Low FPS with low CPU/GPU usage?

bthizle1 · Mar 20, 2017

I've been getting low FPS and stuttering especially in Arma2 (harvest red is worst of all) and Mount and Blade Warband. I noticed that say in the Witcher 3, FPS went up and stays at around 60 FPS now, whereas it use to be at around 30-40 (not a huge improivement...) However there's still plenty of stuttering as well.

However in Arma2 and Warband at many points the FPS get's quite low, into the 20's although my CPU and GPU usage doesn't go above 50-60% much of the time.

I also tried Divide et Impera (the mod for Rome total war II) and in large battles I appear to get decent FPS, low at 40, however when armies clash there's a lot of lag.

Checking drivers, they all seem to be updated.

1920x1080
WIn10

Specs:
i5 4590
16GB RAM DDR3
rx 480 Gaming X 8GB
MSI h97 PC Mate MOBO
CM G750M PSU

EDIT: I recently acquired the rx480, I just hope I didn't spend the money in vain as my CPU may be bottlenecking it in these games?

gasaraki · Mar 20, 2017

That's pretty hard to diagnose cause you should be getting way better frames with those specs. What resolution are you running at?

Palewing · Mar 20, 2017

If a game isn't heavily multi-threaded, you can be CPU bound at 50% CPU usage with a quad-core. Your CPU is decent, but at stock it still leaves something to be desired.

Yours vs a new CPU: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-4590-vs-Intel-Core-i7-7700K/2604vs3647.

bthizle1 · Mar 20, 2017

gasaraki :

1920x1080

Palewing :

I know that the CPU leaves something to be desired, but still I should be getting better FPS than this.....

burdenbound · Mar 20, 2017

I don't know anything about mount and blade but I know ARMA is not a reliable game for performance benchmarking. You can have an i7 and a 1080ti and still get horrible performance because the engine is simply crud.

bthizle1 · Mar 20, 2017

burdenbound :

There are others who have similar set ups and are getting much better FPS with max lod distance.

Also I thought it would get rid of the suttering issues in Witcher 3, although despite incresing the FPS by around 20 and up, there's still the same amount of side stutter when moving view.

Palewing · Mar 20, 2017

Stutter can come from accessing a regular HDD as well.

bthizle1 · Mar 20, 2017

Just ran firestrike, and my GPU had a score of 10236 while the physics (CPU) score was 6863. Doesn't that seem rather low? I thought people with similiar i5 CPU got around 10,000?

bthizle1 · Mar 20, 2017

Just changed out the rx 480 for my old GTX 750ti and I am getting the same performance in Arma 2 and Warband as I was with the rx 480.....The witcher 3 sees an increase of 20-35 FPS however with the rx480. Not sure what to think of this....CPU bottleneck?

Palewing · Mar 20, 2017

As already mentioned, your CPU is certainly not horrible, but yes, it will hold you back in several games when you have an RX 480.

bthizle1 · Mar 20, 2017

Palewing :

Getting absolutely no increase in performance in Arma2 and Warband with the rx 480 is a bit odd though, don't you think? Paired with the i5 4590 that is.

Palewing · Mar 20, 2017

It isn't odd if you are CPU-bound.

bthizle1 · Mar 20, 2017

Palewing :

Why would I get better FPS then in say Rome Total War II Divide et Impera mod, though have poor stuttering issues when many animations would take place (battle lines clashing essentially).

More importantly why would people with lesser CPUs, or the same CPU be getting better performance and FPS with worse GPUs?

Just did another firestrike test with the GTX 750 ti, and the Graphic score was much less at 4944 however the Physics test was a little bit better at 7000 (compared to 6863 with th rx480 in)

EDIT:

Here's an example of Arma 3 with same CPU and lower GPU getting good FPS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNc099l5c1o
Arma 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um8GjMYdSM0

Palewing · Mar 20, 2017

Because you might also be a bit GPU bound in TW2R (with the old GPU), and the utilization of the CPU in one game can't be compared to that of a different game, since there is different scaling depending on engine and situation.

Even though you may be CPU bound in several games, that doesn't mean you are in all games. And in some you might be borderline GPU-bound, and thus become CPU-bound with the new GPU.

Also, just because your CPU doesn't end in a K, that doesn't mean you can't overclock, depending on the motherboard. I hope you take that into account. Other scores you are seeing may very well be with an OCd CPU.

bthizle1 · Mar 20, 2017

Palewing :

Yes, but as mentioned, how do you explain others having the same, or inferior CPUs with worse GPUs running these games better?

Palewing · Mar 20, 2017

See my last edit. Further, there are of course many factors that can affect performance. Different patches, drivers, amount of people playing, background tasks, and so on.

Arma might not be the best for gauging performance, but overall, you would be getting better minimum performance in your games with a more powerful CPU. That is a fact. How big the change is, depends on the games and settings.

But I have to take my leave now (for many hours). Best of luck.

bthizle1 · Mar 20, 2017

I've even considered returning this rx480 and getting a GTX 1060, as I'm not really seeing any impressive boosts in performance in any of the games I play.

From my understanding AMD GPUs also leave more CPU overhead....

bthizle1 · Mar 21, 2017

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/496i6m/arma_3_on_an_i54590/

Have come across quite a few other people runing an i5 4590 or lesser and having no issues with Arma 2......

burdenbound · Mar 21, 2017

bthizle1 :

Did you run display driver uninstaller (DDU) when moving from your last card to the new one? Also, if you disable vsync, does the stuttering go away on The Witcher?

bthizle1 · Mar 21, 2017

burdenbound :

No I did not, I will do so again. In fact I plan on doing a fresh install of windows at this point. I have disabled and enabled vsync in the Witcher however.....to no avail.

Now I'meven contemplating returning the rx 480, selling this rig and trying to build around an i7, if this is the kind of performance I can expect from the i5 4590 in games that I enjoy (Total War, Arma, Mount and Blade).

Low FPS with low CPU/GPU usage?

Distinguished

Distinguished

Reputable

Distinguished

Splendid

Distinguished

Reputable

Distinguished

Distinguished

Reputable

Distinguished

Reputable

Distinguished

Reputable

Distinguished

Reputable

Distinguished

Distinguished

Splendid

Distinguished

Share this page