Performance Cost of Steam Link?

[yell]

How heavy is the performance loss for Steam Link? I mean am I going to be dropping significant frames while streaming? I'm not talking about what I see on my TV, more about the processing power required to encode the video and send it to the Link, is that going to degrade performance? I have my link on now running windows 10, just showing the desktop and what I'm typing now and the GPU load in Task Manager is at 70%. Will I see a performance drop while streaming?

[_I_]

depends on the host pc specs and game specs

gaming + streaming requires more than just gaming

if the pc is maxed out trying to hold 60fps in games, it will not hold 60fps while streaming

if the gpu is at 70% (and not in idle/low power states) for windows desktop it will not be very good for gaming, or streaming

[yell]

Originally posted by _I_:

depends on the host pc specs and game specs

gaming + streaming requires more than just gaming

if the pc is maxed out trying to hold 60fps in games, it will not hold 60fps while streaming

if the gpu is at 70% (and not in idle/low power states) for windows desktop it will not be very good for gaming, or streaming

That's pretty much what I figured but it doesn't sit right because I get smooth gameplay playing Witcher 3 no different than if I wasn't streaming. Maybe the GPU is idling or something.

[Xjph]

Performance cost is very small if you have a hardware encoder like NVENC or VCE. If you do not then you'll see a significant CPU overhead for the encoding.

The GPU usage is irrelevant.

edit: You were looking at task manager while streaming? Take a closer look at the "GPU Engine" column. It should say something like "GPU 0 - Video Encode", while things that use the GPU proper will show something like "GPU 0 - 3D". They are separate from each other, and a load on one will not have a significant impact on the other.

[GuRu Asaki]

The STEAM Link Box... on a Wired Connection... I didn't see really any issue with...

on Max Settings... But I dun remember what resolution I was using...

However, on WiFi Connection... They highly recomend not using this...

But what I did for WiFi Connection was... I lowered all the settings to the lowest Graphix,

made the Games run as fast as possible...

With WiFi Connection, I was able to get 1440P even I think it was 1800P? I forgot...

But I got the resolution to run some Games in both Offline & Online Mode,

pretty smoothly, but there was slight pixalation, in the screen, nothing too big...

But, my STEAM Link is basically very close to my Modem & Router, & the wall is basically

drywall... So if you have a much more complicated set up then that...

I would have to say WiFi is something you don't want to do... Haha...



PS: From what i've seen of the STEAM Link App...

The App is missing half it's features from the box Link...

Not all Controllers work... I somehow doub't Bluetooth is availible...

4K Resolutions are only availible on the newest TV's... Because the older ones,

only allow for 1080P on the STEAM Link App...

Supposedly, the input lag or whatever you call it, the drops per frames...

Their is a mixed review about that...

Some people reported that there has been no loss in FPS in all the way up to 4K...

and other people have reported that the Drops in frames were not exactly worth it...

Those people prefered the HDMI from PC to TV rout...

& i'm not possitive, but I think the results from WiFi was that...

The WiFi on STEAM Link App gave your Games half the performance, of

the Wired Connection...

[Xjph]

Originally posted by GuRu Asaki:

snip...

How was any of that related to this topic?

[GE]

Copy and paste from a older thread:

You will always get the best streaming performance with cpu encoding. Latest games use up to 4 real cores + 4 ht/smt cores. You need for optimal cpu encoding at 1080p 2 real cores + 2 ht/smt cores. So cpu encoding need extra ressources and for latest games you would need up to 6 real cores + 6 ht/smt cores.

The advantage of gpu encoding is, that it doesn't need or very less extra ressources, but the streaming quality is worser with a little higher latency than cpu encoding and it have sometimes problems with texture intensive games (mostly open world games). Nvidia is at gpu encoding better than amd, but both have problems with some games.

[yell]

Originally posted by Vithigar:

Performance cost is very small if you have a hardware encoder like NVENC or VCE. If you do not then you'll see a significant CPU overhead for the encoding.

