OBS Slowing My System to a Crawl

[User1234]

I'm transitioning to a new computer, and I'm having trouble getting OBS to work correctly. Works fine on the old one. On the new one, when I start OBS, the system slows dramatically. I don't even have to record/stream/virtual camera. It slows as soon as OBS starts. The problem persists even after OBS is shut down. However, the system returns to normal upon restart. This problem also persists after shutting down all non-essential background processes. So, OBS seems to be the likely culprit.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Here is what I've done so far:
1. I checked the utilization of system resources. Nothing seems strange. The only significant change when OBS is started is that the GPU utilization jumps to 20-25 percent, which seems reasonable. Utilization ceases when OBS is closed down. That said, given the system and the fact that the problem persists after closing OBS, seems unlikely that this is a resource problem.
2. That said, I've also tried reducing the base frame rate and resolution. As a baseline I've been using the settings from my old computer, which is significantly more limited, and I still have problems.
3. I've tried running OBS as an administrator.
4. I'm not familiar enough with OBS to understand all of the details of the log file, but I compared the log file from the new computer to the one from the old one. There were no errors present that were not present in the old log.
5. Everything in the log file regarding the system is correct, except for one thing -- OBS seems to think that my OS is Windows 10 23H2 rather than Windows 11 23H2.
6. I've toggled Windows GPU manager, and I've tried manually fixing the settings for OBS to both high and low priority.

System description:
OS: Windows 11, version 23H2, build 22631.2861
Processor: Intel Xeon W7-3445 2.59 GHz
Memory: 128GB
GPU: NVIDIA RTX A4500

Here is a log file: https://obsproject.com/logs/Og9LOhBGKw0mNzpq

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

I'm transitioning to a new computer, and I'm having trouble getting OBS to work correctly. Works fine on the old one. On the new one, when I start OBS, the system slows dramatically. I don't even have to record/stream/virtual camera. It slows as soon as OBS starts.

OBS is doing the heavy lifting creating the Preview Screen. 2X workload if in Studio Mode. Actual Streaming/Recording is taking that already composited content and outputting it

The problem persists even after OBS is shut down. However, the system returns to normal upon restart. This problem also persists after shutting down all non-essential background processes. So, OBS seems to be the likely culprit.

or OBS is calling a 3rd party process (example GPU related or other?) and that process remains running after OBS Studio closes?

3. I've tried running OBS as an administrator.

Recommended usually ONLY for GPU scheduling issues typically on under-powered /overloaded systems. Really bad security practice

5. Everything in the log file regarding the system is correct, except for one thing -- OBS seems to think that my OS is Windows 10 23H2 rather than Windows 11 23H2.

Thank Microsoft for that nonsense

I'd recommend cleaning up (disabling) global audio devices not in use

That log file does NOT include a Recording and/or Streaming session, therefore missing critical details, like which encoder you are using.
Did you use a GPU encoder offload (ex NVENC) and now using a CPU based encoder?

 

[User1234]

Thank you for taking a look!

or OBS is calling a 3rd party process (example GPU related or other?) and that process remains running after OBS Studio closes?

I'll take a look at that. It does seem like a possibility.

I'd recommend cleaning up (disabling) global audio devices not in use

Do you mean disabling them in the OS? Or do you mean disabling them in OBS? If the latter, there are none.

That log file does NOT include a Recording and/or Streaming session, therefore missing critical details, like which encoder you are using.
Did you use a GPU encoder offload (ex NVENC) and now using a CPU based encoder?

Did not realize that was relevant even though the problem appeared without recording. Here is a log file that includes a short recording session, and yes, I am using the GPU (.

Log with recording session: https://obsproject.com/logs/cA4vU7TpfMlUNBa6

And again thank you!

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

Do you mean disabling them in the OS? Or do you mean disabling them in OBS? If the latter, there are none.

Yes - I meant Disabling in OBS Studio > Settings > General. I thought I saw various unused Audio sources in old log.. maybe not

Nothing jumps out at me with this latest log. Have you run it through the Log Analyzer? (see my .sig for quick link)

 

[User1234]

Yes - I meant Disabling in OBS Studio > Settings > General. I thought I saw various unused Audio sources in old log.. maybe not

Nothing jumps out at me with this latest log. Have you run it through the Log Analyzer? (see my .sig for quick link)

Thank you for trying help me with this. I did run it through the analyzer before posting, and nothing popped up. I also looked for processes that continued to run after closing OBS as you suggested. However, I didn't find anything. I think I'm just going to throw in the towel at this point and wait to see if a future iteration of OBS solves whatever problem I'm having. Really not sure what else to do!

