Gigabyte G1 970 i5 4670k underpreformance.

Asahira · Feb 2, 2016

Hey guys i have a problem with my current pc setup.

I am using a Gigabyte Gtx 970 G1 an i5-4670k(no oc) and 8gb ram 1600mzh. And since i replaced my old gtx 760 for the 970 i noticed that the gpu usage in any demanding game like Witcher 3 , Arkham Knight or the new Tomb Raider never reaches more than 70-75%(most of the time it hovers around 60%). So in those games instead of getting stable 60 fps at high details (not ultra) i am having a lot of frames droped from 60 to 50 or 48 plus a lot of stuttering when it happens.
I also noticed that my cpu usage reaches near 90% sometimes 100% for a short while when that happens,

But as far as i know a i5-4670k is still good for gaming in full hd and it should not botleneck my card at all. My cpu temps while under full load and on a stock cooler reach about 65-69 C so i am in line with intels specifications, my idle temps are about 30 C. So from what i read and understand my cooling is working as it should for that cpu model.

I read a big post about the nvidia 900 series having % usage problems but i also saw a lot of ppl posting their preformance tests on yotube with those cards and it seems to be working fine for them.

I tryed a lot of different things like using a program to clean all of my Nvidia drivers and making a clean instal. Or try different power managment optons in the control panel, but the resoults are always the same.

I am mostly worried why my cpu is reaching almost 100% usage when i am trying to play games in 60 fps. When i saw that other ppl who use the same setup as i can get fluid 60 while having the cpu being used only at 60-70% max and the gpu being at 90%.

SkyMembrane · Feb 2, 2016

Just a quick check-up, go in your Nvidia settings and make sure that PhysX are handled by the GTX 970 and not by the CPU's integrated graphics. It's a common issue that people have and would explain why you're seeing a very high CPU usage.

Asahira · Feb 2, 2016

Yes i had it changed from the start to Gpu. I even changed it to automatic later to see if it will help in any way. But the resoults were very close or almost the same!

Asahira · Feb 2, 2016

I understand that when a cpu is being used by almost 80-90% it means there is a bottleneck on it. But my i5 should not do that right?

SkyMembrane · Feb 2, 2016

I've got the I5-4690k with my GTX970 and I'm not having that issue, so I'd say you shouldn't either. Since you have an unlocked processor, have you tried overclocking it at all? Is the GPU overclocked or running with an Overvoltage? Also, make sure that you're not running on Power Saving mode in either Windows or the Bios and that the Turbo Clock is enabled. Another minor thing, make sure the display cable is plugged into the GPU's slot and not the motherboard's.

Asahira · Feb 2, 2016

No i did not try to overclock it since i am using a stock cooler and i am happy with it as it is. Iwould only overclock it if i would be gaming over 1080p, but since thats the max my monitro can handle i see no reason for doing it. Yes my gpu is the Gigabyte G1 Super Oc, it's factory oc to 1178 standard core clock and 1380 something boost mode. But i did not oc it futher outside of that so it's running with no modifications straigh out of the box. Funny thing about bios tho, i wanted to check it today i restarted my pc i was pressing delete like crazy and it did not put me in to bios for some reason, i do not know maybe cos i ma using a ssd as my windows drive and it just launches to fast.

As for Turbo Clock i read i should check and trun it off cos this is what may be causing my cpu high usage. The monitor cable is plugged to the gpu slot ofc.

SkyMembrane · Feb 2, 2016

Having a SSD shouldn't prevent you from accessing the Bios, as they are unrelated in terms of booting. Turbo Clock should be turned On, not off, it makes your CPU run at a higher clock rate when it needs it. It's not overclock, it's just that Intel CPUs come with it stock. I would still verify that nothing is in Power Saving mode, as it could be reducing the voltage on certain components and preventing them from reaching maximum usage.

Asahira · Feb 2, 2016

Ok gonna check or try to get to bios and see if it does not have any power saving mode on, but in windows i set everything to preformance. Same for the global gpu setting in Nvidia Panel.

Asahira · Feb 2, 2016

I forgot to add but if by turbo you mean the cpu going from 3.4Ghz to the boost 3.8 speed, then yes it does that.

SkyMembrane · Feb 2, 2016

Asahira :

Yes, it's called boost clock for GPUs and Turbo clock for CPUs. Don't ask why, I don't know, but it's the same deal.

Asahira · Feb 3, 2016

Okay i did check my bios and Turbo Clock is on. But as i said before i am using Speccy to monitor my cpu usage and when i am using preformance mode in windows it always sits at the boost frequency of that model being 3.8Ghz.
I also posted in a different thread about this porblem http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2845317/high-cpu-usage-6600-gaming.html#xtor=EPR-8809 where a guy responded that a i5 can limit a 970 in preformance, which i still find silly. I know some games can use even up to 80% of the cpu or 90% when a game is being played at max settings. I never play anything on more than high so it should not affect me at all.
Plus most of those ppl are getting 90% or more gpu usage in those demanding games, while i sit at 70-80% max. Another thing i noticed when using the simple benchmark on GPU-Z is that in there the gpu load is reaching 99% usage, so it means my card can reach full load when needed. My voltage during that time is 1.2180V and my power consumption 57-58 % TDP, if that can tell you anything more.

