Huge spikes of GPU and CPU usage, resulting in very poor performance

Evoke186

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Nov 11, 2015
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4,710
Hello. i have an MSI GTX 960 and an i5-4460. for quite a while now i've been having a problem where games are either not using my gpu hardly at all (like 30%, even if the game is demanding) which results in poor fps, or i get huge spikes of GPU usage. for example it will go from 98% gpu usage and drop to 30% which also makes huge fps spikes.
the same is true for my CPU.

here are the graphs of my CPU and GPU usage (taken from MSI afterburner):
http://imgur.com/a/9WVR6

as you can see, there's huge spikes. that was during normal gameplay.
 

Evoke186

Reputable
Nov 11, 2015
129
0
4,710


this happens in every game. i am using the latest drivers which is 358.91, and my specs:
windows 8.1
msi gtx 960 2gb
i5-4460 3.2ghz
kingston 12gb ram
asus h81m-e motherboard
corsair cx600m (600w)