Performance regression with OBS

[Aceitunator]

I'm not sure if this started with 32.0.101.6739 (i didnt even open OBS when I had these drivers installed so i can't tell) or 32.0.101.6790 drivers, but there's a performance regression while using OBS. Before I used to limit the FPS a bit to mitigate stuttering and / or encode overloads (a bad driver scheduler?) due to competition for GPU usage between OBS and the game. Now the stuttering issue is gone when keeping the FPS limit as disabled, but there's a brutal FPS loss while the GPU remains underutilized. I attached a video that shows the issue.

Currently Im using 32.0.101.6790 drivers + an up to date Windows 11 23H2 (22631.5189) installation.

PC specs:
i7-8700K at 4.9 GHz (5.1 GHz 1-core, 5GHz 4-core turboboost) + 4.6 GHz uncore.
999 watts as PL1. 0x6E microcode. meltdown / spectre patches disabled in order to squeeze more performance.

4x16 GB 3400 MHz CL14

Intel Arcada A770 16GB (Sparkle OC edition)

Gigabyte z370 Aorus Gaming (F15c with F3 microcode)
ReBar enabled.

CoolerMaster MWE Gold v2 1050W PSU.

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Aceitunator,

Thank you for posting in Intel community Forum.

For me to further check this, please help provide the following details:

1. When did you start having this issue?
2. What was the last change made in the system before the issue started?
3. Can you share videos of the issue?

If you have questions, please let us know. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Aceitunator]

>> When did you start having this issue?

@Aceitunator wrote:

I'm not sure if this started with 32.0.101.6739 (i didnt even open OBS when I had these drivers installed so i can't tell) or 32.0.101.6790 drivers
(...)

---

>> What was the last change made in the system before the issue started?
A driver update as I suggest in my 1st message...

>> Can you share videos of the issue?
There is a video attached to the 1st message xd. Did you even read the symptoms?
https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-ARC-Graphics/Performance-regression-with-OBS/td-p/1687532?attachment-id=114539

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Aceitunator,

I hope this message finds you well. 

Were you able to check the previous post?

Please let us know if you still need assistance.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Aceitunator,

Thank you for the update.

Kindly help provide the SSU logs of your system. Please refer to the link below for the steps on how to generate the logs:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057926/memory-and-storage.html

If you have questions, please let us know. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Aceitunator]

Hi, Mike.

Give me a few days because I just gave up with this card and im actually using an AMD GPU; On friday Ill restore a partition image I made using the built-in DISM command before switching to AMD, so I can effectively revert any other changes I made since that GPU swap. Then Ill plug the A770 card and replicate the error in order to upload the SSU log for you.

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Aceitunator,

Thank you for the update.

I will just wait for your next reply on this thread once you have the information that I requested.

If you have questions, please let us know. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Aceitunator,

I hope this message finds you well. 

Were you able to check the previous post?

Please let us know if you still need assistance.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Aceitunator]

Hi again, Mike.

Im sorry. It was an insane week. I tried to restore the DISM image but it failed miserably due to OneDrive (apparently those onedrive links / fake files managed to break DISM / .wim format). Thats why I performed a clean, up to date Windows 11 23H2 installation.

I can still replicate the issue too. Nothing changes at all about this behaviour.
Bonus and sightly unrelated: using 101.6083 instead of 101.6790 gives me some extra FPS (overall) btw. I can even squeeze the last frame with OBS too (as before).

Here is the SSU log (see the attachment).

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Aceitunator,

Thank you for the update.

Upon checking the SSU, the BIOS of your board is not yet updated. Currently you are using F15c, the latest that they have on their website is F15.

Kindly try to update the BIOS also so that everything is updated.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z370-AORUS-Gaming-3-rev-10/support#dl

If you have questions, please let us know. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Aceitunator]

Hi, Mike.

Im sorry, but im going to decline that suggestion. If we check the changelog for the F15 release, we can find this:

• Checksum : 3BC8
• Major vulnerabilities updates, customers are strongly encouraged to update to this release at the earliest. Credits to "Assaf Carlsbad and Itai Liba from SentinelOne"
•  Introduce capsule BIOS support starting this version. Customers will NOT be able to reverse to previous BIOS version due to major vulnerabilities concerns.

---

So the reason its simple: theres no potential performance improvements and / or bugfixes non related with security plus this update prevents every downgrade attempt. I still have some """trauma""" after applying the F14 update, which prevents to even POST my coimputer while using my actual RAM modules. I think I must mention it was working as expected before, but a driver update broke this. Finally, dont forget I switched to an AMD GPU but Im still have this ARC A770 and I just wanna help with this, but a bios flash is actually too risky and, after all, theres no real gain.

I think its a (very) bad suggestion; it should not be updated unless there is a blatant improvement / bugfix or something critical.

The link you provided says this too:

Warning:
Because BIOS flashing is potentially risky, if you do not encounter problems using the current version of BIOS, it is recommended that you not flash the BIOS. To flash the BIOS, do it with caution. Inadequate BIOS flashing may result in system malfunction.

[Ernesto_C_Intel1]

Hi @Aceitunator,

I hope this message finds you well. I am contacting you on behalf of our technician, Mike, regarding the issue you have reported. Please be informed that Intel is actively investigating the matter.

I will keep you updated and provide further information as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Regards,

Ernesto C.

Intel Customer Support Engineer

[Felipe_Intel]

Hello @Aceitunator I tested this recently with some games and I don't see the issue reported. I used our most recent driver 32.0.101.6913 which includes some improvements for OBS and the latest OBS update  31.0.4. 

Could you check on your side and see if the issue still happens? I don't see any specifics in your description about workload or OBS settings (Video Streaming, Video Recording, Output, Advanced). It would be of great help if you can share these details as it might be either something specific to your system or to some combination of settings and workloads. 
I also noticed your system does not meet the minimum requirements for A-Series cards so I would like to test your specific app settings in a supported platform and see if this also happens there. 

Looking forward for your answer

[Felipe_Intel]

Hello again @Aceitunator This case was kept open because other users also reported issues in different platforms with OBS. More work has been done in our drivers and the most recent 32.0.101.7026 includes improvements for this app. Please update your graphics drivers and the app (latest version is 31.1.2), test with your preferred settings and report back. 
We will be following up with you in a few days. 

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Aceitunator,

I hope you are doing well. 

I am just checking if you were able to check the previous post?

Please let us know if you still need assistance.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Aceitunator,

I hope you are having a good day.

I am sending another follow up to check if you still have clarifications on our last update. 

Since we have not heard back from you, I need to close this inquiry. 

If you need further assistance, please post a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored. 

Thank you and have a great day.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician