System requirements

[PATTS Media]

I have been doing video production and streaming for PPV events that take a lot of graphic production and have been using Vimeo Live stream and Macs. We are starting to do live streaming of high school sports that are not as graphic and production intensive. I am looking for some direction on system requirements for using OBS to live stream high school sports using a Windows OS, since it seems most people feel it works better on this set up. Since the equipment is being moved, I need to use laptops instead of a tower PC. I currently have a couple of Dell laptops that I bought last year with the following specs:

Windows 11 Pro
Intel i5
16GB RAM

We will be sending out the video at 720

Will this system handle running OBS?

 

[koala]

A professional streaming laptop should contain a discrete GPU. The Intel iGPU might be sufficient, but depending on filters and sources it might not be powerful enough for compositing. Best results are with Nvidia GTX and RTX discrete graphics because of their Nvenc hardware encoder. Make sure it's a reasonable recent GPU from the 2000, 3000 or 4000 series, older ones might be not supported any more in the not too far future.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

I personally prefer business class computers over consumer, and have a soft-spot for Tier 1 workstation laptops... but for workloads more than OBS Studio. The nice part of such systems (other than thin 'n light) is much better thermal dissipation to avoid thermal throttling.
Beware indicating an 'Intel i5' ... doesn't tell us much of anything due to different generations and models within those generations
More importantly, what is your expectation of system lifespan? But, I'm all for using what you have when practical. As Koala mentioned, the GPU will make a difference depending on the sophistication level involved.
For simple 720p30, NO filters/effects, plugins, etc, with a mid-range 15th gen Intel i5 with iGPU, and careful attention to background processes, you should be fine. You many need to do basic Operating System optimizations (turning off default eye-candy and other CPU hogging settings/features). But start thinking chromakeying, audio noise reduction, fancy overlays, etc... all can drive up CPU usage, meaning you'll want to do some full length testing, and I'd advise some real-time hardware resource utilization monitoring to make sure you aren't approaching any bottlenecks.. Also, you'll want to test if using Studio Mode (2X rendering workload) drives your system into overload. And, I'd recommend looking into how to identify with your specific make/model of laptop, how to identify when thermal throttling is taking place

Presuming use of cellular networks to stream (vs local site Internet connection), I'd still assume you'd be able to get decent 1080p30 with a good 5G signal ... but lots of variables that could also interfere
- good reason to record locally, in case something happens with cell network (ex. overload with other parents)
- I'd advise recording at higher resolution (native camera resolution) vs streaming 720p setting, BUT that means 2nd encoder session and you'd need to have system capability to support that... which you may or may not have

If important to avoid getting yet another laptop, see threads in this forum in recent years on optimizing under-powered computers for streaming.

The bottom line is that you might be fine with a 4-5 year old laptop, or you could cripple of brand new US$5-10K workstation, it just depends. What one streamer considers overkill/unnecessary, another thinks is a base level requirement. No way for us to know what you are thinking/planning in compositing sophistication

 

[Superior Videos]

I personally prefer business class computers over consumer, and have a soft-spot for Tier 1 workstation laptops... but for workloads more than OBS Studio. The nice part of such systems (other than thin 'n light) is much better thermal dissipation to avoid thermal throttling.
Beware indicating an 'Intel i5' ... doesn't tell us much of anything due to different generations and models within those generations
More importantly, what is your expectation of system lifespan? But, I'm all for using what you have when practical. As Koala mentioned, the GPU will make a difference depending on the sophistication level involved.
For simple 720p30, NO filters/effects, plugins, etc, with a mid-range 15th gen Intel i5 with iGPU, and careful attention to background processes, you should be fine. You many need to do basic Operating System optimizations (turning off default eye-candy and other CPU hogging settings/features). But start thinking chromakeying, audio noise reduction, fancy overlays, etc... all can drive up CPU usage, meaning you'll want to do some full length testing, and I'd advise some real-time hardware resource utilization monitoring to make sure you aren't approaching any bottlenecks.. Also, you'll want to test if using Studio Mode (2X rendering workload) drives your system into overload. And, I'd recommend looking into how to identify with your specific make/model of laptop, how to identify when thermal throttling is taking place

Presuming use of cellular networks to stream (vs local site Internet connection), I'd still assume you'd be able to get decent 1080p30 with a good 5G signal ... but lots of variables that could also interfere
- good reason to record locally, in case something happens with cell network (ex. overload with other parents)
- I'd advise recording at higher resolution (native camera resolution) vs streaming 720p setting, BUT that means 2nd encoder session and you'd need to have system capability to support that... which you may or may not have

If important to avoid getting yet another laptop, see threads in this forum in recent years on optimizing under-powered computers for streaming.

