Need some help - CPU vs GPU

[dalemclean01]

Hey guys,

First timer here, usually able to work things out and sort things myself but needing opinions on this. I use my PC primarily for streaming video games and right now its fine, most games I can stream perfectly fine and I used to be able to stream Siege & PUBG perfect as well. However now when I stream them, I drop frames and discord starts lagging, which I know is mainly my CPU.

I stream with OBS Studio using Hardware Encoding, so it uses my GPU not my CPU.

Main question, with the specs i've listed below, what should I upgrade first?

MOBO: ASROCK H81M - HDS
CPU: Intel Core - i5-4440 @3.10Ghz
RAM: G.Skill Ares 8GB (2x4GB) (1888Mhz)
GPU: GTX 780 Dual Classified AXC
PSU: COrsair VS650

EDIT: To clarify, i am not dropping frames on my stream, my stream is outputing a constant FPS that i set (whether 30 or 60), it is IN GAME i am dropping frames.

 

[jojesa]

I don't think you PC components are the issue.
What have you done to find the root of your issue?
Did you try switching servers?
Have you checked your upload speed to each server you are using?
Are you dropping frames on all servers?
Do lowering the bitrate stops the frame dropping?

 

[dalemclean01]

I don't think you PC components are the issue.
What have you done to find the root of your issue?
Did you try switching servers?
Have you checked your upload speed to each server you are using?
Are you dropping frames on all servers?
Do lowering the bitrate stops the frame dropping?

Sorry i clarified in main post just now - it is not my stream dropping frames, it is in game I am dropping frames. As I said, i never used to drop frames in game whilst streaming, but now I find myself bouncing between 70-20 fps on games like Rainbow Six: Siege and PUBG, where before I could stream them both and keep a solid 60fps minimum.

 

[marksavio]

you will need to upgrade your RAM to keep up with games like those. most likely your RAM is exhausted with only a 2x4Gb. you can confirm this by alt tabbing to your Resource MOnitor once you see the FPS drops. if you see like a heluvalot of Standby mem filling it up towards a 100% with less than 5% freespace. theres your bottleneck.

 

[dalemclean01]

you will need to upgrade your RAM to keep up with games like those. most likely your RAM is exhausted with only a 2x4Gb. you can confirm this by alt tabbing to your Resource MOnitor once you see the FPS drops. if you see like a heluvalot of Standby mem filling it up towards a 100% with less than 5% freespace. theres your bottleneck.

Will make sure to have a look at that and see. I can check that by having my task manager open and looking at my memory/cpu usage statistics in there correct? or is there a better way/program for doing it?

 

[marksavio]

i dont know of any program that actually monitors standy memory separately from active memory as a graph history. if you just notice that your standby memory is just eating up all the space in your RAM and your system not quick enough to reuse space or free the standby mem, then that will degrade your RAM performance.

ways to improve your systems memory effectiveness are
* install latest BIOS/chipset drivers
* optimize settings on OS virtual memory
* upgrade RAM

sometimes games arent well made that has bugs like memory leaks which leads to bad RAM performance.

as a temporary fix. you can use this popular tool to free up standby memory for you actively. download and run it in the background and see if it improves your performance.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/cleanmem.html

 

[jojesa]

...is there a better way/program for doing it?

I use RamMap from Sysinternals. It will show you Windows assigned physical memory and memory usage down to each individual file.
You can pinpoint exactly what files/programs are taking up the most memory, or if a program files are not being released from memory correctly.
It includes a breakdown of how memory is being used (Active, Standby, Modified and Modified No-Write). You will be able to empty standby memory with one click. Sometimes you will notice a lot of memory on the Standby list. Windows is simply using the “extra” RAM to cache data for faster access, but that can slow down other apps you are loading.

 

[spdragoo]

Well, streaming is going to take up resources that were previously used by the game. And as you noted in the beginning, it's not your GPU resources.

Generally speaking, a 4C/4T CPU like yours isn't going to be good for streaming. Your streaming is going to take up at least 1 thread (maybe more), so you drop from having all 4 threads available on your games to 3 or fewer threads...& for most newer games that means a performance hit.

Simplest upgrade with your machine would be to get an i7-4770 (not the "K" version). It's on the supported CPU list (http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H81M-HDS/#CPU), & won't require a BIOS update; an alternative (depending on price/availability) would be the Xeon E3-1285 v3 (fairly similar, slightly faster than the i7-4770). Both options give you a 4C/8T CPU that has faster core/Turbo speeds, more L3 cache, & the same TDP as before. If your BIOS is already updated to version P1.60, you could also get the Haswell Refresh versions, i7-4790 or Xeon E3-1271/1276/1281/1286 v3.

I'd also consider bumping up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM. It's the limit for your board, but 8GB anymore is really only enough for gaming; add streaming to the mix & you'll want more RAM. Note that if you do get two 8GB sticks, make sure they're part of a set...& don't worry about DDR3-1888; your motherboard only handles up to DDR3-1600 speeds, so anything "faster" isn't actually going to run that fast.

 

[dalemclean01]

Thank you for all the help so far guys and recommendations on CPUs etc! Will make sure to let you guys know what worked best! <3