Question / Help Stutter in stream/preview. No rendering/encoding lag.

relaksmedia

New Member
i have spent countless hours since my last reply trying to get rid of this issue. I have recently upgraded to a Ryzen 7 3700x (PBO enabled) system, it’s paired with a Gigabyte x570 Master board, 32gb of DDR4 3200 and an Strix ROG RTX 2070 super. Having mentioned that I though I should be able to run the game at 1440p and record without any issues, sadly I did. I have a dual monitor setup (144hz and 60hz).
I have tried countless measures to make even just the OBS preview run smooth, now I think I am up to something. I have set the preferred refresh rate to FAST or ADAPTIVE through NVCP and so far it has given me decent results. I will post more details as soon as I am done testing this thoroughly.
 

Whiskey

New Member
TL:DR (Dedicated Stream PC) Disabling Simultaneous Multithreading running CPU at 16 core 16 threads got rid of the stutter

So I finally got rid of the stutter this evening. I myself am running a 2 PC stream setup. And before the fix, I would watch the obs preview of my capture and every 20-30 seconds there would be frame stuttering without even recording or streaming. I thought it was the capture card, so I bought another one...in which that one did the same thing. Mind you I am running a beast of a PC. CPU is a Ryzen 3990x. GPU is a 2080ti. I ended up returning the new capture card I got and had them send me a new one. that one did the exact same thing. So I messed around with Ryzen master.

Went in Ryzen master and turned on Game profile which limited cores to 16 and threads to 32. problem still occurred with stuttering.
So I went back into Ryzen master and while keeping game profile enabled, I disabled Simultaneous Multithreading. Doing that sets the cores to 16 and threads to 16. and lone behold the problem was gone. I have no more stutters any more.

So my guess is OBS doesn't like anything running higher than 16core/16 thread? Not entirely sure, but it is completely gone for me now for the first time in 3 years. I don't know how that will help the people running single pc stream setups with the same issue. but it's something finally.
 

Kraezy

Member
Will try that myself.
Just recently (in the last week) upgraded from a i7-4770k / 980ti to a 3900x / rtx 3070 (self build)
Still getting the preview jitters (2 x 144hz monitors, even with both set to 120hz or 60z)
Will confirm back if simultaneous multithreading options works for me.
 

Whiskey

New Member
Yeah it's super strange. When I run the PC with the default amount of cores and threads on creator mode (64/128) or on game mode (16/32) and set OBS to only use 8 cores and 8 threads within task manager I still get the jitters. But even with Simultaneous Multithreading turned off on creator mode which makes its 64/64 the jitters still happen. But only when I run the PC as I said with 16/16 does it get rid of it. I am wondering if it is software related with OBS because there is no reason for hardware to actually be the issue. I keep messing around with it in the time being because 16/16 isn't exactly the best way to be running a PC, it just seemed strange that of all things, that is what fixed it for me.
 

SodGawd

New Member
Yeah it's super strange. When I run the PC with the default amount of cores and threads on creator mode (64/128) or on game mode (16/32) and set OBS to only use 8 cores and 8 threads within task manager I still get the jitters. But even with Simultaneous Multithreading turned off on creator mode which makes its 64/64 the jitters still happen. But only when I run the PC as I said with 16/16 does it get rid of it. I am wondering if it is software related with OBS because there is no reason for hardware to actually be the issue. I keep messing around with it in the time being because 16/16 isn't exactly the best way to be running a PC, it just seemed strange that of all things, that is what fixed it for me.

Ryzen 9 3900XT, RTX 3070 Ventus X3 OC GPU here

I am having the same issue in regards to the stuttering; I also get encoder lag after about 30 or so minutes of recording. The logs don't look out of the ordinary. I have had success when I use the Custom (FFMPeg) record setting when I set the audio to FLAC. No clue why this is ok when the aac seems to bomb.

I will try your suggestion of the simultaneous multithreading (set to OFF in Game Mode Ryzen Master) tonight.
 

Jessie907g

New Member
I have the same issue and I really can't find a fix or solution anywhere. It's not just when I record or stream. OBS's preview screen stutters as well and it's almost always in the span of 5-6 seconds of each stutter while still stating constant 60fps.

[Video Log]
 

NovaWar

New Member
I also have this issue and it's spanned multiple PCs in a two PC environment.

