Question / Help OBS not reaching specified (60) FPS when in-game (GPU Usage)

[Zap]

I haven't used OBS in a while and I've noticed quite a crucial change in how it handles GPU usage.

The issue is that I am not even getting 60 FPS in the preview window when gaming. This is without even streaming or recording.

It is happening because my GPU usage is maxing out while playing games, (95%+) which is completely normal. I know this is the cause as you can see the number of "Frames missed due to rendering lag" here. (Edit > Stats). I am able to reduce GPU usage by capping my in-game FPS, which allows OBS to reach 60 FPS.

So what's the problem? What not just cap my FPS?

Well, I never used to have this problem. Previously, OBS didn't care about how much GPU usage was being taken by the game. OBS would always try to display at your specified (60) FPS, and as a result would impact (lower) your in-game FPS a tad. There was no need to cap your in-game FPS.

It is annoying as you get higher FPS in some in-game areas compared to others; so unless you turn down your in-game settings or cap your in-game FPS low (so that you you don't intrude on OBS' GPU usage needs), you're going to have problems.

Why is this happening now? This is very annoying to work around. I have tried setting the process priority higher in advanced settings, no changes.

OBS Settings:
Output (streaming)
Output (recording)
Video
Advanced

Specs:
ASRock Z170 OC Formula
Intel i7-7700K
GeForce GTX 1070
Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 2x8GB

I wont be posting a log file as I'm not streaming or recording for this to happen.

If you are having the same issue please comment. I haven't seen many posts about this anywhere but I know other people are having the same issue.

If anyone can shed any light on this I would appreciate it a lot.

 

[Zap]

Not sure why people don't seem to care about this. If you're using an old OBS Studio and aren't experiencing this, can you tell me which version you're using so I can download it. Thanks.

 

[Osiris]

OBS has never done anything related to prioritizing GPU tasks

 

[Zap]

Just tried 8 older OBS versions (with default settings) and 2 older graphics drivers. I'm still getting the issue. I really have no clue what is going on here, but what I do know is that I was NEVER required to limit my GPU usage for OBS to work properly.

 

[sam686]

OBS logs shows more information. Show us your OBS logs? https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/please-post-a-log-with-your-issue-heres-how.23074/

 

[BK-Morpheus]

Just tried 8 older OBS versions (with default settings) and 2 older graphics drivers. I'm still getting the issue. I really have no clue what is going on here, but what I do know is that I was NEVER required to limit my GPU usage for OBS to work properly.

Have you upgraded to Win10 Creator Update or to a stronger CPU?
Both could also be related to the issue.
I can only tell that I can reproduce OBS rendering problems (stalled frames) when I hit over 90% GPU load.
A simple workaround is to use Vsync or any kind of FPS cap combined wit reasonable Ingame Settings to leave room for the GPU to render OBS scenes.

Not sure If this behavior was any different on my old Rig with the Win10 anniversary Update.

 

[Zap]

Have you upgraded to Win10 Creator Update or to a stronger CPU?
Both could also be related to the issue.
I can only tell that I can reproduce OBS rendering problems (stalled frames) when I hit over 90% GPU load.
A simple workaround is to use Vsync or any kind of FPS cap combined wit reasonable Ingame Settings to leave room for the GPU to render OBS scenes.

Not sure If this behavior was any different on my old Rig with the Win10 anniversary Update.

Yeah, I believe this would of happened around the Creators update. No changes in computer specs though. I get up to 140 FPS on some rocket league stages, and 80 on others (with OBS open). So capping my FPS and missing out on 60+ FPS sometimes really stinks. As you said I will probably have to lower my settings to bring it to a more consistent number.

Really can't emphasize enough how I never used to have to do this.though.

 

[BK-Morpheus]

Win10 Creator Fall Update will start to roll out in a few days, but I don't have much hopes that it will improve the situation.
Would be interesting to see someone test the same problem between Win10 Creator Update and Win10 Anniversary Update.
I think I only saw one guy in this forum, that tried to reproduce the GPU overload problem with Win10 vs. Win7 and he said that Win7 + OBS was handling the 100% GPU load totally fine, without those stutters in the recording/stream.

 

[RytoEX]

I haven't used OBS in a while and I've noticed quite a crucial change in how it handles GPU usage.

[...]

Specs:
ASRock Z170 OC Formula
Intel i7-7700K
GeForce GTX 1070
Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 2x8GB

I wont be posting a log file as I'm not streaming or recording for this to happen.

