I have a GPU Bottleneck. How do I help minimize it? (Without purchasing anything)

Geomegetron · Oct 10, 2017

Hello. I have bought a MSI GT 730 2GB OC Edition. My old CPU, a pentium E5400, paired with 2gb ram, bottlenecked my GT730. So I got a new motherboard with a Core i3 550 and 6GB ram. The CPU bottleneck was no more but now its the GPU thats bottlenecking. Do you have any tips on how to minimize or remove the bottleneck? With the exception of buying a new Graphics Card.

When playing games my usages are:
CPU:26%
GPU:100%

Thanks in advance!

rgd1101 · Oct 10, 2017

play on lowest settings. lowest resolution.

photonboy · Oct 10, 2017

rgd1101 :

Mostly correct.
When you can't change the hardware, all that's left is software.

Some games aren't very demanding though, so you won't necessarily be playing every game on the lowest settings. You should monitor the FPS (FRAPS or Steam FPS indicator).

You can also use NVidia's Adaptive VSYNC. For example, on a 60Hz monitor you might:
1) launch game then exit
2) NCP-> manage 3d settings-> ... "program settings"-> add game-> adaptive vsync-> save
3) Tweak game settings for best visuals which get you 60FPS about 90% of the time (when it drops below 60FPS you get screen tears but not added stuttering)

There is also a "Half Refresh" version that would sync to 30FPS on a 60Hz monitor. I recommend that for slow games, possibly some platform games.

Super Meatboy for example might run at max settings, 60FPS VSYNC ON. Not sure but possibly. Conversely Crysis 3 probably looks like crap on low settings, 1366x768.

photonboy · Oct 10, 2017

BTW, there are different versions of the GT730. Some have 96 cuda cores, and some 384.

You can find out how many in GPU-Z (called "Shaders" actually).

I was curious so I looked for a review (384 shader version): https://www.techporn.ph/asus-geforce-gt-730-silent-graphics-card-review/

It has about 15% of the performance my GTX680 had so you'll need to be careful about tweaking game settings, but more importantly which games to BUY. In general, don't buy a game where you are near the Minimum Spec for CPU or GPU.

Some games might do okay, like Torchlight 1/2 when tweaked properly.

Geomegetron · Oct 10, 2017

photonboy :

I get 60 FPS in most of the lightweight tittles I play, Its just that I Know I can get more FPS if both the CPU and GPU are being 100% utilized. I will try out the software modifications you guys mentioned and hope to see if that CPU usage goes up. Also will over Clocking the GT 730 help at all? Just so you know I have the MSI 2GB OverClock edition which features 384 cuda cores and 2gb GDDR5 ram.

photonboy · Oct 12, 2017

Geomegetron :

I don't understand the first part of your statement. If you don't have a software bottleneck (i.e. VSYNC ON limiting to 60FPS on 60Hz monitor) then you are likely either bottlenecked by the CPU or GPU at any given time.

You can't have both the CPU and GPU at 100% utilization.

If the GPU is running 100% then the CPU won't be since it is limited by the GPU, and vice versa.

GPU overclock?
Sure, you can try but at most you'll get an FPS increase of the amount of overclock. If your GPU is the bottleneck, and you overclock by 10% then you might go from 50FPS to 55FPS at best.

You may need to overclock the video memory as well.

If you overclock the GPU it's best to run a benchmark like Unigine Valley, look at the average FPS score then overclock and test to see if it's stable and see how much the score goes up.

Again, barring the overclock all you can do is change game settings (or use suggestions like Adaptive VSYNC)

Geomegetron · Oct 13, 2017

photonboy :

Geomegetron :

I don't understand the first part of your statement. If you don't have a software bottleneck (i.e. VSYNC ON limiting to 60FPS on 60Hz monitor) then you are likely either bottlenecked by the CPU or GPU at any given time.

You can't have both the CPU and GPU at 100% utilization.

If the GPU is running 100% then the CPU won't be since it is limited by the GPU, and vice versa.

GPU overclock?
Sure, you can try but at most you'll get an FPS increase of the amount of overclock. If your GPU is the bottleneck, and you overclock by 10% then you might go from 50FPS to 55FPS at best.

You may need to overclock the video memory as well.

If you overclock the GPU it's best to run a benchmark like Unigine Valley, look at the average FPS score then overclock and test to see if it's stable and see how much the score goes up.

Again, barring the overclock all you can do is change game settings (or use suggestions like Adaptive VSYNC)

I’m sorry for not being clear enough to the point that it confused you. My bottleneck is not due to software. I don’t use VSYNC.But trying it out and it has helped me out. I have a hardware bottleneck where the GPU can’t keep up with the CPU. The above reccomendations from your earlier comment (lower textures VSYNC and resolution) has helped. A +100mhz in memory and core Overclock has increased FPS & CPU usage thus reducing the GPU bottleneck . All I was asking for was tips on how to reduce GPU bottleneck. Thank you for spending some time of your day to help me. Have a great weekend.

jeffreydanielbyers · Oct 13, 2017

Sure, but again you don't reduce the GPU bottleneck.

