CPU Sits at 100% During Games, GPU Load Erratic

Nate668

Commendable
Nov 17, 2016
11
0
1,510
I've been experiencing a lot of performance issues in many different games for a while which has led me to search for a solution. In games I have excellent ping but the performance doesn't match the specs of my PC. Hit reg issues, fps spikes, and a general feeling like I am always behind what is really going on in the game compared to everyone else has left me very frustrated.

I've taken to trying a whole host of miscellaneous fixes from reinstalling drivers, doing a clean install of windows, and defragging my HDD to tweaking BIOS settings. Nothing's worked.

Just recently I've started monitoring my hardware and found what I think is probably causing my problems:

1) During gameplay (currently just tested on BF1) my CPU usage is constantly at 100%

2) My GPU load (monitored by GPU-Z) is also very erratic. It's constantly spiking up and down anywhere from 1% to 100% constantly. It could be at 100% one second and the next down to 1%.

System Specs:

Asus H170-Pro {CSM} Mobo
Intel i5-6500 @ 3.2 CPU
Asus Rx 470 GPU
Crucial DDR4 RAM @ 2400 (8 Gb)
EVGA 750 G2 PSU

THEY ARE ALL NEW PARTS TOO (Within 3 months old)


Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Solution
I've seen this information as well, it appears that BF1 is a great example of splendid GPU optimization but terrible CPU optimization.

After browsing forums for a few hours, I've noticed that there is no real workaround for this. You'll have to wait until the devs put out a patch to fix it. FYI, it took them over a year to fix BF4 and Hardline still appears to be a work-in-progress.

In light of this information, I can tell you that your machine is functioning properly. It's not a problem with your machine, but rather the dirty code that is BF1.
Here's what it looks like is happening here: Your CPU is not able to keep up with your GPU. However, you have an i5 which should not be being strained so hard by something like an RX 470.

Please make sure that the CPU temperatures stays below 80C at all times.

When a game is launched, the CPU should boost to its Turbo frequency of 3.6GHz. If it gets too hot to sustain this speed, it will drop back down to its default frequency of 3.2GHz. However, 3.2GHz should be enough to keep up with an RX 470. If it goes above 95C, it may throttle down below its default speed of 3/2GHz, sometimes they'll throttle all the way down to 900MHz if they get really hot.
 

Nate668

Commendable
Nov 17, 2016
11
0
1,510


I should have mentioned in my thread that the temps are fine. I've never seen them go above 50 C. Usually they get into the 40s during the game. My computer is also recognizing all of my hardware (ala device manager and system info) just fyi b/c I'm sure I'll get that question too.

Could it be a problem that stems from BIOS? I noticed most settings on their have their values as [Auto] and maybe it's incorrect detection of some sort?

 

Nate668

Commendable
Nov 17, 2016
11
0
1,510


Yeah, in-game it's at 3.27GHz consistently (according to both task manager and CPU-Z).

And it doesn't matter how long I've been playing the game. Right when I jump in it'll go up to 100% usage and stay like that the whole session, not worse or better as time goes on.

EDIT: I can try and screenshot some of my monitoring programs if that'll help you out at all.
 

Nate668

Commendable
Nov 17, 2016
11
0
1,510



Alright so here's the link to the image of my monitors CPU-Z, GPU-Z, and Task Manager.



I also tested a game that would be less stressful on the components (it was CS:GO) and found something that might be of note. The CPU did not reach and sit at 100% but stayed in the 60s and sometimes low 70s. However, the GPU load was equally as erratic as in BF1. It also felt like there were serious hit detection and latency issues when playing that game too ( ping was fine, just felt like I was behind everyone else).
 
Please press Windows+X to open a menu where the Start Menu usually is, select Command Prompt (Admin), acknowledge any security prompts and type in mdsched.exe. It should ask you when you would like to perform the test, say that you'd like to do it now.