The GPU usage is irrelevant.

edit: You were looking at task manager while streaming? Take a closer look at the "GPU Engine" column. It should say something like "GPU 0 - Video Encode", while things that use the GPU proper will show something like "GPU 0 - 3D". They are separate from each other, and a load on one will not have a significant impact on the other.

This is what I'm seeing https://imgur.com/a/LWrub
Are you saying GPU 0 - Video Encode is not actually my GPU doing it? What is this showing then? Is it using the GPU on the CPU for this?

[_I_]

thats for steam client, its using the video card to display steam

[Xjph]

Originally posted by yell:

This is what I'm seeing https://imgur.com/a/LWrub
Are you saying GPU 0 - Video Encode is not actually my GPU doing it? What is this showing then? Is it using the GPU on the CPU for this?

Sorry, when I originally said "GPU" I meant specifically the graphics processing part of the video card. Calling the whole card a GPU is like calling your entire computer a CPU, and the fact that Microsoft chose to label it that way in task manager seems crazy to me. But now I'm just getting ranty.

Graphics processing and video encoding are done by separate components. Nvidia NVENC, AMD VCE, and Intel QuickSync are all distinct Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) that are generally on the same die as the GPU proper, but operate independently. You aren't using any of your GPU's graphics or compute power to encode video.

[yell]

Originally posted by _I_:

thats for steam client, its using the video card to display steam

Why would the client alone be encoding video? Here is the same task while I'm not streaming to the link https://imgur.com/a/vx2Mj

[yell]

Originally posted by Vithigar:

Originally posted by yell:

This is what I'm seeing https://imgur.com/a/LWrub
Are you saying GPU 0 - Video Encode is not actually my GPU doing it? What is this showing then? Is it using the GPU on the CPU for this?

Sorry, when I originally said "GPU" I meant specifically the graphics processing part of the video card. Calling the whole card a GPU is like calling your entire computer a CPU, and the fact that Microsoft chose to label it that way in task manager seems crazy to me. But now I'm just getting ranty.

Graphics processing and video encoding are done by separate components. Nvidia NVENC, AMD VCE, and Intel QuickSync are all distinct Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) that are generally on the same die as the GPU proper, but operate independently. You aren't using any of your GPU's graphics or compute power to encode video.

So basically, there's a part of my graphics called ASIC that encodes the video for the link and doesn't detract at all from the rendering of graphics in my games?

[Xjph]

Originally posted by yell:

So basically, there's a part of my graphics called ASIC that encodes the video for the link and doesn't detract at all from the rendering of graphics in my games?

Correct. Video encoding is essentially run on a separate processor from 3D rendering. It will use up some amount of bus and memory bandwidth, but those aren't generally limiting concerns when gaming, the impact is extremely small, if it exists at all.

Fun fact: While I can't speak for nvidia as I don't have hands on experience, the AMD encoders in Polaris and Vega are not only separate from the 3D rendering, but the h264 (AVC) and h265 (HEVC) encoders are also separate from each other. You can encode h264 and h265 at the same time without either slowing down.

[_I_]

Originally posted by yell:

Originally posted by _I_:

thats for steam client, its using the video card to display steam

Why would the client alone be encoding video? Here is the same task while I'm not streaming to the link https://imgur.com/a/vx2Mj

steam client uses hardware acceleration for the window
with a gpu in idle mode it can show 5%+ gpu load when scrolling a page in it

what are the pc specs?
if its way underpowered it will cost much more proportionally to stream vs game

[yell]

Originally posted by Vithigar:

Originally posted by yell:

So basically, there's a part of my graphics called ASIC that encodes the video for the link and doesn't detract at all from the rendering of graphics in my games?

Correct. Video encoding is essentially run on a separate processor from 3D rendering. It will use up some amount of bus and memory bandwidth, but those aren't generally limiting concerns when gaming, the impact is extremely small, if it exists at all.

Fun fact: While I can't speak for nvidia as I don't have hands on experience, the AMD encoders in Polaris and Vega are not only separate from the 3D rendering, but the h264 (AVC) and h265 (HEVC) encoders are also separate from each other. You can encode h264 and h265 at the same time without either slowing down.

Very information - thanks