Low gpu usage in games.

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jkteddy77

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Jun 13, 2013
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My specs are in my signature, except I have the 8350 OC'd to 4.6 @ 1.4v now...

Basically, in games like Sleeping Dogs, Crysis 2, parts of Crysis 3, and BF3/BF4 multiplayer, I am getting low gpu usage, and I have no clue why.

-all drivers installed and updated to 14.4 chipsets and graphics
-latest MOBO chipset and BIOS
-clean PC, no viruses, and all driver clean installed with DDU

I get 50-60% in Crysis 2, and my FPS goes from 80 or so to 40's... CPU usage about 50%

BF4 Multiplayer (my favorite game) drops from 94-99% down to 60-85% in some maps (hainan, paracel storm, etc.) and My FPS drops from 70-110fps all ultra down to 40fps... Whether its low or ultra settings :/ and on low settings, I only use 30% GPU...

It seems the lower my gpu usage, the lower my fps, so I have no idea why my usage is dropping. it obviously needs more GPU power. My CPU usage is the same no matter what the gpu usage is...

except in Sleeping dogsm where Even on high settings, I run 50% gpu usage, and only 45-70fps, 40-65 on extreme...

What is going on? My CPU shouldn't be a bottleneck, and OCing didn't help either (loving the Cooler master Hyper 212 Evo btw, gets the job done for cheap)
 
Solution
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So if my that's the thing... if my GPU was the bottleneck, wouldn't my CPU usage be much higher? My GPU does perform at 94-99% in many games, giving me the full frame rate. YEs, CPU performance matters too, but most games your FPS is...
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patrick47018

patrick47018

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Jan 14, 2013
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Your GPU usage isn't supposed to be at 100% at all times, if it is less it means that you can handle the game. Frame rates varying is commonplace among all cards as certain maps, places in the game, things going on in the game will cause the game to slow down
 
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cst1992

cst1992

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Nov 8, 2013
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Seeing the FPS is same on normal(or high?) and extreme obviously indicates a bottleneck, or some frame limiter. See in options if you have any such frame limiter enabled.
Otherwise it's CPU bottleneck. 8GB is enough RAM, so that can't be the issue.
Do you have all the CPU cores being used? Since it's 8 cores, that will rarely happen, although 4 or so cores should be running. Since the CPU usage is constant but not max, it indicates some cores are used to the max and others aren't being used at all.
 
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jkteddy77

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TBH, most games use 4 cores, and I know that the 8350 isn't the BEST at single core threads, but my god, no way its dropping my usage this much. In BF4 for example, all 8 cores are used at 50-90%... and usage is 60-80%... but they stay the same usage when I change settings or OC...
 
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jkteddy77

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These programs are all disabled. the only thing using power is the games and windows itself. task manager shows only 1% of my cpu isn't being used on the game... and how does this explain my GPU usage dropping?
 
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cst1992

cst1992

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A bottleneck is defined by both the CPU and GPU.
If the CPU is working hard, it can deliver only so many frames per second. If you have a fast GPU which can deliver more frames at a given quality setting, then you'll see a drop in GPU usage.
Vice versa for a fast CPU and a slow GPU(like the 4670k and the GTX 660). If the CPU is fast compared to the GPU for a given game, the CPU will be working below max, while the GPU will be at 99%(assuming you're not having VSync or any other such frame limiter).
 
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jkteddy77

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Jun 13, 2013
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So if my that's the thing... if my GPU was the bottleneck, wouldn't my CPU usage be much higher? My GPU does perform at 94-99% in many games, giving me the full frame rate. YEs, CPU performance matters too, but most games your FPS is dependant on GPU power.

See, if my CPU was bottlenecking my BF4, when my GPU usage drops shouldn't my CPU usage skyrocket up? here's the thing... my CPU usage stays the the same, its not like the PC is struggling... it just drops the GPU usage, that's the only thing that falls...

Now in Metro Last light, OCing to 4.6 ghz gave me no fps increase, and the game uses 99% of my GPU becasue it is GPU powered... that game runs as it should (61-70 on all very high+2x SSAA, not too shabby)
But then the simplest of games made 2-3 years ago won't run well...

Hitman absolution is running over 60fps with all ultra settings and 8xmsaa now with drivers 14.4... usually 70-90, even on the raining and shadow heavy parts of the game.
Far Cry 3 is 50-80 now with all ultra and 4xmsaa with only geometry set from ultra to very high.

All of these "unoptimized" games seems to run fine, but curse me if I try to run a well optimized game without dropping serious frames...
 
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Solution
cst1992

cst1992

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Nov 8, 2013
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Your CPU and GPU both are good. The 8350 could easily handle SLI/CF of high-end cards, so no way it'd bottleneck a R9 290.
GPU usage will obviously fall if you walk in from the open world to a closed room, for example.
It's not straightforward, like a FurMark benchmark.
Don't know why you're getting the issue, as is the guy in the other thread you posted on.
Guess we'll have to wait and see what turns out.
 
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