Question / Help Sub par performance on 1950x streaming PC

[xBloodxTitanx]

Hey guys,

Im hoping that yall may be able to assist with the issues im running into with my new streaming PC setup.
For starters, my most recent log can be found here: https://gist.github.com/e59405016a5e9ef94b6d5f7aa8bb6561
So, the issues im running into are overencoding at the faster preset built into obs.
I do have a few x264 options in place that I was told to use by LTRoyalShrimp and those are threads=27 ref=4 aq-mode=3
I also have a few animated scenes playing videos, but ive got all those set to disable when not active which I was under the impression should reduce the load when they arnt pulled up.
I am using a razer ripsaw to grab the capture from my gaming PC and an elgato cam link for sweet sweet camera action.

I can get the stream to run on fast, but if im doing stuff like flicking my mouse around in fortnite it starts to overncode and drop frames.

Here is an example of that on fast: https://mixer.com/BloodTitan?vod=22588232

The stream looks pretty good on those settings, but the frame dropping kills those clutch moments of gameplay.

This is what my stream looks like with my current settings: https://mixer.com/BloodTitan?vod=22622951

Im not sure what else to try with this. I have read a few things where people are saying run quad channel DDR4 but I unfortunately cant afford that just yet, but am running 16gb @ 3600mhz in dual channel.
I also am overclocked to 3.9Ghz on all 16 cores running at 1.3125 volts.
I was able to get up to 4 but ive had like 2 blue screens so I pulled it back a hair.

Im kinda at a loss for what else to do to get the stream down to medium which seems to be the sweet spot of quality imo. The only thing running on the streaming PC is obs, streamlabels and scorpbot which uses maybe like 3% proc during high use.

Maybe its the gpu since im using my old 660ti in this one?

I have yet to pull my titan XP from my gaming pc to check.

Any thoughts on what I can do to get this to settle down and run at a slower encoding rate (not at slower) would be much appreciated. I feel as if ive almost wasted my money at this point.

Ill be home all day today and tomorrow, so if someone wants me to throw up a test stream on mixer or twitch just let me know and we can hash stuff out.

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[Boildown]

Post a log that shows you actually streaming for at least 5 minutes of high action gameplay.

Unless you're a cam girl, don't run your webcam at full resolution, it wastes USB bandwidth and slows your system down. (If you are a cam girl, don't encode your game at full resolution). Instead set the webcam to something like 540p, or even smaller.

The Razor Ripsaw is a USB device, as is your webcam. They're going to compete for bandwidth and possibly can saturate the USB connection all by themselves. Find out which ports are on which usb root hub and make sure they're on root hubs all by themselves. If you only have 2 root hubs, put the Ripsaw on the USB 3.0 root hub all by itself, and everything else on the other one.

Consider getting a real (i.e. PCIe) capture device and return / ebay away that Ripsaw.

Are you gaming on this same PC, or are you capturing a console / other PC?

The 660Ti is more than fine.

For now drop the "ref=4 aq-mode=3" but keep the "threads=27".

 

[xBloodxTitanx]

Thanks for the suggestion Boildown!

I tried removing the ref=4 and aq-mode=3 but didnt really get much of a change in usage.

As for the ripsaw, unfortunately its all i can afford right now, but I do have it running on a PCIe expansion card instead of straight through the back of the motherboard just so try and help with bus issues.
I do plan on upgrading to either a hd60pro or 4k60pro but thats gonna be a bit of a ways away.

This is a dedicated streaming pc that im pushing everything through the ripsaw to.

I have a lot of scenes that are like full webcam stuff that I switch to at various times so dropping the res for the cam-link is something I really need to try and avoid.

Im going to try and get a clip but unfortunately with mixer it takes hours to download vods. Ill get it though, just gonna take a little bit.

 

[vapeahoy]

Why overclock it at all? 720p/60 here works down to 2.4ghz on slow preset on a ryzen 8 core, allthough dedicated. And i play much faster games with much higher pixel density. I would have kept the threadripper at 3.4ghz. It should really be fine. Replace the gpu asap, get quad channel and it should be really good.

 

[xBloodxTitanx]

The purpose of all of this is to go up to 1080p, not to stay at 720p. I am able to do 720p 60fps on slow just fine, but thats not the target im trying to hit. As for the gpu it doesnt seem like its actually the source of any of the issues. The highest its hitting is 40%. I also cant really do quad channel memory right now since ddr4 is so outrageously expensive, but I will look into that in the future.

I was able to record a short video showing what im running on my streaming PC and what its like in game play.

There is some weird clicking going on at the beginning but that doesnt show up when watching the vod back on the site. I think its just something that was introduced during my download.

https://youtu.be/3kI_P2bvEHY

 

[vapeahoy]

I was merely suggestin that a cpu as powerful one as 1950x, overclocking it would need careful checking of that it's really stable. In this regard it may prove to be stable, but your still trying to do a lot of things at once, without running at quad channel as is intended for the platform. Yet 16 cpu cores sits in there, saying whats up, wheres my data... video just loaded so checking that.

