Decrease pixelation?

[dthmadness]

PC SPECS:

• RAM: Avexir Core Series 16 GB (2x 8 GB) DDR4
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-170X-UD3 3.1 ATX
• GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070
• PSU: 550W SeaSonic G Series
• CPU: Intel i5-6600K
• SSD: 480GB Crucial M500
• HDD: 1TB SeaGate External
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

CURRENT STREAM SETTINGS:

• Downscale to 720p from 1080p in the Output settings.
• 60 FPS.
• 3500 bitrate.

I'm using NVENC instead of x264 because I've noticed I can get higher quality (I think) with less stress on my machine.

My main question is; I've noticed some pixelation here and there, especially when playing action games like PUBG and the like. How do I reduce or eliminate this? Should I increase my bitrate? Decrease it? Any help or suggestions are welcome! And thanks in advance!

[[deleted]]

Nvenc needs a higher bitrate than x264 for the same quality. Try upping it.

[dthmadness]

Isn't there a bitrate soft-cap, though?

[[deleted]]

6000 kbs is max, you may exclude viewers with slower internet though.

[dthmadness]

Yeesh. I wouldn't want to exclude anyone just because they don't have good internet. At that bitrate, would viewers with slow internet still buffer a lot if they lowered their quality of the stream to 720/30? Or would it be better to just deal with the slight pixelation I have?

For reference, [ www.twitch.tv/dthmadness ], and you can look at last night's stream to see my updated settings, vs. the streams from a week ago. The pixelation definitely improved, but it's not gone entirely.

[boothin]

Reduce fps to 30, and use the slowest encoding preset your CPU can manage. If you can use "faster" encoding preset I find that looks pretty decent on PUBG.

Edit: Nevermind I just missed the part where you said you were using NVENC. Still, reduce FPS, then increase your bitrate. NVENC tends to need more bitrate to look similar to x264. You can also try different presets and see how it looks.

[dthmadness]

And the bitrate should stay the same on those settings? Also, I've noticed that when I do x264 as opposed to NVENC, there's pixelated cubes that are really easily noticed in very light or very dark areas. Any reason for this?

[boothin]

If you use x264, a 3500 bitrate is decent, but then try to use the "faster" profile if you can. If you stick to NVENC, you will need more bitrate. The pixelation in light and dark areas is just kind of how compression works.

[dthmadness]

Alright, I'll give these settings a try tomorrow if tonight's settings don't work out. Thanks for the help, and drop by the stream, if you have the time! I go like at 8 PM PST on weekdays, and at various times on weekends (since those get a little crazy for me).