X264 causes frame drops with super low CPU usage

[Duxcro]

Here is something interesting i found out. I had very unstable streams with a lot of dropped frames in OBS. Despite twitch bandwidth test showing my speed is more than enough. So i was streaming using X264 encoder on my new R9 5900X CPU. Which is a 12 core/ 24 thread ZEN 3 beast.
Absolutely no encoding overload warning in OBS. Tried slower preset. OBS + game i was playing = around 40% total system CPU usage. Tried slow preset. 20-30% total system CPU usage. Constant frame drops and that square in the bottom right of OBS constantly going into red.
Then i switched to new NVENC encoder. Super stable stream. Square was green all the time even after i increased the bitrate.
So i thought, could it really be possible that this mighty ZEN 3 CPU isn't up to the task? So i switched back to X264 encoder again. This time with fast preset. 15-25% total system CPU usage. game+ OBS encoding+ everything else running. Dropping frames, square going into red, stuttering in OBS preview window.
Is it really possible that OBS is so bad at using X264 encoder? Because my CPU sure as hell isn't underpowered. And this is for 720P/ 60 stream. Sigh. :/

https://obsproject.com/logs/49ToKNI-8C6usV7E

 

[R1CH]

Dropped frames are a network issue, not CPU. See https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/dropped-frames-disconnecting-lag-read-this-first.8870/

 

[Duxcro]

Then why isn't it happening at all with NVENC encoder and me increasing bitrate? Doesn't make any sense. Only X264 encoder causes dropped frames. If it was network issue, then it would drop frames regardless of encoder. Especially since i said CPU usage is very low. Something wrong in the OBS code?

 

[R1CH]

Your log shows dropped frames on all sessions.

 

[Duxcro]

It is 10X worse with CPU encoding

 

[Gryzek]

You can set process priority to above normal or high (advanced-->general)

 

[memeyou]

I noticed this exact thing. Using 5950x i was using NVENC for 8 hours with 0.2% dropped frames. I switched to CPU because it was using 17% of my 3090 and even though the cpu was at 10%, I was getting crazy dropped frames 5-10%. It's not a network issue. Priority already set to high.

 

[memeyou]

I believe I solved my issue with the guide provided by OBS Project. https://obsproject.com/wiki/Dropped-Frames-and-General-Connection-Issues - Special emphasis on TCP Pacing and the other advanced features. I noticed huge all the dropped frames were huge chunks of still data during idle periods. I believe on an underutilized system this can cause network issues; ie bursting and causing the losses.

 

[memeyou]

Touching up - 45500 frames in.... 1080p/60fps from Hawaii to Cali (2500 miles) with Zero dropped frames during peak traffic.

 

[danilo.canavesi]

[QUOTE = "R1CH, postagem: 491856, membro: 60"]
Seu log mostra frames perdidos em todas as sessões.
[/CITAR] podem me ajudar com a versao nova 26.1.1 nao esta achando minha placa de video, so abre opcao software x264

 

[memeyou]

please create a new thread - this is not a spanish speaking thread.

 

[Jascmu]

I am experiencing the exact same issue. I have a dual PC setup with an i9 10850k and a RTX2060 in my streaming computer, and I can run NVENC new with my RTX 2060 and it has no dropped frames, usually less the 1%. I switch it to x264 and i get over 70% dropped frames. This is more than a network issue, same network and no issues on one but then huge issues on the other. Why is this happening?

 

[Jascmu]

so using the dynamic bitrate feature just totally solved my issue!