Question / Help Stream stutters with CPU Faster Preset [Logs, Examples and Specs Included]

[Deckerd]

MAIN INFORMATION:

Streaming PC Specs:
Intel i7 3770k 3.50ghz
Nvidia Asus 660GTX
8gb Ram

Log File:
https://gist.github.com/2cb006ede7a6fc8d1191

Example:
https://youtu.be/1zzYI0tNNK0?t=2m5s
This clip starts in CPU Preset of Very Fast and then changes to Faster (You'll see the change at 3:35)

Issue:
I was playing Gears of War: UT last night and was livestreaming it and saw that there was a quite a lot of blurring when I was sprinting or turning, so I decided to try fix it by putting my CPU Preset to Faster, which I've heard the Intel i7 can easily handle. Well as you can see from the clip, there is a lot of stutter when the change is made.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards
Deckerd

 

[WilliamBarrows]

Something like this is to be expected when you lower the preset too much. If you use a preset more intensive than your CPU can handle, the stream is going to lag. This means you're stuck at veryfast for now. If you want to improve the quality, you can either stay at veryfast with a higher bitrate (although 2500 is already the most you should ever use), lower resolution, or a lower framerate. If you use a lower resolution/framerate the stream will also use less CPU, so if you can't do faster at, say, 1080p your CPU might handle it at 720p for example.

It's not really clear from your log what resolution/framerat/fps you usually stream at. You seem to switch around alot between 720p and 1080p in the log. Also, 1080p60fps at any reasonable bitrate is unrealistic for all but the most high-end setups. If you want 1080p you'll be limited to 30fps if you want good quality.

Also, does your capture card work with 64bit OBS? Using 64bit OBS on a 64bit OS will give better performance than 32bit OBS on the same system.

 

[AndehX]

William, I'm not sure you fully understand the issue here (don't get me wrong, I fully appreciate your help, as does Deckerd)
We both have the same CPU, which is more than capable of doing 1080p 60fps on the Faster preset, because we've both been streaming with that setup for months.
The issue here is that something has changed recently that is no longer allowing us to stream at these settings. Personally believe its something to do with Twitch, because for me, streaming to Hitbox shows no issues at all, but rest assured, our system are more than capable of streaming at the desired settings because we've been doing so for quite some time.

 

[WilliamBarrows]

I don't do any high-end streaming myself, but I know from posts of other people on this forum that the general consensus is that 1080p60fps in good quality is pretty extreme, hence my concerns regarding it. However since we're talking about a dedicated streaming box here (which I hadn't realized when I wrote my first message) it might still work, although I still don't buy that it produces great quality at a bitrate like 2500. In general 2500kbps is a little high anyways, as 2000kbps is watchable for a broader audience.

If the problem was that these settings suddenly don't work anymore but used to work in the past, then Deckerd should have presented the issue this way. Anyways, if this is in fact a new issue that only occurs with twitch you have the option of boykotting twitch and moving to hitbox. Or trying to optimize the stream further to compensate for twitch's shortcomings. If this is really twitch's fault, there's unfortunately not much you can do about it.

As far as optimizing the stream goes:

1. Make sure you're using 64bit OBS if possible.

2. Have nothing running alongside OBS while streaming (especially not chrome, which is known for screwing with OBS)

3. Make sure you're using the best possible twitch server for streaming, it's possible the one that you used to use is no longer optimal for whatever reason. You should use something like this tool to find out.

 

[Deckerd]

Thanks for all your posts William, that's great help ^_^

As for 64bit OBS, I would much prefer to run at 64bit BUT my Elgato HD60 Pro Drivers don't have 64bit support at the moment! Which is annoying! >=[

EDIT: THEY JUST RELEASED 64 BIT VERSION! :D