Content:
- Will streaming affect FPS?
- Why does streaming affect FPS?
- How to improve FPS while streaming
- Adjust the game settings
- Reduce Live Production
- Update your graphics drivers
- Close all unnecessary applications
- Update your computer
- Summarizing
Have you tried streaming while playing only to find out that your game is becoming unplayable? Let’s see why this affects the performance of your games and what you can do to improve your FPS . You will really be able to enjoy the game while streaming.
Will streaming affect FPS?
Will streaming affect FPS on my computer? Yes, streaming uses a lot of resources on your computer. Depending on the game you are playing, this can result in a significant FPS drop. Sometimes it even makes the game unplayable and also causes your stream to lag. Ultimately it will depend on your settings. If you have a powerful streaming PC, you will notice a smaller FPS drop.
Why does streaming affect FPS?
Streaming affects FPS because your computer encodes your stream before sending it to Twitch. This uses your CPU or GPU resources depending on your settings. If you don’t have enough power, your computer will bottleneck, resulting in dropped frames.
How to improve FPS while streaming
1. Adjust the game settings
Even if you have a really good computer, the game settings may be too high to play and stream at the same time. If you are playing the game at 1440p or 4k, you should change it to 1080p. Most major Twitch streamers play their games at 1080p to get the best performance.
If you are still experiencing frame rate drops, you can go into the advanced settings of the game and turn off some settings. I recommend searching YouTube for “best streaming settings for game X” to get the best settings for the game you’re playing.
This will greatly help reduce the load on your computer.
2. Reduce Live Production
If you use programs like Streamlabs or OBS for streaming, and you have a lot of animations for alerts, transitions, etc., this can significantly increase the resources required for streaming.
If you’re having FPS issues while streaming, I recommend following these steps for your stream:
- Simple overlay (image without animation)
- Static alerts without animation
- Avoid animated transitions
- One camera
- Use as few sources as possible
3. Update your graphics drivers
Both Nvidia and AMD are always releasing new driver updates for their graphics cards. These updates usually update the map so that it is optimized for the latest games. If you do not have the latest update, this can significantly slow down the performance of games, especially if it is a recently released game.
You can check for driver updates for your card below:
- AMD Graphics Drivers and Updates
- Drivers and updates for Nvidia graphics cards
4. Close all unnecessary applications
One of the bottlenecks on weak PCs is RAM. This can cause your game to drop frames if your RAM usage is depleted. One of the biggest uses of RAM that most people are unaware of is Chrome. If you are using this , I would recommend closing any unnecessary tabs you don’t need . This will free up some resources that your game can use.
5. Update your computer
Last but not least, it’s probably not what you want to hear, but it might be necessary. If you’re on an older machine, it might be too old to run the latest games and stream. If so, it might be time to consider upgrading.
We just wrote an article on the top 10 pre-built streaming PCs, as well as the best budget streaming PC setup.
You may not need to completely replace your computer. You may be able to simply upgrade your graphics card to a newer model compatible with your PC.
Summarizing
I hope you now understand why your computer drops frames while streaming and what you need to do to fix it. The first step is to soften the game settings. If you try this and the other fixes mentioned, you might end up with a new machine. If so, health game.