Battlefield 1 EXTREMELY LOW GPU USAGE @ 1080p /w GTX 1080 & i7-4790k

Obey the Walrus

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Aug 5, 2016
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My CPU usage is quite randomly going up and down from 60-95 % (mostly stays around 80-90 %) on all cores.

My GPU usage is going up and down from 60 - 80 %, the more it has to render, the less it works. For example, when staring at the ground, it is at 80 %. But when I look at a larger area with a lot of action, it mostly goes down to 60 % or maybe even as low as 47 %.

(Talking about FPS, it's mostly staying at around 90 - 120, frequently dropping down to 70, or even lower when a lot of action is going on, resulting in some really irritating stuttering.)

I've tried using RenderDevice.RenderAheadLimit with different values, and it made it better (that's how I got 60 - 80 % GPU usage, with the value at just 1, it quite often dipped down to under 50 %.)

My CPU usage is mainly staying around 60 - 85 % on all cores. Sometimes it goes as high as 90 %, at max 95 %.

All the settings are at ultra, with 100 % resolution scale, V-sync is turned off, but I have G-sync on. I think I tried without it once without noticing any difference in FPS, just that it in general was a less pleasant experience.

Not really sure about the relationship between high CPU usage and low GPU usage, but it seems likely that it is related. But why would a i7-4790k bottleneck, that seems quite off?

I have 16 gigs of DDR3 RAM running at 1600 MHZ, two sticks of 4 GB, and one of 8 GB.

My PSU is a Corsair CX 450 W.

The motherboard is a MSI Z97 Gaming 5.

It's running on a HDD.

I've checked the settings in Nvidia Control Panel, but there doesn't appear to be anything there which could affect this.

I think I may have similar problems in other games too.

I would be incredibly grateful for help. This problem is really irritating, since I spent a lot of my money on this setup, and it's really under-performing.
 
Solution
You meet all of the recommended specs for the game, but those said specs are still fairly high.

Like sizzling said, Battlefield 1 is a very CPU intensive game and it will take everything it can get from you. Running at 1080P should be easy on your GPU, but if you have everything set to high or ultra in the graphics settings, its still going to run hard on your system.

This is pretty much what Crysis did back when that came out. Even high end rigs had fits running it.

Obey the Walrus

Commendable
Aug 5, 2016
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1,510


My CPU usage is mainly staying around 60 - 85 % on all cores. Sometimes it goes as high as 90 %, at max 95 %.

High CPU usage and low GPU usage often seems connected, but the weird thing is that GPU usage also drops when the CPU is just at 60 - 70 %, I think. Not really sure, trying to look at the game, the FPS counter, and two stats on my hardware monitor at the same time is quite difficult, since it frequently changes.
 

frostedtim

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Jul 1, 2014
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You meet all of the recommended specs for the game, but those said specs are still fairly high.

Like sizzling said, Battlefield 1 is a very CPU intensive game and it will take everything it can get from you. Running at 1080P should be easy on your GPU, but if you have everything set to high or ultra in the graphics settings, its still going to run hard on your system.

This is pretty much what Crysis did back when that came out. Even high end rigs had fits running it.
 
Solution

Obey the Walrus

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Aug 5, 2016
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1,510




So this performance is to be expected? Something still just feels wrong, since both components are good, and I'm just getting slightly better performance than someone with a GTX 1060 and the same CPU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSPhz-OdcOk), and much worse than that which I see on different benchmarks.

Also, this guy seems to be getting a far higher FPS than I with about the same specs.

I just want to know if there might be a problem with my hardware or not, since I think I've had problems in other games too. Might have been due to other problems, though.
 

frostedtim

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Jul 1, 2014
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Based on the vid you poseted, I think your system is running fine. You were 99% most of the time on the GPU, but you stayed in the 80-90 FPS range the entire time, so Im confident that its doing its job. Same for your CPU, the threads fluctuate all over but thats to be expected. I think your rig is fine.

Do check to make sure you have good air flow going through the case, but other than checking to make sure the cooling is doing its job, I think your rig is fine for now. Do test out in other games to see how they perform as well, if you still are not sure.
 

Obey the Walrus

Commendable
Aug 5, 2016
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1,510
Okay, I think I solved, and the solution is quite surprising and pretty much something that I've never heard of.

To quote my specs: "I have 16 gigs of DDR3 RAM running at 1600 MHZ, two sticks of 4 GB, and one of 8 GB."

I switched the stick of 8 GB to two sticks of 4 GB, and now GPU usage increased from 60 % to around 99 %.

I tried increasing their clock speed to 1866 MHZ before that, but it made no difference.

I guess it's something about how it's utilizing the memory with dual channel, and how that single 8 GB stick just couldn't be used at its max.

The performance is still far from impeccable, but I get a stable FPS at over 100 for the most part. Thing is, my GPU usage was far higher (at a stable 99 %) while it was raining on Amiens, but got lower and also decreased my FPS when it stopped. I guess that CPU usage also must have been higher when it rained, so it kind of makes no sense at all. Guess it's something with the game and not my hardware, though.