I am kinda lost

Kaim95

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Aug 4, 2015
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4,510
Hello guys,

right now I really dont know what to do. Last month I got an idea that I am gonna stream. So I upgraded a little bit my computer with i5 4690 CPU and SSD disk, so my spec right now is:

CPU- intel i5 4690
GPU- nvidia GFORCE 650 Ti
Mobo- Gigabyte z97-D3H
Ram- 8GB

When I am trying to stream its kinda impossible, because I am streaming world of warcraft.
When I am just playing WOW my CPU usage is 50-60% and when I start streaming its something about 80-99%.

The SW what I am using is OBS, I tried every configuration, I lowed the resolution to 720p 30 FPS, and there is not big change.
I also lowed the graphic in game and the result is same. And I am not talking about nothing else, when I am listening music + streaming it starts laggin and CPU usage is 99% permamently.

I forgot to mentin my internet connetion, my upload speed is 6 Mbit/s so bitrate what I am using is 2500.

Just to correct this, I am able to stream, but this CPU usage is insane I am not able to do anything else on computer. There is no lost frames or something, just high CPU usage which is not allowing me to stream raids, or listen music while I am streaming. Which I cant understand why with this build

May someone explain me that high usage of this CPU?
And please help
 
If you're using OBS, you are probably using the software x264 encoder. That encoder is incredibly CPU-intensive, and a 4-core i5 is going to have a hard time achieving real-time encoding speeds with it.

Some things you can try are:


  • ■ Change the x264 preset in OBS from 'veryfast' (the default) to 'superfast' or 'ultrafast'. This will increase encoding speed (which will decrease CPU load required to encode at a certain fps) at the expense of image quality.
    ■ Change the encoder in OBS from x264 to QuickSync. QuickSync is intel's hardware h264 encoder, and it is less CPU-intensive than x264 at the same bitrate/image quality.
    ■ Change the encoder in OBS from x264 to nvenc. This will make OBS use nvidia's hardware h264 encoder (the same one that shadowplay uses). It is even less CPU-intensive than QuickSync but image quality takes a big hit, especially at the bitrates you are streaming at.
 


Ye this iptions will stable the stream for a while, but I have to ask, why other people with the exact build are streaming 1080p without any problem, why I have to downgrade my quality setting to improve stability.
 
I tried all your options, my cpu usage is on 70% but when I am trying to listen music and playing raid in wow it goes on 90+ again. Today I texted with my friend who has same CPU, he started streaming and his CPU usage was 40% with exact configuration OBS
 
I wouldn't know about those other people. Perhaps they are using quicksync or shadowplay.

Take a look at the x264 benchmark for your CPU here, roughly halfway down the page (ignore the first-pass results and look only the second pass): http://www.anandtech.com/show/7963/the-intel-haswell-refresh-review-core-i7-4790-i5-4690-and-i3-4360-tested/5

That site reports 39 fps for encoding. I don't know the exact x264 parameters the benchmark uses, but I'm willing to bet it uses the default 'medium' preset, which is roughly half as fast as 'veryfast'. Therefore we can estimate your CPU is capable of roughly 70fps encoding at 720p when nothing else is loading the CPU. So to encode at 720p30, your CPU would be loaded to around 40%, which is consistent with what you are reporting.

EDIT:
If you are worried about high idle CPU load, then I would suggest just opening up task manager and seeing what is using the CPU, then disabling the processes that you don't need.