Question / Help OBS Stream won't reach 30 FPS

[Arctic_Wolf]

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am relatively new to OBS and am just trying to figure how to optimize the settings for twitch streaming. Unfortunately the built-in optimization doesn't quite do the trick--while my FPS in games is just fine, the FPS of my OBS stream is lower than I'd ideally like, generally hovering in the 20-25 range. While I don't think it's a huge issue, it's definitely borderline of the absolute lowest frame rate I'd want to stream at, and I'd really like to have it at a solid 30 FPS. And as I recently built a new PC, I don't think it should have too much trouble streaming 1080p at 30 FPS.

Specs of the PC are:

Intel i7-4790k @ 4.5 GHz
16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum at 2400 MHz (DDR3)
ASUS STRIX GTX 770 4GB (at stock settings, I've not OC'd my GPU)
2 Samsung 850 Pros in RAID 0 (I get about 1GBps read/write out of this, my OS drive is damn fast)
1 Seagate 500 GB 7200 RPM drive for additional storage

And all of this is liquid cooled and running on a Z97 Gigabyte Gaming-Black-Wifi-Super-long-ass-name-nobody-cares-about Motherboard.


I've played around with the encoding settings going as high as 6000 for each the Max Bitrate and Buffer Size in various configurations. I've used the x264 encoder, the Quick Sync, and the Nvidia NVENC, all of which gets my stream up to maybe a stable 25 FPS max. (though I've seen it peak as high as 27 fps) I've left the audio settings the same, and generally haven't messed around with anything from other settings as I don't really know what I'm doing, with the exception of switching between the custom 1920x1080 and 'monitor' section of Base Resolution (which didn't make much of a difference as I expected). So if someone out there reads this and could give advice on how to optimize my stream fps (remember, in-game I'm fine) I'd be quite appreciative :D.

 

[FerretBomb]

What game are you trying to stream?
What x264 encoder preset are you running?
What else is running on your system while trying to stream (other than OS level services)?

As noted when you opened the thread, please post a logfile from a live streaming session greater than 5 minutes in length.
https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/problem-make-sure-to-post-a-log-and-or-crash-dump-howto.97/

Also, on Twitch, unless you're a Partnered streamer, it is not recommended to exceed 2000kbps, which is not enough for a 1080 stream; the golden point for non-partnered streamers is 720p, 30fps, 2000kbps. Any left-over CPU can be used for a slower encoder preset which will look better at the same bitrate (but is not a magic bullet).

All that said, just about any i7 should be able to stream 1080p on Veryfast at 30fps, at 3000-3500kbps, unless the system is loaded down with crapware or the game being played is poorly coded (like Arma III, BF4, and a few others).

 

[Arctic_Wolf]

Hi there, thanks for the reply. So I now have a new problem, in addition to the previous one. A link to my past test broadcast can be found here: http://www.twitch.tv/arctic_wolf_lol/b/589585348

What I did not realize as well, when I first posted this, is that once my game loaded (I'm trying to stream league for fun and so I can review my games) you couldn't actually see anything on the screen. It was just darkness with a cursor and some league sounds. I had monitor capture on, is there something else required? You can see it go black around 20:00. Thanks for your assistance thus far!

-Arctic_Wolf

EDIT: I'm not sure if this will help, it's the only log I have of the day that stream ran, but it seems like a rather small file for my longest test run. Uploading log in attachment

 

[alpinlol]

13:25:30: Windows Version: 6.1 Build 7601 S
13:25:30: Aero is Enabled

13:25:30: Using Monitor Capture

windows 7 with aero enabled and using monitor capture, this is not going to work and results in really low and choppy fps on obs

solutions:
-use game capture for all games if possible if not use window capture (aero enabled)
-use game capture or monitor capture (aero disabled

as you can see game capture doesnt really care yet usually its better to have aero disabled anyway on win7


and you might want to set your buffer 1:1 to your bitrate so technically just disable the custom buffer

 

[Arctic_Wolf]

Hello Alpinlol,

Your suggestions seemed to have done the trick! Once adding 'game capture' and making sure the league client was properly set to be captured, I average 28.9 FPS and I can actually display the game streaming instead of a black screen and just a cursor moving about randomly. Many thanks to both you and FerretBomb for the assistance.

 

[alpinlol]

Hello Alpinlol,

Your suggestions seemed to have done the trick! Once adding 'game capture' and making sure the league client was properly set to be captured, I average 28.9 FPS and I can actually display the game streaming instead of a black screen and just a cursor moving about randomly. Many thanks to both you and FerretBomb for the assistance.

glad i could help you :) have fun streaming