LAG at 1080p with 1Gb Ethernet

[XomoxO]

Hi to everybody and thanks in advance for your support:

I own the next Client:
- Athlon II x2u 1.6Ghz
- Radeon HD5550
- 4Gb RAM
- Windows 8 64bits
- HDD
- Latest Catalyst drivers

My RIG:
- i7 3820@4.5Ghz
- 16Gb RAM at 2133Mhz
- Radeon HD 7970 Ghz Edition
- SSD Neutron GTX
- Windows 7 64bits
- Latest Catalyst drivers

I've connected both with Gigabit Ethernet, but I'm not able to play at 1080p without LAG, at 720p the experience is correct (has a little lag but not too much).

It doesn't matter if I limit the bandwidth or select Fast or Balanced configuration in the client, always the lag is there in all the games. Also, I have enabled hardware decoding and enconding. There isn't any traffic in the network.

I haven't got any problem related with audio stops or something similar.

I'm using a Xbox 360 USB controller.

What could be the problem? Maybe the client CPU is to weak?

Thanks!!

[WereCatf]

Turn on statistics, press F6 while streaming and check if you're getting dropped network packets. If not, then your network is working as it should and you gotta then look whether you have H/W decoding working on the client.

[XomoxO]

I turned on in client from control panel, and appears that in most cases I get 60fps. (but not with F6 I don't know if they're the same).

I'll try to overclock the client CPU a little and see if there is I get any improvement.

Thanks!

[[masni] CYKA CLEANER]

F6 FPS is important, sounds like u r using software encode, turn on IGPU on server if u have it and install it...

[XomoxO]

Yesterday I show Afterburner Stats in the client and appears that the GPU hadn't got a very high usage, both cores of the CPU were throttling between 35-65% approximately.

I overclocked the CPU from 1.6 to 2Ghz and the result was the same, I had a big lag.

I disabled Windows 8.1 Defender because it was using a lot of CPU (in a weak CPU like reached 88%), with no luck.

I'm thinking in remove Windows 8 from this client, install Ubuntu and test it, do you think that I could get better results with a lighter SO like it?

Thanks!

[WereCatf]

Afterburner? No, I told you to enable the stats in Steam. Use the "Display performance information" in Steam settings and check out what it says. What is your input latency? Display latencu? Dropped network packets? And so on. Check Steam in-home streaming log-files, too.

And no, it's pointless to try replacing the OS before you've actually checked what your problem is.

[powerarmour]

Originally posted by XomoxO:

I'm thinking in remove Windows 8 from this client, install Ubuntu and test it, do you think that I could get better results with a lighter SO like it?

No don't do that, Windows will support DXVA decoding acceleration, Linux only has VDPAU support with the Steam client currently, which isn't easy to setup on AMD hardware (and the performance is a bit flaky too once you do).

The client looks like it should be fine, I'd consider checking your logs more carefully.

[XomoxO]

Originally posted by WereCatf:

Afterburner? No, I told you to enable the stats in Steam. Use the "Display performance information" in Steam settings and check out what it says. What is your input latency? Display latencu? Dropped network packets? And so on. Check Steam in-home streaming log-files, too.

And no, it's pointless to try replacing the OS before you've actually checked what your problem is.

I used MSI Afterburner at client because it leave a history usage of GPU and CPU, the logs at client didn't show too much (yesterday I take a look).

I'll take a look this afternoon to logs in host. I should press F6 on the client or in the host? In the client yesterday didn't work.

Maybe the problem could be in the host, because the Core i7 3820 doesn't have iGPU so probably, the enconding isn't using hardware. But anyway I think that a Core i7 working at 4.5Ghz should be enough for encoding.

The enconding is not supported with AMD or NVIDIA GPUs yet?

Thanks and sorry for all this questions without taking a look at the logs, but I can't try at the moment and it's for have more choices / options / knowledges .

[WereCatf]

"the logs at client didn't show too much (yesterday I take a look)." -- You're still not answering any of the questions posed to you. The logs *DO* tell you if you have H/W-decoding working or not and all that. Alas, if you refuse to answer the questions then I'm just going to wash my hands of this.

[XomoxO]

Originally posted by WereCatf:

"the logs at client didn't show too much (yesterday I take a look)." -- You're still not answering any of the questions posed to you. The logs *DO* tell you if you have H/W-decoding working or not and all that. Alas, if you refuse to answer the questions then I'm just going to wash my hands of this.

Sorry, I tried to explain that the logs that I show yesterday didn't show me this information (or at least I didn't recognized it), but I'll take a look today and put here the information.

Of course I want to answer you, and I'm really grateful for your answers.