Depending on the capacity and speed of your memory, the test could take between 20 minutes and 2 hours.
 

Nate668

Commendable
Nov 17, 2016
11
0
1,510


The test went quite quickly and didn't detect any problems.
 

Nate668

Commendable
Nov 17, 2016
11
0
1,510


Thank you very much for your efforts. I appreciate it.

if it helps, here are the monitors for a less demanding game (it's CS:GO).



CPU isn't at 100%, but the performance issues in the game feel very similar to Battlefield 1.
 

Nate668

Commendable
Nov 17, 2016
11
0
1,510
I'm just bumping this thread because I'm still having problems. Could it possibly be and issue with gpu driver software or conflicts with it and other programs? How could I test that if it is?
 


To clean install graphics drivers:
1) Download Display Driver Uninstaller (don't run it yet) http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html
2) Restart into Safe Mode
3) Run DDU
4) Restart normally
5) Download and install the latest drivers for your card http://support.amd.com/en-us/download
6) Restart
7) Start gaming and see if system behavior has changed or not
 

Nate668

Commendable
Nov 17, 2016
11
0
1,510


Thanks for the reply; I appreciate you sticking with this thread. The reason I asked about drivers was because I reinstalled windows recently to try and fix some corrupted files that apparently could not be fixed using the SFC. After I did so my games seemed to run better even though my GPU driver, little to my knowledge, wasn't working properly after the install. I eventually realized this and after reinstalling it began experiencing the same issues with games that I described in my original post.
 
Bf1 has been pretty cpu intensive for a lot of folks. It's not uncommon to see the cpu maxed out and the gpu not, it's not a matter of the gpu pushing the cpu so hard it's what the game requires. If the game is factoring a lot of physics calculations while not much graphics power is needed to shade and fill in the textures, the cpu will be maxed and the gpu won't. It's been a bit of a mixed bag, some people are doing ok, others experiencing problems with even oc'd i5's and i7's being pushed near to max. Sometimes no amount of hardware can fix a poorly coded game.

It's also difficult to get accurate benchmarks for multiplayer since the experience and player movements are different every run. From general performance results though bf1 appears to respond to i7's with hyper threading as well as core speed. Expect an i7 or an oc'd 6600k to perform better than an i5 6500 which lacks both. For instance your cpu is staying around 3.2 to 3.3ghz, that's a far cry from 4.6ghz on an oc'd i5 6600k to the tune of around 40% difference.

Any quick search of "bf1 and i5" or "bf1 cpu usage" will return an endless list of people with issues. Csgo on the other hand will run on just about anything with high fps without requiring much of a gpu and relying more on cpu. Though while you may be getting 150-200fps on csgo don't expect anywhere near that on bf1, they're not the same. More like 50-60fps with a few fps drops here and there.
 

Nate668

Commendable
Nov 17, 2016
11
0
1,510
Well, maybe it is just BF1. I am seeing performance issues on all games but it may not be a CPU issue since it's just on BF1 where it stays at 100%. GPU load is up and down on all games like I stated before so maybe it's a problem with its power settings or automatic functions. I suppose I'll just keep checking things out and see if I can fix it.
 
I've seen this information as well, it appears that BF1 is a great example of splendid GPU optimization but terrible CPU optimization.

After browsing forums for a few hours, I've noticed that there is no real workaround for this. You'll have to wait until the devs put out a patch to fix it. FYI, it took them over a year to fix BF4 and Hardline still appears to be a work-in-progress.

In light of this information, I can tell you that your machine is functioning properly. It's not a problem with your machine, but rather the dirty code that is BF1.
 
Solution

mayo862004

Commendable
Sep 10, 2016
3
0
1,520


I run bf1 on an i5 6500 and 6gb gtx 1060. Look into making a config file and setting render.ahead.limit 1 and max.variable.fps 59.94. I use those settings and my cpu usage has dropped to 60-80% from 100 while the game runs silky smooth on my 60 Hz monitor.