Massive GPU usage just streaming.

[Mozgus]

Running an nVidia 1060 here. I've factory reset the SteamLink. Newest nVidia drivers clean installed. I've tried the NVFBC encoding option. Running wired ethernet. I've definitely disabled the nVidia shadowplay service, and also the Windows 10 game overlay DVR stuff.

Using MSI Afterburner to monitor all usages, I turned on the SteamLink and was just streaming a steady desktop feed. I see my CPU usage bouncing around 8-12% now, but my GPU usage is a very steady 42% usage with the GPU and VRAM clocks maxed steady. This definitely seems like it should be using less. If I tell SteamLink to limit to 720p, this drops the GPU usage to about 27% and drops the GPU clock to about 1500mhz instead of the max of about 1900mhz.

I'm finding a lot of the higher end games are having their FPS cut in half more or less. For example I can easily maintain 60FPS in games like Deus Ex Mankind Divided and Hitman, but when using SteamLink, it shows something around 25FPS and obviously feels awful to play.

Any help?

[Mozgus]

I've tested with shadow play still enabled in Geforce Experience. The result is the same. Also see my profile for specs. Newest drivers.

Edit: Seems you deleted your comment?

[Mozgus]

I didn't realize NVFBC setting didn't take hold immediately, but rather when a game is launched. It seems to be my solution. My in-game FPS is very close to when not streaming now. I'll stick with that.

[Kaldaien]

You might want to get monitoring software that can distinguish video encoder load from GPU load.

NVIDIA drivers distinguish: VRAM, VIDEO, BUS and GPU load as %'s. The Video load (dedicated H.264 encoder on all GTX GPUs) is what is used in the hardware encode path using NVFBC + NVENC.

If you see VID% load go low (i.e. 0%) while streaming, this is a good indication that you're not using the hardware encode path and you'll probably want to exit the game and fiddle with settings until you get it :)

[Mozgus]

Yes I used MSI Afterburner and noticed that VID was 10-20% usage.

[Kaldaien]

Good to hear. In-home streaming's a little finicky at times, but I still love it :)

It is, in fact, the only reason I've ever had to measure VID% load. I didn't even know what that meant before in-home streaming came along :P

[Mio Rin]

I've set the encoder to use the intel iGPU to free up resources for the game on the main GPU.
It also helps with image quality issues on my setup (smearing bug).