The bottom line is that you might be fine with a 4-5 year old laptop, or you could cripple of brand new US$5-10K workstation, it just depends. What one streamer considers overkill/unnecessary, another thinks is a base level requirement. No way for us to know what you are thinking/planning in compositing sophistication

I am at the end of my rope at the moment trying to overcome my streaming problems.
For a while now, the bitrate in OBS has been dropping to zero and today it dropped and stayed there.
I have been blaming the program because my wifi is solid 5g.
I have been using the same laptop for about 3 years (HP I5, 8gig ram)
Generally a 2 camera setup with 1 image and 1 media input.
I have checked my processes when the problem is occurring but there are no unusual cpu drawers.
I even tried Vmix to se if it made any difference and I thought it had until the cpu went up to 98% and the stream failed.
I don't know if a gaming laptop is the answer. I just keep throwing more money at it with no result.
Doug

 

[qhobbes]

@Superior Videos , in many cases, wireless connections can cause issues because of their unstable nature. Streaming really requires a stable connection. Often wireless connections are fine, but if you have problems, the first troubleshooting step would be to switch to wired. We highly recommend streaming on wired connections. If still having issues, then

Please post a log with your issue! Here's how...

OBS Studio creates a log file each time you run it which contains very useful diagnostic information. Without a log file, it's much harder for any support volunteers to figure out problems and your post may be ignored. To upload a log file, go to the Help menu > Log Files > Upload Last Log...

obsproject.com

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

I am at the end of my rope at the moment trying to overcome my streaming problems.
For a while now, the bitrate in OBS has been dropping to zero and today it dropped and stayed there.
I have been blaming the program because my wifi is solid 5g.

5G (5th Gen) typically refers to a cellular connection, having ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with WiFi.
And even really good WiFi can have LOTS of problems you don't notice on data traffic that is NOT jitter/latency sensitive. This includes all streaming traffic which has buffers built in on client side to overcome minor network 'glitches' (but will cause the problems you are facing). Where you might be able to see such issues is with web conferencing, but even then, those systems have patented techniques to 'hide' the non-constant bitrate of typical home networks
So unless you have and are trained in network engineer real-time monitoring tools, you'd be hard pressed to actually notice all but the worst WiFi issues. So plenty of 'well, the WiFi works for everything else' will fall flat on its face for livestream/CBR traffic which by its nature is much more demanding ... just the nature of the beast. And WiFi can work fine one day and not the next, and that not be unusual (especially in denser urban areas) or even a residential house with lots of WiFi devices and a consumer WiFi access point.

I have been using the same laptop for about 3 years (HP I5, 8gig ram)

Again, as I wrote earlier... an i5 is not sufficiently descriptive .. .we need actual model number (generation) and helpful to know if there is also a discrete GPU. And what provides that is the OBS Studio log
and 8GB of RAM is on the low side (depending on laptop, usually not difficult to upgrade)... maybe.. you wrote checking processes, are you also watching hardware resource utilization (CPU, GPU, RAM, Disk I/O?) ... when troubleshooting, you need to know how your system is doing, or you are doing the equivalent of driving blind-folded

Generally a 2 camera setup with 1 image and 1 media input.
I have checked my processes when the problem is occurring but there are no unusual cpu drawers.

the issue is that a CPU (OR RAM, or Disk I/O) spike in utilization could have happened BEFORE the issue starts... sometimes checking Task Mgr - Processes once a problem starts can help, but a lot can be missed waiting to monitor until after problem starts

I even tried Vmix to se if it made any difference and I thought it had until the cpu went up to 98% and the stream failed.
I don't know if a gaming laptop is the answer. I just keep throwing more money at it with no result.

Do yourself a favor... pay attention to the pinned post in this forum as qhobbes indicated (link also in my .sig) about posting that in your own, new thread an OBS Studio log from a session where you had a problem.
a 3yr old i5 with a properly configured OBS Studio (not 4K video, no CPU intensive plugins, no resource hog encoding settings, etc) should work fine.... presuming the Operating System working cleanly/efficiently ... with only 8GB of RAM, I suspect some turning off of default background processes & eye candy could be helpful (but depends), and disabling stupid app vendors (including Microsoft) that set apps (like Edge, Office, etc) to auto-start (in the background) with the OS ... and file sync apps. etc..

However, all of this really is pointless if you don't test with a wired Ethernet connection, shortly after a fresh OS reboot.

