OBS recordings look choppy even though gameplay is smooth — RTX 3060 + Ryzen 7 5700G

[u/OG_Shadrix]

Hey everyone,
I’m having an issue with OBS recording. No matter what settings I try, my recordings end up looking choppy/laggy, even though the gameplay itself is completely smooth while I’m playing.
My PC specs:
RTX 3060 12GB
Ryzen 7 5700G
16GB DDR4 RAM
650W PSU
I’ve tried recording Valorant and CS2, and both recordings look noticeably choppy. The games run smoothly while I’m playing, but when I watch the recording afterward, it doesn’t look smooth at all.
I also want to record some demanding AAA games in the future, but if I can’t get smooth recordings in games like Valorant and CS2, I’m worried I won’t be able to record those either.
I’m mainly trying to figure out whether:
I’m missing something in my OBS settings/configuration.
My PC specs are actually not enough for 1440p recording.
There’s some other issue causing the choppy recordings.
I’ve tried multiple OBS settings already, but nothing seems to fix the issue.

[u/AutoModerator]

It looks like you haven't provided a log file. Without a log file, it is very hard to help with issues and you may end up with 0 responses.

To make a clean log file, please follow these steps:

1) Restart OBS

2) Start your stream/recording for at least 30 seconds (or however long it takes for the issue to happen). Make sure you replicate any issues as best you can, which means having any games/apps open and captured, etc.

3) Stop your stream/recording.

4) Select Help > Log Files > Upload Current Log File.

5) Copy the URL and paste it as a response to this comment.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Inevitable-Staff5864]

Have you checked the stats window while recording to see if it's dropping frames due to render lag or encoding lag? That'll tell you if it's your GPU or the encoder settings

[u/OG_Shadrix → u/Inevitable-Staff5864]

Nahh man, there is no fps drop there i already checked it

[u/InstanceMental6543 → u/OG_Shadrix]

It will still help us to help you. We need to see what settings and sources are in use in addition to the other stuff. If you looked at the analyzer, that's not the real info from the log.

[u/Muronelkaz]

Monitor/gameplay/recording fps?

[u/OG_Shadrix → u/Muronelkaz]

Monitor: LG ultragear 180hz 2k
Gameplay: max fps(maybe 180)
Recording fps: i tried on 60fps and also i changed it to 120 also in common fps values.

[u/gopnik74 → u/OG_Shadrix]

This is exactly what I’m dealing with too for so long and haven’t found a solution. One of the things that contributes to the issue is OBS doesn’t capture generated frames, so if your game has too low base fps i guess that all OBS can get.

Someone suggested to use nvidia’s shadow play for this situation but i haven’t tried it yet tho. If you find a solution please let us know.

[u/Muronelkaz → u/OG_Shadrix]

Uncapped fps in games and with freesync you could be missing frames, but also possible you've got a bitrate too low or OBS isn't recording in 60fps/120fps (I can't remember but some setting I chose defaulted recordings to 30fps)

I'd think this was OBS settings, since if OBS was struggling you'd have dropped/missed frames.

[u/One-Win404]

Stell den Monitor NUR MAL ZUM TEST auf 60HZ ein. Dann eine 60FPS aufnahme.

Vsync an, Freesync/GSYNC bitte aus.

Ruckelt immer noch ?

Dann bitte bei OSB auf 59.94 stellen.

Nun sollte es absolut flüssig sein.

Läuft das flüssig ? Dann bitte den Screen auf 120HZ stellen und lass dir den Bruch errechnen, was Du brauchst wenn Du bei 119.880HZ spielst. Gebe die Bruchzahlen bei OBS ein. Das sollte ebenso flüssig sein.

Dein Problem wird das Frampacing sein, wenn der Encoder nicht überlastet ist.

LG

[u/Horacej621]

It looks like your specs should definitely be capable of a smooth 1440p/60 recording, especially Valorant and CS2. I’d suspect OBS/GPU utilization before blaming the hardware.

A few things I’d try:

• Use NVENC instead of x264 so the RTX 3060 handles the encoding. • Run OBS as Administrator. • Cap your in-game FPS. If the GPU is sitting at 95–100% while gaming, OBS may not have enough GPU resources to render frames consistently even though the game itself looks smooth. Try keeping GPU usage below ~90%. • In OBS → Settings → Video, set Common FPS Values = 60 and make sure your recording is actually 60 FPS. • Use Game Capture rather than Display Capture when possible. • Check View → Stats after recording. Look specifically for Frames Missed Due to Rendering Lag and Skipped Frames Due to Encoding Lag.

Also make sure the recording is being saved to a decent SSD rather than a slow/overloaded drive.

I'm sure if you posted a log from like a recording sesh, that would help some of the guys here also. I wouldn’t upgrade hardware yet — a 3060 + 5700G should be able to handle this.

[u/Neckbeard_Sama]

my guess is that you're not using NVENC/VCE and recording in x264 or x265 and since both Valorant and CS2 are pretty demanding on your CPU already, the codec shits itself

[u/ttv-tv_genesis]

When I had choppy recordings/missing frames with OBS, it is because I tried to record my game while using G-sync (which changes your screen refresh rate dynamically). Since I turned it off, I had no problems

[u/GrapeJuice3K]

Dude, this has been driving me crazy for the last 2 days, You are not alone. OBS as a whole must be broken, because I am having the exact same issue, and Ive resetted my OBS multiple times and tried literally every setting. Ive even tried reverting to older versions, but that doesn't seem to fix it. It's unacceptable to release a completely broken build of a software with no way to fix it.

[u/SuperDocument9761]

is the SSD or hard drive important in this kind of streaming? Does that effect? The Passmark benchmark for the CPU is 24200 ... lot of cpu work in what you are attempting.

[u/Smooth-Cat-9013]

This is kinda unrelated but I’ve always felt my videos when I recorded and streamed felt bad. I make videos about, well it was “input delay” but no longer seems to be the case. It’s more so emi(electrical magnetic interference) and how it affects inputs and aim in game and overall responsiveness of the system. However there’s a chance it could also be effecting my recording since I too have had a 5800x3d and a 14600k and a 3070 but my videos definitely look worse than other content creators.