 

[vapeahoy]

Awfully choppy at times there. The advice u were given above about usb devices is also very good, especially in regard to video devices.Do PCI-E everything. If u must use bandwidth consumption heavy usb devices, make sure its running on a powered, dedicated usb hub. Check your motherboard manual or ask manufacturer if necessary, for any IRQ shares, ie f.ex usb 01 or 23 internal ports are shared with f.ex pci-e slot 4. Avoid anything that is shared. Use whatever is shared for just 1 thing or type of category. Avoid mixing where you can.
Also forget elgato or avermedia capture cards. Black magic all the way, superior bar none driver support. You will not regret it.

 

[xBloodxTitanx]

Vape do you have any recommendations for memory? I may still be within the window to try and return my current set of ram and see if I cant get my hands on a quad channel kit. Would probably have to drop the speed because of price difference but Im willing to give it a shot

 

[TexRagoon]

I have a 1950x @4.2ghz at 1.375 core voltage and a 1080ti... I was getting horrible performance with x264. I switched to NVENC which at 6000 bitrate looks just as good as x264 and no issues.

forgot to mention this is at 1080p60fps

Also, as for my overclock... 4.2ghz is across all 16 cores and the voltage is well under the 1.45 recommended max voltage. You still have room to crank yours up from 3.9.. Mine is water cooled and temps stay around 55c max during gaming. When I was using x264 my temps were in the upper 70's and even on slow preset the quality looked off for whatever reason.

 

[vapeahoy]

Well on my 2 ryzen systems, I've had to underclock the memory for absolute stability. I do believe threadripper's architecture should be superior to that, and at least you have the benefit of going quad channel to feed those cores so.
If i would buy new memory again, I would buy from this list:
https://www.gskill.com/en/press/view/g-skill-releases-amd-compatible-trident-z-rgb-kits
I would not worry too much about ram speed for amd, even tho it has benefits.
For streaming, only absolute stability matters.

 

[vapeahoy]

and get 4 sticks, 8 isnt necessary to enjoy quad channel, 4 also allows u a bit snappier timings, uses less power/better trace route internally for the motherboard.

 

[xBloodxTitanx]

Cool, I went ahead and just pulled the trigger on the return. Gonna drop it off and see how quickly they issue my refund. Im tempted to throw this single 8 gig stick I have in just so I can sorta stream while I wait lol gonna do like 720p 30fps or something

 

[vapeahoy]

Well u should do it anyway just to see how that compares to dual channel. For the lolz but also for the experience and knowledge it will gain you about your pc.

 

[Videophile]

You definitely want 3200mhz or 3600mhz quad channel ram - The Ryzen chips benefit massively from ram speed.

 

[Boildown]

Replace the gpu asap, get quad channel and it should be really good.

As for your GTX 660Ti, I completely disagree. You have no reason to replace it. Its more powerful than the 750 / 950 /1050 [Ti]s that I normally recommend for streaming PCs.

I tried removing the ref=4 and aq-mode=3 but didnt really get much of a change in usage.

I have a lot of scenes that are like full webcam stuff that I switch to at various times so dropping the res for the cam-link is something I really need to try and avoid.

So setting the ref and aq-mode manually doesn't make sense until after you've settled on the x264 preset you're going to use. Until that point, let the preset take care of it. Setting those now is like sanding with 1000 grit before you've used 200 grit.

Even if you're 100% sure that a full resolution webcam will be part of your final setup, as a diagnostic step, get rid of it and get your stream working without it as a complicating factor.

 

[vapeahoy]

He's playing on the same pc, so no, replace the gpu. With that gpu, it will pour into the cpu usage, which wont help much with any cpu encoding for stream.

 

[BornDownUnder]

@vapeahoy,
First reply of @xBloodxTitanx states it is a dedicated streaming setup, using a capture card to send the data to:
'This is a dedicated streaming pc that im pushing everything through the ripsaw to.'

Not attempting to be an arse, just clearing up the misunderstanding that's all.

 

[vapeahoy]

Well if it can't even do fast and it's fully dedicated, yeah somethings quite wrong.
Dedicated streaming pc doesn't need a gpu at all, just remote into it and dedicate a monitor to it.

 

[Boildown]

Dedicated streaming pc doesn't need a gpu at all, just remote into it and dedicate a monitor to it.

Again, not true. OBS needs a non-crappy (i.e. GTX or AMD equivalent, not GT) GPU to do video compositing or something like that. It cannot go headless or use any garbage GPU. But that said, there's no reason to go super high end either on a dedicated encoding PC. The GTX 750/950/1050 series is more than enough, and its what I recommend because those are both cheap and can do the better Maxwell series (and up) NVEnc encoding.

 

[vapeahoy]

Streaming pc doesn't need to have obs.