 

[Superior Videos]

5G (5th Gen) typically refers to a cellular connection, having ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with WiFi.
And even really good WiFi can have LOTS of problems you don't notice on data traffic that is NOT jitter/latency sensitive. This includes all streaming traffic which has buffers built in on client side to overcome minor network 'glitches' (but will cause the problems you are facing). Where you might be able to see such issues is with web conferencing, but even then, those systems have patented techniques to 'hide' the non-constant bitrate of typical home networks
So unless you have and are trained in network engineer real-time monitoring tools, you'd be hard pressed to actually notice all but the worst WiFi issues. So plenty of 'well, the WiFi works for everything else' will fall flat on its face for livestream/CBR traffic which by its nature is much more demanding ... just the nature of the beast. And WiFi can work fine one day and not the next, and that not be unusual (especially in denser urban areas) or even a residential house with lots of WiFi devices and a consumer WiFi access point.


Again, as I wrote earlier... an i5 is not sufficiently descriptive .. .we need actual model number (generation) and helpful to know if there is also a discrete GPU. And what provides that is the OBS Studio log
and 8GB of RAM is on the low side (depending on laptop, usually not difficult to upgrade)... maybe.. you wrote checking processes, are you also watching hardware resource utilization (CPU, GPU, RAM, Disk I/O?) ... when troubleshooting, you need to know how your system is doing, or you are doing the equivalent of driving blind-folded


the issue is that a CPU (OR RAM, or Disk I/O) spike in utilization could have happened BEFORE the issue starts... sometimes checking Task Mgr - Processes once a problem starts can help, but a lot can be missed waiting to monitor until after problem starts



Do yourself a favor... pay attention to the pinned post in this forum as qhobbes indicated (link also in my .sig) about posting that in your own, new thread an OBS Studio log from a session where you had a problem.
a 3yr old i5 with a properly configured OBS Studio (not 4K video, no CPU intensive plugins, no resource hog encoding settings, etc) should work fine.... presuming the Operating System working cleanly/efficiently ... with only 8GB of RAM, I suspect some turning off of default background processes & eye candy could be helpful (but depends), and disabling stupid app vendors (including Microsoft) that set apps (like Edge, Office, etc) to auto-start (in the background) with the OS ... and file sync apps. etc..

However, all of this really is pointless if you don't test with a wired Ethernet connection, shortly after a fresh OS reboot.

I am about to do some more testing today.
I have found a potential contributing factor in the cpu usage .
There was a process that was randomly kicking in that I have disabled. It was spiking the cpu to 98%
My anti virus was also using too much so I turn that off while using OBS.
OBS on it's own with my setup only uses around 20% and 40% total with the system processes so I am confident my laptop is fine.
As I have mentioned in the past, I don't spend my time streaming games so I don't think I need to upgrade.
I may be kidding myself but since making these changes, I have done a number of 1 hour test streams without the bitrate dropping.
I will keep you informed.

 

[Superior Videos]

5G (5th Gen) typically refers to a cellular connection, having ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with WiFi.
And even really good WiFi can have LOTS of problems you don't notice on data traffic that is NOT jitter/latency sensitive. This includes all streaming traffic which has buffers built in on client side to overcome minor network 'glitches' (but will cause the problems you are facing). Where you might be able to see such issues is with web conferencing, but even then, those systems have patented techniques to 'hide' the non-constant bitrate of typical home networks
So unless you have and are trained in network engineer real-time monitoring tools, you'd be hard pressed to actually notice all but the worst WiFi issues. So plenty of 'well, the WiFi works for everything else' will fall flat on its face for livestream/CBR traffic which by its nature is much more demanding ... just the nature of the beast. And WiFi can work fine one day and not the next, and that not be unusual (especially in denser urban areas) or even a residential house with lots of WiFi devices and a consumer WiFi access point.


Again, as I wrote earlier... an i5 is not sufficiently descriptive .. .we need actual model number (generation) and helpful to know if there is also a discrete GPU. And what provides that is the OBS Studio log
and 8GB of RAM is on the low side (depending on laptop, usually not difficult to upgrade)... maybe.. you wrote checking processes, are you also watching hardware resource utilization (CPU, GPU, RAM, Disk I/O?) ... when troubleshooting, you need to know how your system is doing, or you are doing the equivalent of driving blind-folded


the issue is that a CPU (OR RAM, or Disk I/O) spike in utilization could have happened BEFORE the issue starts... sometimes checking Task Mgr - Processes once a problem starts can help, but a lot can be missed waiting to monitor until after problem starts



Do yourself a favor... pay attention to the pinned post in this forum as qhobbes indicated (link also in my .sig) about posting that in your own, new thread an OBS Studio log from a session where you had a problem.
a 3yr old i5 with a properly configured OBS Studio (not 4K video, no CPU intensive plugins, no resource hog encoding settings, etc) should work fine.... presuming the Operating System working cleanly/efficiently ... with only 8GB of RAM, I suspect some turning off of default background processes & eye candy could be helpful (but depends), and disabling stupid app vendors (including Microsoft) that set apps (like Edge, Office, etc) to auto-start (in the background) with the OS ... and file sync apps. etc..

