgato stay at 60 but my monitor remain at 240, which I've found to be wildly unstable/hard to re-create.
 

rockbottom

Active Member
I honestly do think the A310 has the performance to do the recording, I've seen a few videos online about people adding these cards into their main machines along with actually testing it in my case, I've tried it in my main PC as a secondary card (i9 13900K & 7900XTX) and records just fine.

The CPUS themselves are quite impressive, but I am trying to only stream with X264 as I do run game servers and don't want to starve performance when gaming (granted with those chips I don't think I will come close but as a precaution)

I have swapped the 2060 back in for the time being to run some more tests as I recently had to BIOS mod this board to allow Resizeable Bar.

Encoding is not the issue. The 30-40% bottleneck that was created is the issue. The A310 is nerfing your system as it can't keep up with the processing power of the CPU's. I'm sure you're seeing much better render times with the 2060 back in. Which, on a performance basis, is pretty much a perfect match for the dual Xeons.
 

Uxmbra

New Member
Encoding is not the issue. The 30-40% bottleneck that was created is the issue. The A310 is nerfing your system as it can't keep up with the processing power of the CPU's. I'm sure you're seeing much better render times with the 2060 back in. Which, on a performance basis, is pretty much a perfect match for the dual Xeons.
After some gaming and testing today - I have noticed an immediate change in the render times and over-all system performance while on desktop.

I appreciate then in-depth explantation, actually made me get off my butt to test it myself. Looks I've I've now got a $120 paperweight lol.
this 2060 is meant to be going into my dads build, do you have any recomendation for a replacement for the server. I'm assuming something similar such as maybe a 1660 ti/super?
 

rockbottom

Active Member
Does the A310 make sense for Dad's build?

For the server, the 1660 TI/Super will leave you thin. I have the 1660 Super running with a 6700k, they are a great match. If it's in the budget, you could do a 3070 or similar & get even more out of it.
 

Uxmbra

New Member
Does the A310 make sense for Dad's build?

For the server, the 1660 TI/Super will leave you thin. I have the 1660 Super running with a 6700k, they are a great match. If it's in the budget, you could do a 3070 or similar & get even more out of it.
Unfortunately not, I'd imagine it would put my old 9900k at a great bottleneck, if I could get a cheap 3070 (my one that goes with the 5900x cost me $1500 when I got in a few years ago) the only real thing the server will be doing is Encoding/Game Servers/TrueNAS & watching YouTube so, if that sounds like a good fit for the 1660 super, I'd aim for that. Mainly due to the newer NVENC encoder on the newer cards, I have a 1050 Ti that I can throw in the server when Dad gets his build but thats the older NVENC as far as I am aware.
 

rockbottom

Active Member
Yeah, the A310 isn't a good fit with the 9900k either.

The Super won't be a huge step back from the 2060 but it'll be a way better fit than the 1050TI.

Looking at the performance numbers of the CPU's/GPU's, the best bang for the buck would be 9900k/1660 Super & Dual Xeons/2060.

Yikes, that's what I paid for my 3090 1/22 when I built my current rig. Got lucky on that one, had just installed a 3060TI & like an hour later Best Buy dropped a few of them @ MSRP.
 

Uxmbra

New Member
This looks like a OK deal & would give the server some lift. (If it fits budget/case)

Australia moment, that good deal goes to around $530-550 AUD ;(

I just paid around $1500 AUD for a 7900XTX Nitro + for my main rig to replace my 3070.

even if I wanted to, I have the gaming x trio so that bad boy wouldn't even fit I don't think.

with how the server is performing with the 2060, honestly probs best bet to hit a cheap 3060 on FB market place or something like that for dads build, as all he really plays is COD WOW, old, NFS's and potentially wants to try the newer CODs but only singleplayer.

I've gotta keep tinkering with this capture card fps issue though, as keeping 4K capture utility open 24/7 isn't really viable + I hate using CPU/GPU processing power for zero reason.
 
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