[XomoxO]

This is the log:

[2014-06-09 00:30:15] =====================================================================
[2014-06-09 00:30:15] Game: Batman: Arkham City GOTY (200260)
[2014-06-09 00:30:15] Recording on device: Altavoces (2- Creative SB X-Fi)
[2014-06-09 00:30:15] Audio client mix format:
[2014-06-09 00:30:15] 	format: 65534
[2014-06-09 00:30:15] 	channels: 2
[2014-06-09 00:30:15] 	samples/sec: 48000
[2014-06-09 00:30:15] 	bytes/sec: 384000
[2014-06-09 00:30:15] 	alignment: 8
[2014-06-09 00:30:15] 	bits/sample: 32
[2014-06-09 00:30:15] 	channel mask: 0x3
[2014-06-09 00:30:15] 	data format: {00000003-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
[2014-06-09 00:30:15] Initializing audio with 2 channels and 48000 samples/sec
[2014-06-09 00:30:16] >>> Capture method set to Desktop DWM NV12 + libx264 baseline (4 threads)
[2014-06-09 00:30:16] >>> Client video decoder set to DXVA: H.264 variable-length decoder, no film grain technology
[2014-06-09 00:30:16] >>> Capture resolution set to 498x364
[2014-06-09 00:30:20] >>> Capture method set to Desktop BitBlt RGB + libyuv + libx264 baseline (4 threads)
[2014-06-09 00:30:20] >>> Capture resolution set to 1728x1080
[2014-06-09 00:30:21] >>> Capture method set to Game async D3D11 NV12 + libx264 baseline (4 threads)
[2014-06-09 00:30:27] X264: VBV underflow (frame 156, -448 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:30:31] X264: VBV underflow (frame 265, -2352 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:30:31] X264: VBV underflow (frame 283, -3296 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:30:32] X264: VBV underflow (frame 309, -2080 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:32:06] X264: VBV underflow (frame 4733, -16 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:32:13] X264: VBV underflow (frame 4947, -1032 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:32:20] X264: VBV underflow (frame 5148, -96 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:32:34] X264: VBV underflow (frame 5863, -2736 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:34:20] X264: VBV underflow (frame 11234, -1000 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:34:35] X264: VBV underflow (frame 11895, -3200 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:34:35] X264: VBV underflow (frame 11918, -1128 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:34:45] X264: VBV underflow (frame 12486, -6400 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:34:45] X264: VBV underflow (frame 12492, -96 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:34:46] X264: VBV underflow (frame 12567, -472 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:34:46] X264: VBV underflow (frame 12570, -1944 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:34:54] X264: VBV underflow (frame 12898, -1592 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:35:03] X264: VBV underflow (frame 13227, -392 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:35:30] X264: VBV underflow (frame 14562, -1576 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:35:34] X264: VBV underflow (frame 14737, -1680 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:36:05] X264: VBV underflow (frame 16038, -952 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:36:05] X264: VBV underflow (frame 16040, -880 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:36:05] X264: VBV underflow (frame 16062, -80 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:36:05] X264: VBV underflow (frame 16072, -2280 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:36:05] X264: VBV underflow (frame 16074, -2728 bits)
[2014-06-09 00:36:09] "SessionStats"
{
	"TimeSubmitted"		"1402266969"
	"ResolutionX"		"1728"
	"ResolutionY"		"1080"
	"CaptureName"		"Game async D3D11 NV12 + libx264 baseline (4 threads)"
	"DecoderName"		"DXVA: H.264 variable-length decoder, no film grain technology"
	"BandwidthLimit"		"30000"
	"FramerateLimit"		"0"
	"SlowSeconds"		"20.021316528320313"
	"SlowGamePercent"		"100"
	"SlowCapturePercent"		"0"
	"SlowConvertPercent"		"0"
	"SlowEncodePercent"		"0"
	"SlowNetworkPercent"		"0"
	"SlowDecodePercent"		"0"
	"AvgClientBitrate"		"8.5065889358520508"
	"StdDevClientBitrate"		"7.175046443939209"
	"AvgServerBitrate"		"20706.7109375"
	"StdDevServerBitrate"		"38460.859375"
	"AvgLinkBandwidth"		"350859.46875"
	"AvgPingMS"		"0.68500435352325439"
	"StdDevPingMS"		"0.1792256236076355"
	"AvgCaptureMS"		"5.4728398323059082"
	"StdDevCaptureMS"		"4.4495387077331543"
	"AvgConvertMS"		"0"
	"StdDevConvertMS"		"0"
	"AvgEncodeMS"		"7.6315784454345703"
	"StdDevEncodeMS"		"2.9276320934295654"
	"AvgNetworkMS"		"0.35595843195915222"
	"StdDevNetworkMS"		"0.12812672555446625"
	"AvgDecodeMS"		"6.9148921966552734"
	"StdDevDecodeMS"		"4.3600497245788574"
	"AvgDisplayMS"		"9.8431129455566406"
	"StdDevDisplayMS"		"6.205690860748291"
	"AvgFrameMS"		"28.624309539794922"
	"StdDevFrameMS"		"9.0515727996826172"
	"AvgFPS"		"51.658954620361328"
	"StdDevFPS"		"13.155246734619141"
}

Another one with Bioshock Infinite:

[2014-06-10 01:14:38] =====================================================================
[2014-06-10 01:14:38] Game: BioShock Infinite (8870)
[2014-06-10 01:14:38] Recording on device: Altavoces (2- Creative SB X-Fi)
[2014-06-10 01:14:38] Audio client mix format:
[2014-06-10 01:14:38] 	format: 65534
[2014-06-10 01:14:38] 	channels: 2
[2014-06-10 01:14:38] 	samples/sec: 48000
[2014-06-10 01:14:38] 	bytes/sec: 384000
[2014-06-10 01:14:38] 	alignment: 8
[2014-06-10 01:14:38] 	bits/sample: 32
[2014-06-10 01:14:38] 	channel mask: 0x3
[2014-06-10 01:14:38] 	data format: {00000003-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
[2014-06-10 01:14:38] Initializing audio with 2 channels and 48000 samples/sec
[2014-06-10 01:14:39] >>> Capture method set to Desktop DWM NV12 + libx264 main (4 threads)
[2014-06-10 01:14:39] >>> Capture resolution set to 1920x1080
[2014-06-10 01:14:40] >>> Client video decoder set to DXVA: H.264 variable-length decoder, no film grain technology
[2014-06-10 01:14:41] >>> Capture method set to Game async D3D11 NV12 + libx264 main (4 threads)
[2014-06-10 01:15:04] X264: VBV underflow (frame 1269, -4488 bits)
[2014-06-10 01:16:52] X264: VBV underflow (frame 7622, -2184 bits)
[2014-06-10 01:17:03] X264: VBV underflow (frame 8254, -2248 bits)
[2014-06-10 01:17:39] X264: VBV underflow (frame 10400, -256 bits)
[2014-06-10 01:17:42] "SessionStats"
{
	"TimeSubmitted"		"1402355862"
	"ResolutionX"		"1920"
	"ResolutionY"		"1080"
	"CaptureName"		"Game async D3D11 NV12 + libx264 main (4 threads)"
	"DecoderName"		"DXVA: H.264 variable-length decoder, no film grain technology"
	"BandwidthLimit"		"30000"
	"FramerateLimit"		"0"
	"SlowSeconds"		"1.001190185546875"
	"SlowGamePercent"		"100"
	"SlowCapturePercent"		"0"
	"SlowConvertPercent"		"0"
	"SlowEncodePercent"		"0"
	"SlowNetworkPercent"		"0"
	"SlowDecodePercent"		"0"
	"AvgClientBitrate"		"12.638545989990234"
	"StdDevClientBitrate"		"6.5089693069458008"
	"AvgServerBitrate"		"27095.25"
	"StdDevServerBitrate"		"17884.431640625"
	"AvgLinkBandwidth"		"259852.953125"
	"AvgPingMS"		"0.78188461065292358"
	"StdDevPingMS"		"0.33780011534690857"
	"AvgCaptureMS"		"7.3955526351928711"
	"StdDevCaptureMS"		"1.9822421073913574"
	"AvgConvertMS"		"7.5287995338439941"
	"StdDevConvertMS"		"1.974961519241333"
	"AvgEncodeMS"		"10.197910308837891"
	"StdDevEncodeMS"		"3.0231392383575439"
	"AvgNetworkMS"		"0.25829172134399414"
	"StdDevNetworkMS"		"0.14761234819889069"
	"AvgDecodeMS"		"14.423566818237305"
	"StdDevDecodeMS"		"13.232454299926758"
	"AvgDisplayMS"		"19.469388961791992"
	"StdDevDisplayMS"		"10.761723518371582"
	"AvgFrameMS"		"233.00382995605469"
	"StdDevFrameMS"		"240.8848876953125"
	"AvgFPS"		"52.205371856689453"
	"StdDevFPS"		"13.564915657043457"
}

It's using software encoding.

[idomagic]

Try actually setting your client to software decode, I had horrible performance with hardware decoding on my laptop using a HD6550 (which, iirc, is pretty much the same card as the HD5550).

Also, from what I can tell, your logs indicate that you *are* using hardware encoding & decoding (which, as mentioned, may actually not be desirable).

Edit: additionally, you seem to have enabled a bandwidth limit, I'd suggest removing that unless you have a good reason to keep it.

[WereCatf]

Originally posted by idomagic:

Also, from what I can tell, your logs indicate that you *are* using hardware encoding & decoding (which, as mentioned, may actually not be desirable).

His CPU, i7 3820, does not have an integrated GPU and does not support Quick Sync, ie. it does not support H/W-encoding. He's got software-encoding going. The logs say that the games themselves are running slow, so the problem seems to be on his host, not his client, as indicated by the "SlowGamePercent" "100" - line.

Things to try: check if the game allows to be run in a window, this seems to help a lot of people. Disable vsync, this also seems to help a lot of people.

[XomoxO]

Hi,

I'm limiting bandwith because with this I get better response in most games. For example, in BioShock Infinite with a limit of 30Mbps I get a 30% of frame lost, if I use a 20Mbps limit, I get 0%.

I'll try later your recommendations, thanks!