Question / Help OBS PREVIEW(literally the preview, not recording or streaming) FRAME DROPS.

[alpinlol]

Since you didnt post a Log I can only assume that you are running at least a double monitor setup and one of them is according to you a 144Hz Monitor and the second one probably a 60Hz Monitor. I base that assumption on the fact that you said a capture card would be set as a 3rd Monitor.

Did you try to leave the OBS Window on your main monitor? Also you can hide the Preview Window in Studio.

 

[Sylv]

So I have been searching EVERYWHERE for a possible explanation to this because it is actually ridiculous.

As the title says, I am getting frame drops on my PREVIEW when I am tabbed into a game. No, I will not post a log because I am not streaming or recording. I have heard and seen this too many times from other forum posts. It is happening with every game I play. When tabbed in, the preview will be 50-58 fps and maybe touch 60 every once and a while but never consistently but AS SOON AS I tab out, the preview will stay at a stable 60 fps the whole time until I tab back in. I WILL SAY THIS, capping in game fps DOES help but for people like myself who have 144hz and need our fps to get as close to that as possible, this is not at all a solution to the issue. PUBG gets 90-160 fps at any random times so capping them, again, is not an option. What is seriously pissing me off is the fact that IM NOT EVEN RECORDING OR STREAMING, ITS A FREAKING PREVIEW. I am beyond agitated at this. PLEASE, help.
Game Mode is turned off, no external recording stuff is happening, all drivers up to date, latest windows 10 version, 64 bit(does it on 32 bit version as well,) and as said, all games do it.

Hi I know the post is old but I recently had this problem in Apex Legends. What fixed it for me was changing my monitor to 60hz from 144hz. It's not ideal but my obs ran way perfectly at 60fps after that.

 

[TheChill]

OBS is always using some of your GPU to render the composited scene output, regardless if the encoder is active or not.

Running a game without vertical sync or a frame rate limiter will frequently cause performance issues with OBS because your GPU will be maxed out. Enable vsync or set a reasonable frame rate limit that your GPU can handle without hitting 100% usage. If that's not enough you may also need to turn down some of the video quality options in the game.

If none of that works, then you need to invest in a more powerful GPU that can keep up with what you're trying to do.

None of this is the cause of the preview stutter. I get it every game, whether Window, Display or Game capture, with or without FPS cap, at 30 or 60 FPS capture, VSync or not, and with every hint, tip or suggestion in place that anyone has ever thrown at this issue in over two years.

It isn't a hardware issue, it happens across every conceivable combination of hardware. It is a fundamental issue and a well-documented one.

One screen, multi-screen, one PC, multi-PC, GSync on or off, VSync on or off, SLI on or off, single card, multi-card, AMD, Intel or nVidia, Game Mode on or off, multiples of 30 Hz, 29.94 Hz, overclock or underclock, high, low, or real-time priority, CPU affinity, DPC latency, Windows 7, 8 or 10, fullscreen optimisations on or off, registry this, drivers that, Bios the other. Innumerable folk have sought to resolve the issue over the years and nobody has. Not one single person across the entire Internet has presented a solution.

I think it is time to formally address it.

 

[captcrunchbarry]

I am having this same issue after recently switching to a 144hz monitor. My streams were buttery smooth. Simply switching to the 144hz monitor has caused my stream to lag and be unwatchable. Same hardware. Same settings. The only solution I have found is to switch my monitor to 60hz and also running the game in windowed mode (with a border) seems to work - neither of which I really want to do.

 

[Narcogen]

Please post a logfile.