Best OBS settings for recording on PC [low-end, mid-range]

by Vladimir Popescu

Managing Editor

Being an artist his entire life while also playing handball at a professional level, Vladimir has also developed a passion for all things computer-related. With an innate fascination for research and analysis, and realizing many...

Posted at: February 3 2021

Affiliate Disclosure

715

Share

X

OBS Studio is a software developer of free open-source software. Their product is for those with a passion for video recording and live streaming.

Some of them want to know what are the OBS settings for recording on a low-end PC. Here’s what one user says:

I have a PC with very low specs. I want to record and not to stream my game. I request anyone to tell me the settings that can give me a lag-free gaming and recording experience.

If you have in mind the same thing, don’t hesitate to follow our quick solutions to use the best OBS settings for recording on a low-end PC. Read carefully our next section to check them out.

What are the best recording settings for OBS?

1. Configure computer and OBS settings

1. Turn all video settings from your game to their lowest.
2. Reduce recording resolution for OBS to 16:9 720p (1280×720) or 480p (854×480).
3. Use the Bicubic downscale filter.
4. Verify the OBS FPS and reduce them to 24 or 30. 
5. Verify OBS Audio and set the sampling rate to the lowest at 44.1kHz.

When you have set the game video settings to the lowest, this will decrease the quality of game graphics. Even so, your computer will perform better because this step reduces the load from the CPU and GPU.

After setting the OBS Audio and ensuring its sampling rate is at the lowest, that will save you some bits. Also, resume strictly playing the game, and avoid running other applications or services.

2. Use Quick Sync Video for your encoder

Activate Quick Sync

1. Open OBS, navigate to Settings, and visit the Encoder section.
2. Select Quick Sync Video. 

When trying to find the best OBS settings for recording on a low-end PC, note that your encoder is very important as it uses certain hardware and encodes your video file.

Quick Sync Video is designed to use the Intel IGPU for encoding. This leaves the processor, graphics card, and hard disk drive free for gaming or software.

Thus, the Intel graphics chip will handle the entire encoding process while you can use the AMD or NVIDIA GPU at its full capacity.

Make sure you can select Quick Sync

1. Navigate to BIOS and activate the integrated Graphics Chip.
2. Open your web browser and visit Intel Download Center. 
3. Choose and download Intel Graphics Drivers for your processor.
4. Run the driver installation process.
5. Restart the computer after installation has finished.
6. Open the OBS application and navigate to Settings.
7. Visit Encoder and select Quick Sync.

The possibility to activate the Quick Sync encoder depends on the manufacturer of your computer’s motherboard. We recommend you verify the mainboard manual in this regard.

Run a System Scan to discover potential errors

Download Restoro
PC Repair Tool

Click Start Scan to find Windows issues.

Click Repair All to fix issues with Patented Technologies.

Run a PC Scan with Restoro Repair Tool to find errors causing security problems and slowdowns. After the scan is complete, the repair process will replace damaged files with fresh Windows files and components.

This applies even to those who are looking for the best OBS stream settings for a bad, old computer that’s far from its days of glory.

In BIOS, please search for one of the following options and enable it:

• IGPU Multi-Monitor
• Internal Graphics
• IGD Multi-Monitor

If you are unable to find such an option, then your computer’s mainboard might not support Quick Sync. We also advise you to contact the mainboard manufacturer and ask them for more information.

If you have managed to activate the option in BIOS, download the latest drivers available from Intel’s Download Center. Regardless if you use OBS Classic or Studio version, both of them are useful.

The encoding options remain the same for each of the variants. If you want to stream, use constant bitrate. For local recording, use the variable bitrate and increase the bandwidth.

When navigating through the advanced settings in OBS, you can change the encoding preset from x264 to Quick Sync. Lowering the preset is useful if you encounter problems during encoding. 

The previous section has detailed the best OBS settings for recording for a mid-range PC or even a low-end one. Use our first solution to configure your computer, and then your OBS software.

The second solution we recommend is to use the Quick Sync feature. Read carefully that specific section and check out both of possible cases. First, use the steps presented to activate Quick Fix.

If you don’t have it, make sure it is installed, and if not, then follow the steps written above the current section. Try out our tested solutions and implement OBS settings for recording on a low-end PC.

Do not hesitate to write a comment and give us details about your experience with OBS.

Still having issues? Fix them with this tool:

1. Download this PC Repair Tool rated Great on TrustPilot.com (download starts on this page).
2. Click Start Scan to find Windows issues that could be causing PC problems.
3. Click Repair All to fix issues with Patented Technologies (Exclusive Discount for our readers).

Restoro has been downloaded by 0 readers this month.