Thanks for the advice, just got back and tried what you suggested, including:

- Enable "Change desktop resolution to match streaming client"
- Disable output scaling in the Nvidia control panel
- Set Windows desktop resolution to 1080p
- Alternate Raspberry Pi output refresh rate between 60 and 59.94 Hz (60 Hz seemed better)
- Limit bandwidth to 30 MBit/s and 40 MBit/s
- Limit (streaming) resolution to 1080p
- Limit framerate to 60 and 59.75 (60 seemed to be better)
- Set network on host to private
- Launch Steam Link from console or desktop
- Try AVC (shows as Raspberry Pi MMAL hardware decoding) and HEVC (shows as MMAL ffmpeg hardware decoding)
- Try another game (Dirt 5)
- Temperature of my Pi 4 hovers around 60C

I think I found a combination of settings that work somewhat well. 1080p everywhere (desktop resolution, stream resolution, Raspberry Pi resolution), 60Hz, 60 fps and 40 MBit/s bitrate with HEVC enabled. There are still visible single frame drops every few seconds, and sometimes it starts dropping frames more noticably again for a few seconds, but it's better than before.

I'm using the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS (Legacy), so I'm still on Buster. I really don't understand where the frame drops are coming from, especially since they don't show up on the graph. It seems like the whole setup is incredibly finnicky, where small changes in settings have huge impacts.
I don't understand for example, why the Raspberry Pi cares about the host desktop resolution, when the stream is encoded at 1080p anyways.
Anything above 1080p also doesn't seem to work smoothly with my setup, immediately reintroducing those frame drops.

Is there anything else I might have missed?

Huh, so you'd suggest downgrading to an older version of Buster? I did have massive issues with Bullseye, but I thought the latest Legacy version should be perfectly compatible, so I haven't tried anything older.

Also, wonderful conspiracy theories, but I'm afraid the boring truth is simply that nobody tested the Steam Link app properly and these bugs creeped in :D

I have Pi OS Bullseye running on a Pi4 4GB and can stream 1080 60Hz just fine. I have a fan on my Pi which took my original temp of ~60c down to 30c so I would at least look into additional cooling.

I'm also using cat6 so I have a link speed to the network of 1000Mbs.

I have the frames limited to 60fps and HEVC disabled. HEVC is only required for resolutions above 1080. I also have the bandwidth set to automatic and video set to beautiful.

The only issues I currently have with Bullseye are streaming at 4K and also when I close the connection I have to restart my Pi as I'm just have a blank screen.

Originally posted by Mary-Jane Rottencrotch:

I have Pi OS Bullseye running on a Pi4 4GB and can stream 1080 60Hz just fine. I have a fan on my Pi which took my original temp of ~60c down to 30c so I would at least look into additional cooling.

I'm also using cat6 so I have a link speed to the network of 1000Mbs.

I have the frames limited to 60fps and HEVC disabled. HEVC is only required for resolutions above 1080. I also have the bandwidth set to automatic and video set to beautiful.

The only issues I currently have with Bullseye are streaming at 4K and also when I close the connection I have to restart my Pi as I'm just have a blank screen.

I've been struggling for awhile, so I'm gonna try your settings. If your settings make no difference, I'm gonna look into at least a 20 series gpu that has the extra NVENC chip, and a new router/modem/cables.

I don't really know what else to do, I've wrestled with this ♥♥♥♥ since November and I switched to Moonlight in January because I'm just tired of playing 30XX and Deep Rock with constant stutters.

You're running it in Bullseye in boot to terminal auto login mode right? I just wanna make sure I'm mirroring you.

Originally posted by Alloweth's wend, Brandon!:

I've been struggling for awhile, so I'm gonna try your settings. If your settings make no difference, I'm gonna look into at least a 20 series gpu that has the extra NVENC chip, and a new router/modem/cables.

I don't really know what else to do, I've wrestled with this ♥♥♥♥ since November and I switched to Moonlight in January because I'm just tired of playing 30XX and Deep Rock with constant stutters.

You're running it in Bullseye in boot to terminal auto login mode right? I just wanna make sure I'm mirroring you.

I did have Bullseye booting to terminal when it first came out but at the moment I run from the desktop.

I really wouldn't throw money at another GPU if your notebook isn't experiencing any issues. I also doubt your cables are the issue. Streaming 1080 doesn't require that much bandwidth. What speed does the Steam Link speed test get to? You can test your connection bandwidth between host and client with iperf.