However, all of this really is pointless if you don't test with a wired Ethernet connection, shortly after a fresh OS reboot.

Ok. I have just done some more testing with both OBS and Vmix.
Vmix stayed stable while OBS dropped to zero on many occasions.
Most of the time it recovered but eventually it stayed there and the stream could not be stopped so I had to force close the program.
I tried the other laptop with only OBS installed and it failed as well.
I connected to another 5g modem and also failed.
I am getting stable 5g 30mbps upload
Both laptops are *HP - 14-DH1018TU PAV X360 i5 8gig ram
I have uploaded 3 log files and they all went to zero at some stage
The ndi and srt sources were not active on any of the streams.
Generally, there were 2 capture devices and 1 media source.

https://obsproject.com/logs/E5kLceMhmz45BdOf



https://obsproject.com/logs/8KI7xz9djLO53mrq

https://obsproject.com/logs/8tBIiEfFFpdoyVxI

 

[qhobbes]

Dropped frames/lower bitrate is strictly a network issue. OBS doesn't dictate the stability or available bandwidth of the network connection between your computer and the server you're streaming to. No one has ever reported this type of issue when streaming to a RTMP server that runs on the same computer as OBS does because there is no network involved.

Read over this

Dropped frames/disconnecting/lag? Read this first!

NOTE: This thread contains EVERY piece of dropped frames / disconnect / network related advice we can give. If you really truly honestly super duper actually 100% tried everything in this thread (including replacing hardware), and you STILL have issues then the problem is somewhere along the...

obsproject.com

OBS can't fix this but it can work with what you got. It's either dropped frames or dynamic (lower) quality frames. I'd stick with the dynamic frames.

 

[Superior Videos]

Dropped frames/lower bitrate is strictly a network issue. OBS doesn't dictate the stability or available bandwidth of the network connection between your computer and the server you're streaming to. No one has ever reported this type of issue when streaming to a RTMP server that runs on the same computer as OBS does because there is no network involved.

Read over this

Dropped frames/disconnecting/lag? Read this first!

NOTE: This thread contains EVERY piece of dropped frames / disconnect / network related advice we can give. If you really truly honestly super duper actually 100% tried everything in this thread (including replacing hardware), and you STILL have issues then the problem is somewhere along the...

obsproject.com

OBS can't fix this but it can work with what you got. It's either dropped frames or dynamic (lower) quality frames. I'd stick with the dynamic frames.

That's interesting because I have read a number of posts on this forum trying to solve the same issue.
I am not saying OBS is causing the issue, just that it may not be able to cope with the change in bandwidth.
I don't like comparing programs but if vmix can stay stable with the same computer and modem then OBS should be able to as well.

 

[rockbottom]

All I see at the end of those logs is failures and connection errors. No server connections were successful...

12:37:47.938: Camlink: data.GetDevice failed
12:37:47.938: Camlink: Video configuration failed
12:37:48.204: WASAPI: Device 'Speaker (Realtek(R) Audio)' [48000 Hz] initialized (source: Desktop Audio)
12:37:48.555: camlink 2: data.GetDevice failed
12:37:48.555: camlink 2: Video configuration failed
12:37:49.157: Camlink 3: data.GetDevice failed
12:37:49.157: Camlink 3: Video configuration failed
12:37:49.705: HD60: data.GetDevice failed
12:37:49.705: HD60: Video configuration failed
12:37:50.110: error: Connection to srt://192.168.1.204:5000?redacted_parameters I/O error
12:37:50.122: MP: Failed to open media: 'srt://192.168.1.204:5000?redacted_parameters
12:37:50.153: [Media Source 'Media Source 3']: Disconnected. Reconnecting...
12:37:52.090: error: Connection to tcp://192.168.1.167:1935?tcp_nodelay=0 failed: Error number -138 occurred
12:37:52.090: error: Cannot open connection tcp://192.168.1.167:1935?tcp_nodelay=0
12:37:52.090: MP: Failed to open media: 'rtmp://192.168.1.167:1935'
12:37:52.113: [Media Source 'gopro Live']: Disconnected. Reconnecting...
12:38:03.161: error: Connection to srt://192.168.1.204:5000?redacted_parameters I/O error

 

[Superior Videos]

All I see at the end of those logs is failures and connection errors. No server connections were successful...

