High CPU Usage when Streaming (i7-6700k)

[Plat3]

As the title says, i get high CPU usage when streaming, but it hasn't always been like this. One day my stream just didn't wanna be smooth at all even though i used those settings daily. 

 

After a few weeks I kinda fixed the choppy stream, but my CPU still lingers in 94%-100%, what confuses me the most is that i don't seem to feel any performance loss in game and my stream isn't taking the hit from what i see, so why so high? It just started doing this recently, when before I would stream my games with only about 70%-80% usage was going on

 

[Majestic]

Lower the settings, or use GPU acceleration.

[MaorRX]

The software you are using to stream might have gotten an update that utilizes more cpu, even on the same encoder.

There could be something else running in the background that is utilizing too much of your cpu (A virus scan might be utilizing you cpu while you dont notice)

 

What type of encoding settings are you using on cpu ? What bitrate? 

 

It also depends on what game you are streaming?

[Snooli]

What software are you using to stream? There's likely been something that disabled hardware acceleration. Just go into setting and set it to use QuickSync, VCE or NVENC.

[Plat3]

4 minutes ago, MaorRX said:

The software you are using to stream might have gotten an update that utilizes more cpu, even on the same encoder.

There could be something else running in the background that is utilizing too much of your cpu (A virus scan might be utilizing you cpu while you dont notice)

 

What type of encoding settings are you using on cpu ? What bitrate? 

 

It also depends on what game you are streaming?

I mostly stream Rainbow Six: SIege, bitrate of 2600, 720p60fps using the x264

[Plat3]

3 minutes ago, Snooli said:

What software are you using to stream? There's likely been something that disabled hardware acceleration. Just go into setting and set it to use QuickSync, VCE or NVENC.

Ill try out the nvenc, im using OBS

[Snooli]

2 minutes ago, Plat3 said:

Ill try out the nvenc, im using OBS

Try to use QuickSync instead, it has better quality/bitrate and runs on the iGPU, a chip you're likely not using.

[Plat3]

Just now, Snooli said:

Try to use QuickSync instead, it has better quality/bitrate and runs on the iGPU, a chip you're likely not using.

I do run my second monitor directly plugged into my motherboard, will it affect how well that uses Quicksync?

[wildgg]

nvenc will work great with almost no performance drops but lower quality

 

when using x264 what cpu preset are you on in obs?

also make sure your keyframe interval is on 2

and set profile on main

 

also a thing that could happen is you're cpu temps are to high and your cpu is throttling and struggling with encoding so check temps as well just incase

 

[Snooli]

Just now, Plat3 said:

I do run my second monitor directly plugged into my motherboard, will it affect how well that uses Quicksync?

It might, but likely won't. Just stick to NVENC then.

[Plat3]

1 minute ago, wildthing said:

nvenc will work great with almost no performance drops but lower quality

 

when using x264 what cpu preset are you on in obs?

also make sure your keyframe interval is on 2

and set profile on main

 

also a thing that could happen is you're cpu temps are to high and your cpu is throttling and struggling with encoding so check temps as well just incase

 

My CPU preset is veryfast, my keyframes are at 2 and profile is on main

[Plat3]

1 minute ago, Snooli said:

It might, but likely won't. Just stick to NVENC then.

Ill test them both and see how well they do

[wildgg]

2 minutes ago, Plat3 said:

My CPU preset is veryfast, my keyframes are at 2 and profile is on main

what about your cpu temps under load?

[Plat3]

9 minutes ago, wildthing said:

what about your cpu temps under load?

Under load while streaming is about 65-70c

[Plat3]

Just figured it out, in game I opened Task Manager and set my game's affinity settings to use the first 4 of the 8 cores, lowering my usage from 95%-100% down to 70%-80% without degrading stream or game performance.

 

Cheers for the replies