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Low GPU usage while gaming

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  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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June 29, 2014 6:25:20 PM

My computer is having a problem and I have no idea why. Last year I upgraded my graphics card to my PC. I upgraded it to a crossfire setup with the Radeon HD 5830 XFX XXX Edition. At first, I felt like the crossfire setup wasn't really showing any improvements and now I know why. I noticed that my GPU usage on MSI Afterburner would be around 45% for both cards. While looking at Core temp, I also noticed that all my CPU cores were a higher percentage. Certain locations of every game would have a higher frame rate than others. If the frame rate was down, it was because of that very reason. I don't really know why and I've been researching solutions for a very long time. Any help would be great! My PC specs are: Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.3GHz, 8 GB of RAM, 2 Radeon HD 5830 XFX XXX edition graphics cards, Corsair 750 watt power supply and a Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3(R2.0) motherboard.

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June 29, 2014 6:46:55 PM

Is the frame rate down because it's bumping up against 1GB of vram used? What games specifically and what is it showing on memory usage on the GPU during the high fps and the low fps?
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June 29, 2014 6:50:46 PM

bccorrupt said:
Is the frame rate down because it's bumping up against 1GB of vram used? What games specifically and what is it showing on memory usage on the GPU during the high fps and the low fps?


I'm not really sure what it says. It's using a crossfire setup. I was guessing it was the fact that my motherboard uses a x16 PCIxe slot and a x4 slot. I haven't really looked at the memory usage
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June 29, 2014 6:56:16 PM

Marinemasta said:
bccorrupt said:
Is the frame rate down because it's bumping up against 1GB of vram used? What games specifically and what is it showing on memory usage on the GPU during the high fps and the low fps?


I'm not really sure what it says. It's using a crossfire setup. I was guessing it was the fact that my motherboard uses a x16 PCIxe slot and a x4 slot. I haven't really looked at the memory usage


Two 5830s should be comparable to two 7770s or two 6850s and I'm willing to bet the 1GB of vram is what's holding it back. You didn't say specifically what games, but just for example Bioshock Infinite uses over 1GB of vram on anything over the lowest setting. So no matter how fast the cards are, the vram will be an issue on newer games and could possibly cause the cards to not need to run at higher than 40% to run out of memory.
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June 29, 2014 6:59:35 PM

You didn't say what the temps are, but that could also be causing the cards to throttle down. Run something like MSI Afterburner and see whats going on with GPU usage, vram usage, and also temps VS the fps. In the logs you should be able to see which one is acting up when the fps drop.
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June 29, 2014 7:00:17 PM

bccorrupt said:
Marinemasta said:
bccorrupt said:
Is the frame rate down because it's bumping up against 1GB of vram used? What games specifically and what is it showing on memory usage on the GPU during the high fps and the low fps?


I'm not really sure what it says. It's using a crossfire setup. I was guessing it was the fact that my motherboard uses a x16 PCIxe slot and a x4 slot. I haven't really looked at the memory usage


Two 5830s should be comparable to two 7770s or two 6850s and I'm willing to bet the 1GB of vram is what's holding it back. You didn't say specifically what games, but just for example Bioshock Infinite uses over 1GB of vram on anything over the lowest setting. So no matter how fast the cards are, the vram will be an issue on newer games and could possibly cause the cards to not need to run at higher than 40% to run out of memory.


Wow! That's great information. Of course, I read the post and forgot about that part. I play games like Battlefield 3 but I'm taking a break of those certain games and I'm playing things like GTA IV, CS:GO and CoD. What could be your solution for this problem?
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June 29, 2014 7:11:51 PM

Battlefield 3 would fall in that category. It does seem to use lots of vram with some people showing 1.6GB to 2.4GB. Your vram in a crossfire setup won't be added together, it will act like one faster card with 1GB. There isn't any type of fix.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1151904/bf3-actual-vram-usag...

I was actually planning to add a 2nd GTX660 after a year or two(I've had it one year), but I won't be going that route now. I've seen 1.4-1.8GB of vram usage just on my one 2GB card with multiple games so adding a 2nd I'd be running out of vram quickly and wouldn't see much of a gain for my money.
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June 29, 2014 7:24:01 PM

bccorrupt said:
Battlefield 3 would fall in that category. It does seem to use lots of vram with some people showing 1.6GB to 2.4GB. Your vram in a crossfire setup won't be added together, it will act like one faster card with 1GB. There isn't any type of fix.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1151904/bf3-actual-vram-usag...

I was actually planning to add a 2nd GTX660 after a year or two(I've had it one year), but I won't be going that route now. I've seen 1.4-1.8GB of vram usage just on my one 2GB card with multiple games so adding a 2nd I'd be running out of vram quickly and wouldn't see much of a gain for my money.


So I'm playing a bit of GTA IV right now. I've played a couple minutes in crossfire mode and out of it. I looked at MSI Afterburner and my GPU memory usage was at around 700-800MB. Nothing higher really. I then put it in crossfire and the memory usage is at around 1300-1400MB.
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June 29, 2014 7:27:56 PM

What was the fps difference between the two?
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June 29, 2014 7:30:11 PM

bccorrupt said:
What was the fps difference between the two?


I honestly didn't look. I forgot about that. I just can really tell the difference at the moment. Does this mean it is time to get a new GPU?
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June 29, 2014 7:43:03 PM

They did come out about 4 years ago. You'd see a pretty decent increase in fps with even an r9 270x, r9 280, GTX660, or GTX760 vs those two together. Pick one up from somewhere with a reasonable return policy and see how it goes.
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June 29, 2014 7:45:49 PM

bccorrupt said:
They did come out about 4 years ago. You'd see a pretty decent increase in fps with even an r9 270x, r9 280, GTX660, or GTX760 vs those two together. Pick one up from somewhere with a reasonable return policy and see how it goes.


I literally can't thank you enough for the help. You saved me a lot of wasted time. I was about to go out and buy a new motherboard. I just have a quick question as well. While I'm gaming, why is my CPU usage so high?
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June 29, 2014 7:52:28 PM

Your CPU should be perfectly fine matched with a $200-$300 new card. Some games, mostly multiplayer fps and MMOs use the processor heavily compared to 1 player games. I'd be willing to bet your CPU usage is much higher on all of the other games you listed compared to GTA IV. That would be normal.
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June 29, 2014 7:56:21 PM

bccorrupt said:
Your CPU should be perfectly fine matched with a $200-$300 new card. Some games, mostly multiplayer fps and MMOs use the processor heavily compared to 1 player games. I'd be willing to bet your CPU usage is much higher on all of the other games you listed compared to GTA IV. That would be normal.


Thank you very much! I will look into getting a new graphics card. Should be pretty simple. I'll probably purchase a card that you suggested. Once again, thank you!
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June 29, 2014 8:02:45 PM

No problem, enjoy your new card.
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