Question / Help Tips on learning/fine-tuning settings?

[Eonofaeon]

So I've been streaming on n off for a few years now. My biggest frustration beyond unstable (work) hours is...I feel like I could be doing better quality streams (especially now that I've got a really good gpu n cpu compared to my old set up) but...I don't know how.

I don't know enough about OBS settings, or how stuff precisely changes what, or how to learn/teach myself what to do.

The estimator doesn't go into specifics enough I feel to be a perfect tool for fine tuning, and most guides barely touch on how to fine tune CPU settings.
I was hoping I could list my rig here, I can upload logs if needed, and perhaps someone can point me to some things I can try to learn form or maybe teach/tell me some basic info?

In full disclosure, I plan to OC to 3.5 or 3.6 GHz on my 6 core very soon, owing to a shiny n big fat after market cooler it required just to run normally, which cooled it so much and I have so many extra power in my rig unused I figure I can afford a bit of a OC now.

Rig
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T (6 core)
Speed: 3214 Mhz
RAM: 8172 MB
2 monitors: 1680 x 1050
1440 x 900
GPU: NVidia Geforce GTX 960

OBS Settings
------
Encoder: x264
CBR: Yes
CBR Padding: Yes
Quality: 8 (Greyed out, cannot change)
Custom Buffer: No
Max & Buffer: 2000 kb/s
Codec: AAC
Birate: 128
Format: 48kHz
Channel: stereo
--------
Base: 1680x1050
Output: 2.00 (840x524)
Filter: Bilinear
FPS: 30
----
Multithreaded optimizations: Yes
Process priority: Normal
Scene buffering time: 700 MS
Disable encoding while preview: No
X264 Preset: Veryfast
Keyframe interval: 2
CFR: Yes

 

[Boildown]

So for the AMD CPUs up to the 8350 and including all the Phenom series, you really have to halve the number of cores they say it has to figure out how many it effectively really has.

So I'd call that one a three-core, not a six-core.

That said, I do five minute high-action encodes (whether streaming or recording to disk) and then look at the Total Frames Duplicated. If that statistic is greater than 1%, then I know I need to decrease my settings. If that statistic is closer to 0% than 1%, then I figure I might be able to slightly increase my settings.

I make a change, stream for a while (minimum of five minutes, but its more accurate the longer it is), look at the statistics, make another change, repeat. Do this enough and I know what the max settings are that I can do for the game, stream resolution, and framerate. And I know that for a stream or recording to look good, the Total Frames Duplicated needs to be under 1%, and I aim for .5% to provide a margin of error and for normal variability.

TL;DR, use scientific method, constant testing, hypothesizing, and testing some more, using the statistics available in the OBS logs.

 

[Eonofaeon]

I know AMD loves to stack cores onto a CPU rather than make each core better but...how does a physical 6 core become a '3 core'?

Also where do I look at this duplicated stat n other stats? I can test that stuff out if that's the case.
Any other numbers/stats to look at/for when considering a drop/jump in quality?

Speaking of quality...any reason why my 'Quality Balance' option is stuck greyed out at 8?

 

[Boildown]

I know AMD loves to stack cores onto a CPU rather than make each core better but...how does a physical 6 core become a '3 core'?

Well, those AMD cores are similar to the hyper-threaded cores on Intel CPUs. I wouldn't call an i7 4770 an eight core CPU, its a quad core, with hyperthreading. That "six" core AMD will perform like a three-core in any meaningful way as far as video encoding is concerned. It certainly is not better than a true i5 quad core without hyperthreading despite its supposed extra cores, don't get it twisted.

Also where do I look at this duplicated stat n other stats? I can test that stuff out if that's the case.
Any other numbers/stats to look at/for when considering a drop/jump in quality?

Its in the log file. As I said:

then look at the Total Frames Duplicated. If that statistic is greater than 1%, then I know I need to decrease my settings.

The main things to adjust are preset and resolution. Other stats are unlikely to show up in a record to disk, but if you get dropped frames when streaming, then there's a problem sending to the internet.

Speaking of quality...any reason why my 'Quality Balance' option is stuck greyed out at 8?

No idea. Post a new log file from a five minute encode when you've tweaked your settings as good as you're able (fast-action content), and maybe can fine tune some things.

 

[sam686]

AMD Bulldozer and Piledriver (including AMD FX) have half of modules then total number of threads. Windows 8 and later likes to display number of modules as "cores" in task manager. Phoenum Phenom CPU are not part of this threads sharing module.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_microprocessors#K10_core_architecture

Looking at benchmarks websites, Phoenum Phenom may be a little slow for different reasons, mostly they are very old.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/146?vs=697
Edit: spell fix

 

[Eonofaeon]

Well base and actual game resolutions are 1680x1050, and I'm downscaling by a ratio of 2.0.
I checked the log and after hour n a half, I had a duplicated of about 2.9%.

I know in past years with my shittier 2.8 amd phenom ii x4 925 quad, I never had audio/video desync issues but now with mirrors edge at least (and/or possibly Overwatch? Have to check stream) I'm starting to have desync issues that grow worse over time.
DIdn't have issue with 2016 DOOM either.

I'm trying out Superfast preset atm, and I will say my 3.2 6 core is about to be OC'd to 3.6 or so this weekend to start....realistically, will the OC help me much with regards to streaming quality or....?