Went from a 5820k based dedicated streaming PC to a 3900X rebuild with a 1660 and still have the same issue. Tried, as suggested by someone else, to disable hyper threading but that didn't do anything unfortunately.

Occurs with both an Elgato 4k Pro and a Magewell 4k Plus. Also have seen the issue in both PC and console inputs, though the console (Switch) seems to present it less often and less aggressively.

Like others, the behaviour is also visible when OBS is simply idling with the preview window up - not streaming or recording. At first I thought it was just the preview but it makes its way into the stream or recording as well.

I can say that it also happens in Xsplit with roughly the same behaviour, and it also happens in the Elgato 4k Capture Utility.

I've tried different 120hz and 144hz EDIDs for both capture cards to see if it made a difference but it hasn't seemed to.

This is either a REALLY specific Windows + hardware issue, or something really weird. I can't begin to fathom what it is but it drives me crazy because there's no reason the streaming PC should have a single frame out of place given the spec and uncomplicated A/V chain.
 

NovaWar

New Member
I also have this issue and it's spanned multiple PCs in a two PC environment.

Went from a 5820k based dedicated streaming PC to a 3900X rebuild with a 1660 and still have the same issue. Tried, as suggested by someone else, to disable hyper threading but that didn't do anything unfortunately.

Occurs with both an Elgato 4k Pro and a Magewell 4k Plus. Also have seen the issue in both PC and console inputs, though the console (Switch) seems to present it less often and less aggressively.

Like others, the behaviour is also visible when OBS is simply idling with the preview window up - not streaming or recording. At first I thought it was just the preview but it makes its way into the stream or recording as well.

I can say that it also happens in Xsplit with roughly the same behaviour, and it also happens in the Elgato 4k Capture Utility.

I've tried different 120hz and 144hz EDIDs for both capture cards to see if it made a difference but it hasn't seemed to.

This is either a REALLY specific Windows + hardware issue, or something really weird. I can't begin to fathom what it is but it drives me crazy because there's no reason the streaming PC should have a single frame out of place given the spec and uncomplicated A/V chain.

I've now tested on my Gaming PC only, using monitor capture just to see if the same behaviour exists in a single PC, single monitor, fresh OBS install, fresh scene and it does. It presents exactly the same way.

I can only assume, given this is now confirmed on both Intel and AMD, both single and dual PC setups, that it is in fact something with how the capture software(s) are getting their video and interacting with Windows.

Hopefully this is taken seriously enough to be looked into as it's likely more prevalent than it seems.
 

fatmatrow

Member
I've now tested on my Gaming PC only, using monitor capture just to see if the same behaviour exists in a single PC, single monitor, fresh OBS install, fresh scene and it does. It presents exactly the same way.

I can only assume, given this is now confirmed on both Intel and AMD, both single and dual PC setups, that it is in fact something with how the capture software(s) are getting their video and interacting with Windows.

Hopefully this is taken seriously enough to be looked into as it's likely more prevalent than it seems.
I have been having this exact same problem with a Ryzen 1700x and a 1070 FE. Nothing is maxing out, I skip, drop, and miss a neglible amount of frames over an 8 hour stream, but I still get the stutter. Nothing is maxing out. nothing is overloading. It just these little stutters no matter what I stream, even extremely non demanding games! X264 does it, NVENC does it, I just started streaming again a month ago after a year break and I never had any of these issues before
 

WoW.Rambler

New Member
I am experiencing the same problem. Source is set to 60 FPS and is rock solid. On recordings I get doubled frames and miss others. It hurts to watch.
OBS does not communicate any anomalies, that is missed or skipped frames.
I prepared a simple test that each frame rendered has its own number. I clearly see that all frames render fine, but some of them are missing from the recordings.

What I diagnosed so far the problem is related to XRGB video format on my frame grabber. YUY2 or other 4:2:0 are OK. Unless I choose RGB/I444 in OBS. Then it does not matter - happens it can even lag the encoder. It is encoder independent (affects both x264 and NVENC).

Another case is the game capture mode. Eventually, it ends up the same - missed/doubled frames.

My spec (Win10 20H2):

Ryzen 5900X
32GB RAM
RTX 3060 ti
AVerMedia CL511-HN (supports up to 4:4:4 10-bit RGB and YUV)

Also tested on Asus Zephyrus G14 (Ryzen 4800HS, GTX 1660 ti, 24GB RAM) with game capture mode. Recordings get affected as previously described.