Not sure why people don't seem to care about this. If you're using an old OBS Studio and aren't experiencing this, can you tell me which version you're using so I can download it. Thanks.

We absolutely do care about issues affecting OBS and its users. However, all of the people who provide help in these forums are volunteers, so there's no telling when, or if, someone will be able to help on a specific thread or issue.

I apologize in advance for the length of this reply, but it seems there's a lot to unpack here. For a quick summary, I'd guess that the Windows 10 Creators Update changed something and is the actual heart of your issue.


As @Osiris mentioned, OBS hasn't changed how it handles GPU resources. It's more likely that Windows has changed how it prioritizes and allocates resources to game and non-game processes.

Are you actually running overclocked? I ask because with an OC, all bets are off regarding system stability. If you're overclocking, helpers in this forum, myself included, will often ask you to reproduce the issue at stock speeds to make sure to rule out the overclock as a culprit so we can avoid chasing ghosts.

A log file with a recording/streaming attempt would have contained most of your settings information, and it would have given information to help identify where the bottleneck is in the rendering pipeline. I understand that the issue occurs even when not recording/streaming, but then it would also likely occur when recording/streaming, so the logs would reflect this.

Just tried 8 older OBS versions (with default settings) and 2 older graphics drivers. I'm still getting the issue. I really have no clue what is going on here, but what I do know is that I was NEVER required to limit my GPU usage for OBS to work properly.

The fact that older versions of OBS and your GPU drivers exhibit the same behavior on your system would seem to indicate that OBS is not causing this issue, but being affected by something else. Again, my guess would be OS updates. See below.

Yeah, I believe this would of happened around the Creators update.
[...]
Really can't emphasize enough how I never used to have to do this.though.

OS updates can absolutely affect any software running on that machine, and it's been demonstrated pretty reliably that some OS updates can cause issues with games or OBS - for example, the Windows 10 Anniversary Update and the Windows 10 Creators Update (Version 1703, Build 15063, released March 2017; not to be confused with the Creators Update being released in Fall 2017). The fact that this didn't occur before, but it now occurs, and you're pretty sure it now occurs only after updating to the Windows 10 Creators Update further indicates an OS update as the cause of the issue.

On Windows 10 Creators Update (Version 1703, Build 15063) and later, the Gaming Features (Game Bar, Game DVR, and Game Mode) can affect system resource usage and availability. Game DVR features can cause the system to record game footage in the background. Game Mode can cause the OS to prioritize games for resources, making other software, such as OBS, not have enough resources to properly function. You may want to check if those are enabled. If they are enabled, consider disabling them and testing again.

There are also a myriad many other things that could have changed on your system due to an OS update, a driver update, a game update, or an install/update of some other software, that OBS has little to no control over. It's also possible that you simply got lucky and all of the conditions aligned for perfect performance with non-capped games.

I run OBS on Windows 10 Creators Update (Version 1703, Build 15063) on hardware that's a few generations behind (i5-3570K, GTX760, 60Hz monitors). I cap game FPS at the monitor refresh rate (60 FPS) and set the game graphics to something reasonable. I can run OBS and the games with no real issue, though I usually encode at 30FPS instead of 60FPS.

Win10 Creator Fall Update will start to roll out in a few days, but I don't have much hopes that it will improve the situation.
Would be interesting to see someone test the same problem between Win10 Creator Update and Win10 Anniversary Update.
I think I only saw one guy in this forum, that tried to reproduce the GPU overload problem with Win10 vs. Win7 and he said that Win7 + OBS was handling the 100% GPU load totally fine, without those stutters in the recording/stream.

@BK-Morpheus
Yes, Windows 7 and Windows 10 handle graphics differently. I would not go so far as saying that Windows 7 handles graphics better, but it does seem to handle some cases better. For the vast majority of people and use cases, the differences are negligible, as far as I'm aware.

 

[Average_Joe_YT]

I'm having a similar issue. For two games in particular, PUBG and Ghost Recon Wildlands. Never really had this issue before but two of my YouTube videos looked laggy. I thought it was the YouTube encoder but when I checked my frames in Premiere there were sections of the recording where 3-6 frames were repeated.

For both of these videos I was recording both gameplay and facecam within OBS. I DID NOT notice if OBS was dropping below 60fps because I did not think to check that. I also have a 144hz monitor so I try to get as close to that in terms of in-game fps.

My PC is running an I7-7700K with 16GB of RAM, a GTX 1080, and Win 10. The only thing I can think is that these games are fairly hardware demanding and my GPU is getting worked quite a bit.