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

The likelihood that a future OBS Studio release will address your issue is probably REALLY low.. to nearly non-existent
Most likely the issue is an audio or video driver, or related component, (based on threads in this forum) or Win11 itself (see MS history on every other desktop OS release for last 23.5 years ... since WinME, especially).

As for Global Audio devices, your log has

09:15:27.683: [win-wasapi: 'Desktop Audio'] update settings:​

09:15:27.683: device id: {0.0.0.00000000}.{7d3a4024-d0ba-4cfa-853c-4db17aed42f6}​

09:15:27.683: use device timing: 1​

09:15:27.685: [Loaded global audio device]: 'Desktop Audio'​

09:15:27.685: [win-wasapi: 'Mic/Aux'] update settings:​

09:15:27.685: device id: {0.0.1.00000000}.{d0f9fcd7-a8c1-4b0a-bead-f4919b788320}​

09:15:27.685: use device timing: 0​

09:15:27.685: [Loaded global audio device]: 'Mic/Aux'​

09:15:27.685: [win-wasapi: 'Mic/Aux 2'] update settings:​

09:15:27.685: device id: {0.0.1.00000000}.{f2cc6172-0a7d-4289-9adf-c365909b2603}​

09:15:27.685: use device timing: 0​

09:15:27.685: [Loaded global audio device]: 'Mic/Aux 2'​

09:15:27.686: [win-wasapi: 'Mic/Aux 3'] update settings:​

09:15:27.686: device id: {0.0.1.00000000}.{53166f62-26d0-446e-ac43-36eb25bf5c1c}​

09:15:27.686: use device timing: 0​

09:15:27.686: [Loaded global audio device]: 'Mic/Aux 3'​

09:15:27.686: [win-wasapi: 'C922 Bottom'] update settings:​

09:15:27.686: device id: {0.0.1.00000000}.{53166f62-26d0-446e-ac43-36eb25bf5c1c}​

09:15:27.686: use device timing: 0​

09:15:27.686: [WASAPISource::TryInitialize]:[{0.0.0.00000000}.{7d3a4024-d0ba-4cfa-853c-4db17aed42f6}] Failed to enumerate device: 80070490​

09:15:27.686: WASAPI: Device '{0.0.0.00000000}.{7d3a4024-d0ba-4cfa-853c-4db17aed42f6}' failed to start (source: Desktop Audio)​

09:15:27.687: [WASAPISource::TryInitialize]:[{0.0.1.00000000}.{f2cc6172-0a7d-4289-9adf-c365909b2603}] Failed to enumerate device: 80070490​

09:15:27.687: WASAPI: Device '{0.0.1.00000000}.{f2cc6172-0a7d-4289-9adf-c365909b2603}' failed to start (source: Mic/Aux 2)​

09:15:27.687: [WASAPISource::TryInitialize]:[{0.0.1.00000000}.{d0f9fcd7-a8c1-4b0a-bead-f4919b788320}] Failed to enumerate device: 80070490​

09:15:27.687: WASAPI: Device '{0.0.1.00000000}.{d0f9fcd7-a8c1-4b0a-bead-f4919b788320}' failed to start (source: Mic/Aux)​

09:15:27.687: [WASAPISource::TryInitialize]:[{0.0.1.00000000}.{53166f62-26d0-446e-ac43-36eb25bf5c1c}] Failed to enumerate device: 80070490​

09:15:27.687: WASAPI: Device '{0.0.1.00000000}.{53166f62-26d0-446e-ac43-36eb25bf5c1c}' failed to start (source: Mic/Aux 3)​

09:15:27.688: [WASAPISource::TryInitialize]:[{0.0.1.00000000}.{53166f62-26d0-446e-ac43-36eb25bf5c1c}] Failed to enumerate device: 80070490​

09:15:27.688: WASAPI: Device '{0.0.1.00000000}.{53166f62-26d0-446e-ac43-36eb25bf5c1c}' failed to start (source: C922 Bottom)​

that is for you to clean up/address

Below that I see Yeti Left, Yeti Right and the Logitech webcam