You want the GPU working close to 100%. If it's not the bottleneck then something else is. So to NOT have a GPU bottleneck you would for example need to lower the CPU clock speed so it in turn becomes the bottleneck.

When you talk about SOFTWARE not hardware there's no such thing as software that can help reduce the GPU bottleneck in the way you ask.

The GPU is taking CPU draw calls and textures etc and creating a new FRAME that then gets sent out to the monitor. How it does that is based on the resolution chosen, and the settings such as textures HIGH, shadows, anti-aliasing and so on.

So again, when you have a BOTTLENECK in hardware that component is working as fast as it can doing the job it is supposed to do. You thus have these choices:

1) MOVE the bottleneck (which is stupid because you have to make another part weaker), or
2) OVERCLOCK the component (which lets it work faster but may not shift the bottleneck), or
3) CHANGE what it is processing (which changes the way the frame is created such as better textures but no anti-aliasing, but again may not move the bottleneck)

Here's a very, very over-simplified explanation of how a game runs:

1) game is started
2) game code is moved into system memory for CPU to process, and GPU specific code like textures etc is moved into the VIDEO memory

3) The CPU steps through the main game thread, and runs parallel CPU tasks like Artificial Intelligence etc, as well as forwarding DRAW CALLS and other data to the graphics card for the GPU to process

4) the GPU draws one frame at a time based on its draw call instructions
5) the new FRAME is sent to the monitor
6) the monitor displays the new frame

So again, when the GPU is the weakest link or "bottleneck" it can only improve things by working faster (overclocked) if you are asking it to process the frame in the same way (resolution, textures, shadows as per game settings).

(There are other ways to improve things in software but that would be game code by the developers, or driver updates by the GPU driver team)

Geomegetron · Oct 16, 2017

jeffreydanielbyers :

Sure, but again you don't reduce the GPU bottleneck.

You want the GPU working close to 100%. If it's not the bottleneck then something else is. So to NOT have a GPU bottleneck you would for example need to lower the CPU clock speed so it in turn becomes the bottleneck.

When you talk about SOFTWARE not hardware there's no such thing as software that can help reduce the GPU bottleneck in the way you ask.

The GPU is taking CPU draw calls and textures etc and creating a new FRAME that then gets sent out to the monitor. How it does that is based on the resolution chosen, and the settings such as textures HIGH, shadows, anti-aliasing and so on.

So again, when you have a BOTTLENECK in hardware that component is working as fast as it can doing the job it is supposed to do. You thus have these choices:

1) MOVE the bottleneck (which is stupid because you have to make another part weaker), or
2) OVERCLOCK the component (which lets it work faster but may not shift the bottleneck), or
3) CHANGE what it is processing (which changes the way the frame is created such as better textures but no anti-aliasing, but again may not move the bottleneck)

Here's a very, very over-simplified explanation of how a game runs:

1) game is started
2) game code is moved into system memory for CPU to process, and GPU specific code like textures etc is moved into the VIDEO memory

3) The CPU steps through the main game thread, and runs parallel CPU tasks like Artificial Intelligence etc, as well as forwarding DRAW CALLS and other data to the graphics card for the GPU to process

4) the GPU draws one frame at a time based on its draw call instructions
5) the new FRAME is sent to the monitor
6) the monitor displays the new frame

So again, when the GPU is the weakest link or "bottleneck" it can only improve things by working faster (overclocked) if you are asking it to process the frame in the same way (resolution, textures, shadows as per game settings).

(There are other ways to improve things in software but that would be game code by the developers, or driver updates by the GPU driver team)

I never knew user tweakable software has little to no effect on reducing GPU bottleneck. I guess I’m just experiencing Placebo effect when I overclocked I believe the bottleneck would get reduced but it really only boosted FPS a little it never reduced the Bottleneck by any amount. But seeing as how you’re saying that the GPU should actually be running at 100% I’m just going to leave it like that seeing as how I get playable frame rates anyway.

dontlistentome · Oct 16, 2017

The goal is to increase performance, usually measured in framerate in games, as much as possible while sacrificing visuals as little as possible. Eliminating 'bottlenecking' is not the goal. In fact, observing where the bottleneck is only serves to help you identify possible causes of low performance. You will always have a bottleneck which is why worrying about it is a waste of time.

You have an i3 550 and a GT 730 DDR5. Your challenge is to maximize the performance you get from this combo. The first step is always to drop resolution and settings as low as possible. Then run your game and note the framerate, it's best if the game has a built-in benchmark tool. This is the BEST possible framerate your system can provide in this game.

Now all you have to do is experiment by raising the resolution, and by raising settings, until you find that sweet spot where you have increased the quality of the visuals the most while not sacrificing too much framerate. Then repeat that process for each game.

Keep in mind that your system may not be enough to run certain games well no matter how low the settings or resolution.

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I have a GPU Bottleneck. How do I help minimize it? (Without purchasing anything)

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