Question / Help OBS preview frames dropped when selecting game window

[VividThought]

When I play a game, Overwatch for example, the game itself is smooth as butter. However, the preview's framerate drop around 30fps (I'm trying to record my videos 720p 60fps). When I click out of the game, the preview shoots up to around 60 fps and you can see everything running smooth.
Same exact thing generally applies when do I hit "start recording".

I have Windows 10 gaming mode disabled, I haven't overclocked my PC as far as I know, and the MSI gaming app is also turned off.

Log:
https://gist.github.com/0492af47463b6595e0688afcd10e6a1a

 

[BK-Morpheus]

Recording or Streaming attempt is missing in your log file.
From what you describe, I would bet, that you have render lag aka GPU overload.
When you click out of the game, the game itself might reduce GPU load (as most games drop to 30fps when out of focus), that's why OBS fps drop, as soon as the game is active again.
Solution would be an ingame fps limit.

 

[VividThought]

Alright, so I've tried dropping down to 30 fps on OBS and setting the in-game framerate cap to 30 fps as well.
Here's what I've got:
https://gist.github.com/901ee8577647a8fe959cf54c5717c996

(obs then dropped to 15 fps)

 

[BK-Morpheus]

Log shows one recording with 60fps an this has 56.1% render lag:
Number of lagged frames due to rendering lag/stalls: 1903 (56.1%)

Then a 30fps recording with 25,3% render lag
Number of lagged frames due to rendering lag/stalls: 277 (25.3%)

Then another 30fps recording with
Number of lagged frames due to rendering lag/stalls: 12448 (47.3%)


So it still looks, like your GPU load is maxed out.
Are you sure that the test with ingame fps limit to 30fps was really working with 30fps (if so, Overwatch must have been nearly unplayable)?
You could use GPU-Z to monitor your GPU load, while playing, to see if the GPU load stays under 90% load.

edit: any reason, why monitor_capture and game_capture are used in parallel in the same scene?
This can reduce performance.

 

[VividThought]

Sure, I can throw off monitor capture too. That was just for me to record my art stuff.

Overwatch has been fully playable even while recording. No frame drops, and has a constant 30fps.

(turns out that the max it'll play is 40 fps when I do uncap the frames).

On the other end, GPU-z says that the GPU load is always 97%-99%.

If it's a GPU problem, I can always just save up for a stronger GPU and maybe a CPU while I'm at it.
This is what I kinda get for starting off with a budget build, hah!