Oh, I did not mention the storage. It does not matter much in my case as I tried SSD, HDD (WD Purple) and RAM Disk. So disk IO is not the culprit here.
 

fatmatrow

Member
I am experiencing the same problem. Source is set to 60 FPS and is rock solid. On recordings I get doubled frames and miss others. It hurts to watch.
OBS does not communicate any anomalies, that is missed or skipped frames.
I prepared a simple test that each frame rendered has its own number. I clearly see that all frames render fine, but some of them are missing from the recordings.

What I diagnosed so far the problem is related to XRGB video format on my frame grabber. YUY2 or other 4:2:0 are OK. Unless I choose RGB/I444 in OBS. Then it does not matter - happens it can even lag the encoder. It is encoder independent (affects both x264 and NVENC).

Another case is the game capture mode. Eventually, it ends up the same - missed/doubled frames.

My spec (Win10 20H2):

Ryzen 5900X
32GB RAM
RTX 3060 ti
AVerMedia CL511-HN (supports up to 4:4:4 10-bit RGB and YUV)

Also tested on Asus Zephyrus G14 (Ryzen 4800HS, GTX 1660 ti, 24GB RAM) with game capture mode. Recordings get affected as previously described.

Oh, I did not mention the storage. It does not matter much in my case as I tried SSD, HDD (WD Purple) and RAM Disk. So disk IO is not the culprit here.
I've tried everything I can think of, I'm hoping a video card upgrade fixed my issue, since while mines not maxed, it's still being pushed really hard. I've already done a clean install of windows and a clean install of the driver, to no avail. I've set up obs with just gameplay, still does it.
 

fatmatrow

Member
Hey guys seems lije the same problem i’m trying to get out off... not finding a fix to be honest but close to pin pointing the cause I think when I run the Vsync test it seems that obs is not in sync with the capture.
I noticed this the other day as well on my setup. I have also found it starts stuttering if your frames go below refresh rate. I found a way to force it to happen, and it would be smooth, the frames would dip in the game for less than a second, and then from then on, the display capture, window capture and game capture would just stay stuttering
 

lacie_mouse

New Member
I've tried everything I can think of, I'm hoping a video card upgrade fixed my issue, since while mines not maxed, it's still being pushed really hard. I've already done a clean install of windows and a clean install of the driver, to no avail. I've set up obs with just gameplay, still does it.

i bought a 3080 and it was not a fix xD anybody found anything?
 

lacie_mouse

New Member
I got a 3060 ti, still had it, then copied my friends nvidia control panel settings for everything and now everything is fine. Although with COD: Cold War, specifically I find that not running OBS as admin is the only way everything works right, which is weird,
Does your friend also have a 3060ti? Is it possible you send it to me?

running obs as admin is really important ;-) it gives less problems then!
 

fatmatrow

Member
I got a 3060 ti, still had it, then copied my friends nvidia control panel settings for everything and now everything is fine. Although with COD: Cold War, specifically I find that not running OBS as admin is the only way everything works right, which is weird,
Does your friend also have a 3060ti? Is it possible you send it to me?

running obs as admin is really important ;-) it gives less problems then!
typically this is true, but apparently I've found a situation where it causes issues with a game
 

SteevE-G

New Member
Hello, no solution here, but same problem, every 12 minutes on my PC.
( i9 10900K + Nvidia RTX 3090 )

I don't know if we will find a solution one day but it's probably an issue related to Windows. I don't have a 2-PC setup, but if I had that I would try to use Linux on the streaming PC, I'm pretty sure it works better ☺

If someone find any solution one day, please update everyone here. It'll be very appreciated!
 

fatmatrow

Member
Hello, no solution here, but same problem, every 12 minutes on my PC.
( i9 10900K + Nvidia RTX 3090 )

I don't know if we will find a solution one day but it's probably an issue related to Windows. I don't have a 2-PC setup, but if I had that I would try to use Linux on the streaming PC, I'm pretty sure it works better ☺

If someone find any solution one day, please update everyone here. It'll be very appreciated!
A linux streaming PC is extremely inpractical because it's hit or miss if hardware works and ndi isn't an option because delivering it thru obs still gets a stutter. Works better but is useless lol
 
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