SkyMembrane · Feb 3, 2016

In Windows performance mode, the CPU always run at it's maximum frequency. That's what it's designed for. More power draw, more heat, but much quicker performances. That being said, if you're running on the stock cooler, I guess it's not always the best of ideas. The CPU usage should, in recent games, always be lower or at worst equal to the GPU usage.

If you GPU can reach 99% usage in GPU-Z, then the problem doesn't come from there. 1.218V is also the card's base voltage, so no issue there either. I'm starting to think you might have a defective CPU that cannot output the performances it should be capable of. I'll keep thinking about it, don't worry, and if anything comes to me, I'll let you know.

PS. That ''I5 could bottleneck a GTX970'' is not true. I have an I5-4690k (Overclocked, but still) and it rocks through everything I've thrown at it in terms of gaming. The usage can get pretty high sometimes, but my GPU reached 110% usage when it needed to and the CPU never truly held it back. If I were you, I would consider doing a Passmark bench to see how well your CPU is performing compared to other I5-4670ks. It averaged a score of 7625 over some 3400 samples.

Asahira · Feb 4, 2016

Okay 1st i would like to thank you very much for trying to help me for such a long time, i really appreciate it. So if i will ever win in lotto in my country i will not forget to send you some gifts

. I just did the PassMark Preformance Test on cpu , i clicked cpu test and took the "all" option so it tested it on few things.
So here are the scores :
Cpu Mark - 8112
Integer Math - 10094
Floating Point Math - 8992
Prime Numbers - 34.9
Extended Instructions - 28.9
Compression - 9696
Encryption - 1510
Physics -494.4
Sorting - 6221
Single Threaded - 2279

Ok without opera running in the background i get around 5% more preformance on the overall test.

I alos had opera running in the backround plus 2 other small programs during the test. So can you tell me what you think aboyt the test, or did o not use the correct one?

Ok my last edit to this. Had a memory mark test as well and my 8gb ddr 3 scored 2432 on the "Memory Mark"

Asahira · Feb 4, 2016

I also tested my gtx 970 G1 Super Overclokc Edition in the same Preformance Test 8.0 and got 3d Graphics Mark score of 9972. In every other test on that program i am very very close to a 980 in preformance and in Direct Compute i have the same score as a 980 "4848/980 to my 4819/970"

I was thinking of retruning the card on warranty as i still got 2.5 yers on it. But i read on the nvidia forum that many ppl did do it and the effects were the same even on a 3rd card they got back from the provider. The only thing that is anoying about my 970 is a small coil whine. but i only hear it during heavy stress tests. I never heard the whine noise during gamming even when the card was at 65 C.

Another funny thing is that when i am playing more demanding games like the new Tomb Raider or Batman the Core clock goes from 1178 to 1405 mzh. So the card is pushing the clock to the limit of the gpu boost i assume. Cos if i would like to get more than that i would have to overclock it manually. But the 1405 should be enough for just 1080p gaming. It's just that stupid usage that does not go over 70-80%.

The only time i ever got it to 99% was in witcher 3 when i launched everything on ultra with hairworks on. But hairworks on kills the preformance so i was hovering round 45-50 fps. And how is it that your can reach over 100% is magic for me.

SkyMembrane · Feb 4, 2016

What's weird is that with those scores, your GPU reached 100% usage for sure on the benchmarks... I mean mine scored 10866 and it has some overclock on it. You CPU score is also above average, so there's no bottleneck there.

It's almost as if something was limiting your usage in games, but I can't think of anything at the moment. I'm slightly confused on the situation at the moment, but I'll sleep on it and I'll come back tomorrow to provide some more assistance.

Asahira · Feb 4, 2016

The problem with the low Gpu usage is that even the ppl who complain about it ona 173 long page Nvidia forum thread say that in benchmarks the card is reaching full 100%. So far Nvidia did not give any offical response on that matter. Some ppl like you play without any problems, and some like me have low gpu usage in demanding games, that should use 100% of it.

SkyMembrane · Feb 4, 2016

Can you post a link to that thread? I'm at work at the moment, but when I have moment, I'd like to take a look at it.

Asahira · Feb 4, 2016

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/781982/geforce-drivers/nvidia-geforce-gtx-900-series-feedback-gathering-low-gpu-load-and-other-issues-/164/

Here you go!

Asahira · Feb 4, 2016

I also use cc cleaner once a week and i did test my pc with Malwarebytes. And outside of a few cookies it found, my whole system is clean.

SkyMembrane · Feb 5, 2016

This is weird. It almost seems as if it was a driver issue affecting only certain users... Because as many mentioned, the card runs fully on benchmarks and certain games, but then doesn't go well on other games like GTA 5... Idk what's wrong, but it's clearly on NVidia's side. You could always try and RMA the card, maybe you'll get lucky and get one that will work loll

Asahira · Feb 5, 2016

Yea i will prob have to do that, as i do not have any other chocie. Will wait for one more nvidia driver update from nvidia to see if that will change anything, and if not i will send it back to be replaced. But why would it work in benchmarks 100% if the card would be defective... . O well will wait for one more nvidia driver and if that will not fix my problem i will just return it to be replaced. Tho as i wrote before , some ppl did that and sadly it did not fix the problem for them:<.

Heh and to think i wanted to buy a ps4 but just before i hit the store i said to myself " curse that underpowered pc, gonna buy a good strong gpu and play the same games in 60 fps".

Gigabyte G1 970 i5 4670k underpreformance.

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