12:37:47.938: Camlink: data.GetDevice failed
12:37:47.938: Camlink: Video configuration failed
12:37:48.204: WASAPI: Device 'Speaker (Realtek(R) Audio)' [48000 Hz] initialized (source: Desktop Audio)
12:37:48.555: camlink 2: data.GetDevice failed
12:37:48.555: camlink 2: Video configuration failed
12:37:49.157: Camlink 3: data.GetDevice failed
12:37:49.157: Camlink 3: Video configuration failed
12:37:49.705: HD60: data.GetDevice failed
12:37:49.705: HD60: Video configuration failed
12:37:50.110: error: Connection to srt://192.168.1.204:5000?redacted_parameters I/O error
12:37:50.122: MP: Failed to open media: 'srt://192.168.1.204:5000?redacted_parameters
12:37:50.153: [Media Source 'Media Source 3']: Disconnected. Reconnecting...
12:37:52.090: error: Connection to tcp://192.168.1.167:1935?tcp_nodelay=0 failed: Error number -138 occurred
12:37:52.090: error: Cannot open connection tcp://192.168.1.167:1935?tcp_nodelay=0
12:37:52.090: MP: Failed to open media: 'rtmp://192.168.1.167:1935'
12:37:52.113: [Media Source 'gopro Live']: Disconnected. Reconnecting...
12:38:03.161: error: Connection to srt://192.168.1.204:5000?redacted_parameters I/O error

None of those were active at the time but they still show on the log.
There were only 2 capture devices connected. The others are just listed in the sources but not connected.
I have removed them for the next test but at the moment , I will be using another method to stream until it's sorted.

 

[rockbottom]

CPU is weak, clean up errors/failures. You have no wiggle room for waste.

 

[rockbottom]

Disable Game DVR that should save some resources.

You're going to have trouble with NDI on that system. A discreet GPU is required. Intel or Nvidia are recommended.

 

[Superior Videos]

I am monitoring my cpu as I go.
There is nothing out of the ordinary being used other than system and I can't disable that.
CPU is running around 40%
As mentioned. I am not using the NDI or SRT inputs

 

[rockbottom]

I'd need to see the complete log to offer any advice. I have no idea what settings you're using, the logs above were all truncated & there was no encoding sessions. 40% seems OK for x264 using the very fast preset. If you're encoding using QSV, it sounds too high.

 

[Superior Videos]

I'd need to see the complete log to offer any advice. I have no idea what settings you're using, the logs above were all truncated & there was no encoding sessions. 40% seems OK for x264 using the very fast preset. If you're encoding using QSV, it sounds too high.

I don't know what logs to post other than what the program gives me. I was streaming in all 3 of these sessions.
I can replicate the bitrate drop by opening a speed test while stream is active..
When the upload test is being done, the cpu goes to 98% and the bitrate dives.
I can assure you I don't open any browser during a normal stream and there is no other traffic on my hotspot.
I have been using the same laptops and settings since 2020 and for the most part has been working fine.
I have done a reset on my OBS settings and removed NDI.
I noticed at one stage that unchecking the dynamic box, the bitrate stable but I was a bit premature in my excitement.
I will be streaming again tomorrow but I will probably use Vmix until I can sort this out.

 

[rockbottom]

Open OBS, stream for a few minutes/stop, close/re-open OBS & post the previous log.

qhobbs posted the link for network issues/help above. You're clearly having network issues, so you should use that resource.

 

[Tomasz Góral]

That's interesting because I have read a number of posts on this forum trying to solve the same issue.
I am not saying OBS is causing the issue, just that it may not be able to cope with the change in bandwidth.
I don't like comparing programs but if vmix can stay stable with the same computer and modem then OBS should be able to as well.

Only one session streaming i see.
How you monitoring network?
My self use winmtr to this.
Some times i change route via vpn or use additional rtmp server to restream signal.
Internet is many different networks, on edge can be some problems.
One times i streaming from conferences, 3 stream, 2 by one network and last one via other network, 2 stream via university network with 70% lost, but i send signal to my own rtmp server and restream to target server and got 100% success.

 

[Superior Videos]

Only one session streaming i see.
How you monitoring network?
My self use winmtr to this.
Some times i change route via vpn or use additional rtmp server to restream signal.
Internet is many different networks, on edge can be some problems.
One times i streaming from conferences, 3 stream, 2 by one network and last one via other network, 2 stream via university network with 70% lost, but i send signal to my own rtmp server and restream to target server and got 100% success.

I'll see how I go tomorrow. All testing today has been stable apart from a couple of glitches but I think Vmix is going to be the better option otherwise I will stream directly from the camera.