Lower settings = lower GPU usage?

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piddledee

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Sep 23, 2013
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Hey guys, so I've had my computer for around a month now and after monitoring how it does in Battlefield 3 I am slightly concerned, especially if this has an impact on BF4 performance. My cpu seems to run roughly 80%-100% during BF3 multiplayer at around 68C to 75C. My GPU usage however is on 99% when running 1080p ultra but as I lower setting to high, medium and low the GPU usage steadily drops and I only see a small difference in fps as I go down. Why is this happening and is it possible to fix? Also will this be an ongoing problem in other games and for BF4? Thanks.


Specs:

i5 4670k
8gb Corsair Vegance
MSI GTX 760
ASROCK Z87 Extreme 3
Corsair CX750M

Please note:

I will be getting a hyper 412 slim off a friend soon (very similar performance to 212 evo) and I planned to sli the 760 shortly in the future will that be an option given this?
 
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Epis
I wouldn't be so concerned. As long as the GPU is not running super hot at 99% then it shouldn't be a problem. If you can run a game at Ultra Settings at a good framerate, go for it.

And yes, you should be able to SLi the 760 without too much hassle.
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Epis

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Sep 8, 2013
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I wouldn't be so concerned. As long as the GPU is not running super hot at 99% then it shouldn't be a problem. If you can run a game at Ultra Settings at a good framerate, go for it.

And yes, you should be able to SLi the 760 without too much hassle.
 
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piddledee

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Sep 23, 2013
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Awesome thanks for quick reply. GPU never goes over 65 so I think that's all good. Would overclocking my CPU possibly help get more GPU usage at lower settings?
 
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Kari

Kari

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Jun 16, 2004
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that all points to a cpu bottleneck at the lowered settings, the cpu just can't feed the gpu fast enough to keep the gpu usage up and as such the fps gains are small. Have you tried overclocking the cpu?

edit to answer your question, yes it would.
 
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piddledee

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Sep 23, 2013
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Ok well as soon as I get the cooler I will start. Will this be an ongoing bottleneck in BF4 or not? I'm mostly confused because it is 99% at ultra and not at medium etc. So I can get rid of bottleneck by turning graphics up...?
 
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Mahisse

Mahisse

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Nov 26, 2012
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You need to try think logical:
Higher graphic settings = Higher GPU power is needed

If you lower your graphic settings the GPU will not need to work as much as on higher settings. Although this is not always the case because the benefits of lowering the graphic settings will often result in an increase of FPS if your CPU can handle it. So if you lower your graphic settings and do not see any increase on your FPS check the usage of the CPU. It will probably be working at 99-100%.
This is how you identify a bottleneck and your CPU is a bottleneck when you lower the graphic settings since you already are hitting 100% sometimes in ultra, which means your CPU is actually bottlenecking your FPS experience on ultra. You need to overclock the CPU to fully take advantage of the 780 in BF3 Multiplayer.
 
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Kari

Kari

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Jun 16, 2004
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Well since bf4 isnt released yet no one knows how demanding it's going to be...

Yeah, at lower graphic settings the work load on the gpu gets easier, so it has to do less computations to finish a single image. However the cpu has to do pretty much the same work for each frame regardless of the graphical settings. Which ever is lower will determine the fps on the screen.
For ex.
max fps CPU GPU
Low 100 200
Med 98 150
high 97 115
v.h. 96 85
ultra 95 60
So in the first 3 settings the cpu will limit the fps at 100,98 and 97, and in the 2 highest settings the gpu is working as fast as it can and you'll get 85 and 60fps. (on LOW the gpu usage would be like 50%, MED 67%, HIGH would be close to 90%)
 
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