Animated Cursors - GPU Intensive

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konspiracy

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Feb 26, 2013
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Hi guys I downloaded some cool animated cursors for my mouse pointer on Windows 7.
The files are just .ani files.
After using the animated cursors for some hours I noticed some artifacts on the google chrome browser window ( the borders were disappearing until the cursor was over them).
Additionally I noticed FPS drop in ACIVblackflag, LeagueofLegends and 2-3C temperature rise on the GPU during load. Is it normal that these animated cursors stress the GPU?
Anyway I deactivated the animated cursors and went back to the default windows 7 cursors: Google chrome stopped freaking out, and my FPS and temperatures during games returned to normal.
So because i find the windows arrow really boring, is there anyway to make these animated cursors less gpu intensive?? or maybe where can I get custom cursors that arent so high gpu demanding???
My GPU is radeon hd7850.
Thanks everyone
 
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nukemaster

nukemaster

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Nov 23, 2004
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That is quite strange. I used to have animated cursors all the time(made them when I had nothing better to do). I never noticed this.

I just tried some I had kicking around and notice no actual change in idle gpu use or heat.

As for chrome, It may well be a bug in the OS or browser it self. I have seem some artifacts when moving a mouse in and out of some programs(you have to almost be moving over the edge of a program over and over to notice it), but it is just a flash and never stays.
 
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nukemaster

nukemaster

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I am not sure. I would ensure you have the latest drivers for your card as well as try some other cursors to see what is up with that. The ones I have are not that many frames, not sure if that changes it much.

Does LoL actually show your windows cursors or does it have its own?

A full scan of the system never hurts as once upon a time the best way to virus people was themes/screen savers/cursor packs for im and such.
 
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K

konspiracy

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Feb 26, 2013
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I do have the latest drivers installed. Windows is up to date, antivirus too. (avira free)
I ran malwarebytes, avira full scan, ccleaner.

Its strange because neither LoL or Assassins creed use the windows cursor. They both have their own.
I can disable the cursors when Im going to play, but its a messy job to enable them again 1 by 1.
 
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nukemaster

nukemaster

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You can save 2 themes(with and without custom), but that still means you have to do something before and after you game.

How much frame drop are you talking about anyway? Are the games in full screen or fake full screen(windowed fullscreen/boarder-less window/ect)
 
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K

konspiracy

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Feb 26, 2013
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I play all games on true Full screen.
The frame drops are pretty big. In LoL its acceptable, i have to turn off HUD animations to get 40+ frames constantly
But Assassins Creed is impossible. I have to deactivate antialiasing or else I get 14 fps when intensive fighting. Without the cursors it doesnt get below 22 which is fine for me. But even with antialiasing deactivated and acceptable fps my gpu runs way to hot. I usually dont let it over 75C but with the cursors it starts at 76 and goes 80+ if I keep playing for 1 hour. I keep my gpu OC'ed for games like assassins creed.

I havent thought about the Theme trick, ill give it a try!
 
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nukemaster

nukemaster

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That is a huge difference for sure. I for sure have never seen anything like that.

I was playing some games today with custom animated(based on the game GunZ the duel when it first game out) cursors without any noticeable issues.

I will try some benchmarks with and without customs.

Mind if I ask how big these files are, the ones I have are actually not that bad because they are not that many frames(I think I made them back when I still used XP).
 
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konspiracy

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Feb 26, 2013
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So maybe my .ani files are not well optimized. I will try to edit them with the anituner, and see if I can get them down on size. I will also try and use some under 20kb in the meantime.
But either way, what kind of gpu does someone need in order to download random cursors and play games?? dual 780's??
 
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konspiracy

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Feb 26, 2013
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Damn I cant even make it work with the themes -.-

I go in the personalize menu, mouse pointers, i change the cursor to custom, the box "allow themes to change cursors" is ticked, i save the theme, name it, use it, then swap to the other theme i saved (which is with windows default cursors), then swap back to the custom theme, but I still have the boring windows 7 cursor. It cant save my .ani files on the theme. any help with that?
 
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nukemaster

nukemaster

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Very strange I just tested by setting all of my custom cursors and them saving it as a theme called test. I then restored the default for each cursor under Change mouse pointers and that creates and unsaved theme. swapping from those 2 works perfect.

I now have a Default and Test theme that do exactly as you are trying to do.

I would not think that animated cursors would actually be demanding as they have been in use since even before everything was hardware accelerated.
 
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K

konspiracy

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Feb 26, 2013
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So clearly there is a problem in my system... You think there is a chance that its software related?? ... or is my gpu failing??
I will try to reinstall the amd display drivers, maybe its a driver corrupt installation involved.. idk.
 
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nukemaster

nukemaster

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Nov 23, 2004
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Honestly, I can not see a video issue since games seem to work fine the rest of the time.

As far as temperatures go, I do not think that is anything to worry about as simply put a video card can not be loaded beyond 100%. chances are you games simply do not use all your video cards resources and that bit of extra seems to use it.

Have you monitored you video card usage with something like GPU-Z(sensors tab) with and without these custom cursors? maybe you can see the difference in load or fan speed or something. You have to enable continue refreshing this screen while gpu-z is in the background and you can log the sensors if you want a longer run of data.
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/
 
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konspiracy

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Feb 26, 2013
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Ok I've done this test with Assassins Creed IV.
GPU usage stays at 100% at all times with and without custom cursors.
I use the same video settings and steady 57% fan speed in both cases. With custom cursors the max GPU Temperature is 75C and the FPS stay >20. without customs I get GPUmax 79C, FPS>14


I have to try this with LeagueofLegends too, since it doesnt use 100% of my gpu.
 
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