Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question

GPU doesn't work at 99%

Tags:
  • GPUs
  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
Share
October 10, 2014 1:00:48 PM

Hello guys,
I noticed in Total War Rome II the GPU doesn't work always at 99% even if I haven't 60fps (VSync enabled).
Could you help me to understand why?
In attachment some screenshot. (You can see the use of resources on right top)







Thank you.

More about : gpu work

October 10, 2014 1:18:12 PM

Ottagono said:
Hello guys,
I noticed in Total War Rome II the GPU doesn't work always at 99% even if I haven't 60fps (VSync enabled).
Could you help me to understand why?
In attachment some screenshot. (You can see the use of resources on right top)

Spoiler









Thank you.


What is your CPU?

m
0
l
October 10, 2014 1:24:46 PM

Oh sorry, I didn't post my system.

CPU : Intel Core i5 4440 @3.10GHz
GPU : ASUS GTX 760 2GB GDDR5
RAM : Corsair Vengeance 2X4GB 1600MHz
Motherboard : Gigabyte Z87-HD3
Power Supply : Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 520W

Anyway in the screenshot above you can see the CPU use and it's not at 99%, so I don't think I have a CPU bottleneck.

Thank you for reply.
m
0
l
Related resources
October 10, 2014 1:39:31 PM

The reason for this is because for the GPU to begin to consider drawing a frame, the CPU has to be caught up with its work load. If the GPU draws a frame, and it has to wait for the CPU to finish its operation, it's going to take a break during that time because it has no work to do. This situation would be a CPU bottleneck, and what you describe is not that.

If the CPU does its operation has to wait for the GPU to draw a frame, it's not going to work any harder to try to keep up. Ergo, low CPU usage, and High GPU usage. So odds are you have a GPU bottleneck in this particular game. Odds are the engine is trading between the two which may be why your GPU is unable to reach 99% usage.

You'll want to upgrade your GPU. I would recommend a GTX 970 for the best value, next gen experience, one of the cards I've purchased and have never looked back. Your PSU would handle it fine. It's only a 145W card. If it is beyond your budget try getting another 760. You may have to upgrade your PSU. I recommend the 750 watt EVGA. It has 4 6 pci-e connectors for maximum upgradeability.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-STRIX-GTX970-DC20C-4GD5-Grap...
http://www.amazon.com/GTX760-DC2OC-2GD5-GeForce-256-bit...
m
0
l
October 11, 2014 12:18:26 AM

coovargo said:
The reason for this is because for the GPU to begin to consider drawing a frame, the CPU has to be caught up with its work load. If the GPU draws a frame, and it has to wait for the CPU to finish its operation, it's going to take a break during that time because it has no work to do. This situation would be a CPU bottleneck, and what you describe is not that.

If the CPU does its operation has to wait for the GPU to draw a frame, it's not going to work any harder to try to keep up. Ergo, low CPU usage, and High GPU usage. So odds are you have a GPU bottleneck in this particular game. Odds are the engine is trading between the two which may be why your GPU is unable to reach 99% usage.

You'll want to upgrade your GPU. I would recommend a GTX 970 for the best value, next gen experience, one of the cards I've purchased and have never looked back. Your PSU would handle it fine. It's only a 145W card. If it is beyond your budget try getting another 760. You may have to upgrade your PSU. I recommend the 750 watt EVGA. It has 4 6 pci-e connectors for maximum upgradeability.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-STRIX-GTX970-DC20C-4GD5-Grap...
http://www.amazon.com/GTX760-DC2OC-2GD5-GeForce-256-bit...


Thank you for reply.

Do you think I have a GPU bottleneck, right?

In other games when the GPU is not able to draw 60fps it works always at 99% at 40-45fps. Instead in this game there is very excursion between fps. Is it a problem about graphic engine?

I saw on the tab "Performance" on Task Manager that in some case there is one core at 100% usage.

I think this game is not optimized very good.

Anyway I dont't think I will buy another GPU because I built my system on January 2014, it's enough recently.
m
0
l
October 11, 2014 8:58:57 AM

It's possible that the game may not be able to yield 100% of your CPU with the selected GPU, which would be an issue with the engine, albeit a minor one. This would be a GPU bottleneck in this situation. Have you tried turning down the graphics to see if you yield more FPS and CPU usage to verify? This would probably be all you need to do to investigate any further. An additional 760 in SLI would probably alleviate this issue to a great extent. I however believe that your system is very good. I wouldn't worry about it too much.
m
0
l
October 11, 2014 9:17:19 AM

It really just seems like the Total War engine can't spread the load across enough cores, I found this interesting compilation
http://www.overclock.net/t/1426315/gamegpu-total-war-ro...

Basically Rome can't make great use of extra cores, an i3-2100 comes in a bit below an i5-2500k(73%/80% min/avg fps) while an i5 2500k edges out an i7 2600k ever so slightly so clearly those hyperthreaded cores aren't helping. I've never stared at task manager while playing it but i'd bet it only actually spreads itself over 3 cores from these results. You can try playing with settings to reduce the CPU heavy settings and get some better performance that way, particle effects are usually CPU intensive.
m
0
l
October 11, 2014 9:19:24 AM

Rome is CPU heavy, not GPU heavy.
m
0
l
October 11, 2014 9:25:11 AM

I was checking HWInfo64 the other day while playing Skyrim with my i5-4690k and HD 7950. The CPU averaged about 65% and the GPU averaged 70%. Both hit 99% for a maximum. Game played fine, it's just that neither has to go full tilt all the time.
m
0
l
October 11, 2014 9:49:50 AM

jeffredo said:
I was checking HWInfo64 the other day while playing Skyrim with my i5-4690k and HD 7950. The CPU averaged about 65% and the GPU averaged 70%. Both hit 99% for a maximum. Game played fine, it's just that neither has to go full tilt all the time.


Thats mainly because skyrim forces vsync, so will usually stop the GPU maxing out.
m
0
l
October 12, 2014 9:21:26 AM

Thank at all to reply.

I did some test.

This is with maximum settings (The game it's not playable):





This is with minimum settings (The game it's playable but with some stuttering, fps drops from 60 to 15 for a second):





Looking at the tests I suppose I am CPU bottleneck. According to RobCrezz I think the game is CPU heavy.

@coovarge I cannot add an other GTX 760 because my motherboard doesn't support SLI, it support only Crossfire.

@hunter315 Setting particle effects to low the result it's the same.
m
0
l
!