Configure OBS Studio to Use GPU for Rendering

Configuring OBS Studio to utilize your graphics card (GPU) instead of your processor (CPU) for rendering and encoding is one of the most effective ways to boost streaming and recording performance. By offloading these demanding tasks to hardware-accelerated encoders on your GPU, you can eliminate choppy framerates, reduce CPU bottlenecking, and ensure your games run smoothly. This guide provides a direct, step-by-step walkthrough to switch OBS Studio over to GPU-based rendering and encoding.

Step 1: Change the Video Encoder in OBS Studio

The most critical step to ensure OBS uses your GPU is selecting the hardware encoder associated with your graphics card.

  1. Open OBS Studio.
  2. Click on Settings in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
  3. Select the Output tab from the left-hand menu.
  4. Change the Output Mode at the top from Simple to Advanced.
  5. Click on the Streaming tab.
  6. Locate the Video Encoder dropdown menu and select your GPU-based hardware encoder:
    • NVIDIA Users: Select NVIDIA NVENC H.264 (or AV1/HEVC if your card supports it).
    • AMD Users: Select AMD HW H.264 (or AMD HW AV1/HEVC).
    • Intel Users: Select Intel Quick Sync H.264 (or QSV AV1).
    • Note: Avoid selecting “x264”, as this forces OBS to use your CPU.
  7. Click the Recording tab and ensure the Video Encoder there is also set to your GPU hardware encoder (or set to Use stream encoder).
  8. Click Apply.

Step 2: Set OBS Studio to High Performance in Windows

To ensure Windows prioritizes your dedicated GPU for OBS Studio’s rendering pipeline, you should adjust your operating system’s graphics settings.

  1. Open the Windows Start Menu, type Graphics settings, and press Enter.
  2. Under the “Custom options for apps” or “Graphics performance preference” section, click Browse.
  3. Navigate to the folder where OBS is installed. By default, this is:
    C:\Program Files\obs-studio\bin\64bit\
  4. Select obs64.exe and click Add.
  5. Once OBS Studio appears in the list, click on it and select Options.
  6. Choose High performance (this forces the system to use your dedicated GPU rather than integrated graphics).
  7. Click Save.

Step 3: Configure Multi-GPU Systems (Optional)

If your computer has multiple graphics cards (such as a dedicated GPU alongside an integrated CPU graphics chip), you must tell OBS which card to use for rendering the preview canvas.

  1. In OBS Studio, open Settings.
  2. Click on the Advanced tab on the left.
  3. Scroll down to the Video section.
  4. Locate the GPU setting.
    • A value of 0 represents your primary graphics card.
    • If you have a secondary card you wish to use specifically for OBS, change this value to 1.
  5. Click Apply and then OK.
  6. Restart OBS Studio to apply the changes.