Core 2 Quad bottleneck issues with 1030 GT *PLEASE HELP*

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lumaber1601

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Feb 8, 2018
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Hello everyone,
I have just recently maxed out my old LGA775 system to the most powerful components my Asus P5NSLI motherboard can take.
The specs are:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700
8 GB DDR2 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 1030 GT
256 GB SSD
But I think I may have a problem, when I run any game on it, like GTA 5, the CPU seems to really bottleneck the GPU, being maxed out while the GPU is barely being used at all. The game runs terribly too. The 1030 isn't supposed to bottleneck the Q6700 at all and I have seen YouTube videos of games running much much better on the same hardware.
So what is the problem and how do I fix it?
I did everything that I can in the BIOS and made sure the CPU is running at the correct speed.
Thanks
 
Solution
L
It turns out I was right, I got a higher end LGA 775 motherboard with an Intel chipset and American Megatrends BIOS and I now get 60 FPS + in GTA 5. I also upgraded the CPU to a Core 2 Extreme QX6700 with an unlocked multiplier which I set to 11 in the BIOS for a slight overclock and it works great.
I don't know what was wrong with the other motherboard but something was probably not right.
The slightly overclocked QX6700 is on par with a modern Pentium and works great without any bottleneck with the GT 1030.
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imsqam

imsqam

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Mar 25, 2011
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Not sure if your issue is a bottleneck but rather the CPU is not up to the task. Game Debate states the min CPU for GTA V is a Q6600. This is a very CPU demanding game so it is not a surprise that the Q6700 is working overtime to keep up. Since the CPU is the first component is the image creation process it stands to reason that it will max out first and the GPU will be waiting on it.
 
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lumaber1601

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Feb 8, 2018
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That's what I though, but I have seen videos on YouTube with the game running on the same, if not less powerful hardware as mine, only with a much much better performance.
 
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T

TJ Hooker

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Apr 15, 2014
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Don't believe everything you see on youtube.

You're using a CPU that's over 10 years old, and IIRC GTA V can be a pretty CPU heavy game in some places. It doesn't surprise me that performance is poor, as I would expect it to be with almost any AAA game that game out in the last few years.
 
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imsqam

imsqam

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Mar 25, 2011
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I am out of the house right now so can't look into things carefully (slow coffee shop Wifi). Right away upon expanding the system description section I see the comment that "the game runs at 30-35 FPS without the recording on" or something like that. Something still seems odd though, I will try to look again later.
 
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GhislainG

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Jul 16, 2008
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You use the same settings including the 1280 x 1024 resolution?
 
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jr9

jr9

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Dec 6, 2017
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- The 1030 GT is not a card designed for even 1080p gaming with AAA titles. That is a graphics card designed for light esports and home theater PCs.

- Core 2 Quad is not good enough to game on unless you are playing older games or Bejewled. It's a 10 year old CPU.

You MIGHT be able to get OK performance with Core 2 Extreme and a decent card like a 1070 but the bottlenecks will still be there from the CPU and you WILL see FPS drops.

Don't get your FPS information from Youtube. It can be very misleading. There are a lot of variables like settings, overclocking, or resolutions that change FPS numbers or just plain fabrications. That video could be at a very low resolution to make the FPS look better and at 1080p it would chug.
 
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jr9

jr9

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Dec 6, 2017
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Video description: "Facing no Bottleneck problems.. Smoothly Playing every games in Medium Settings & Some of them are running SMOOTHLY in HIGH Settings.. GT 1030 2gb is the best gpu for Budget PC.."

Whoever made that video is either extremely impoverished or misinformed, possibly both. That video also has no Fraps or on screen info besides FPS. Rubbish. Is he running a high overclock? Who knows.

- Running games at 1024x768 is ridiculous and unnecessary

- Comparing your PC to others on Youtube is stupid because they don't have the exact same parts as you nor drivers, software, OS, etc. That video uses a Q9400 as well. That is not what you have.

- 1030GT is not a card you use to play AAA games ever and Core 2 Quad is a 10 year old CPU. I'd expect bad FPS from these parts.

If you want to know where your bottleneck is then use HWinfo in game and look for which part is hitting 100% usage all the time, CPU or GPU.
 
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lumaber1601

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Feb 8, 2018
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I have already run a hardware monitor when playing and the CPU is maxed out while the GPU is barely being used, which I know isn't normal. The CPU must be restricted by something on the motherboard other than the GPU because the GT 1030 shouldn't bottleneck the Q6700. My motherboard is an Asus P5NSLI from like 2006, maybe the PCIe is too slow or I need to adjust something in the BIOS, I don't know. But I do know that the bottleneck shouldn't be THAT bad...
 
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jr9

jr9

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The CPU isn't being restricted by anything; it's the one doing the restricting clearly. That IS normal. The graphics card is from last year and the CPU platform is from when George Bush was president. A 1030 GT doesn't use anywhere near enough bandwidth to get bottlenecked by old PCIe lanes. Even if your motherboard was giving you FPS issues then buying a new motherboard for a 10 year old CPU is also ridiculous. You'd be better off getting a Skylake Pentium and a cheap board. GTAV would crush that computer even if it had a 1080 GTX in it. The CPU isn't good enough.
 
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imsqam

imsqam

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Mar 25, 2011
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Okay, looked at the video, I agree with the other posters, resolution is off and no info on settings. I would not put much stock in this poster.

Here is a much better analysis of performance for the same system. Not sure why he tries to head butt a truck though. Guy is getting 25-30 FPS at high settings with 1080p.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UWK2mijZPA

It this video you will notice that the CPU is running at approx. 100% while the GPU is in the 50-60% range. CPU is not up to the task.
 
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lumaber1601

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Feb 8, 2018
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I am getting 20 fps on the lowest settings at 1024x768 and that guy is clearly getting a lot better than me with less powerful hardware. Has anyone got an idea on what is causing that??
 
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lumaber1601

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Feb 8, 2018
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Because it isn't the only video out there with those results.
 
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lumaber1601

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Of course my system isn't the same as those shown in the YouTube videos, and I would expect some performance differences. But it is not normal that I get 1/3 of the performance of all of these other people with nearly the same setup as me.
There must be SOMETHING that is causing that.
 
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lumaber1601

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Feb 8, 2018
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My CPU is at 100% usage and my GPU is at about 20% usage when I am playing GTA 5 and I am getting about 20-30 fps on the lowest settings at 1024x768.
Others seem to be getting 30-40 fps on medium/high settings at 1920x1080 with the same CPU/GPU with near no bottleneck.
I know that my performance should be a little different from others but not THAT different.
I am sure that it is something with my Asus P5NSLI motherboard that is creating the issue and it might be a setting in the BIOS or something but I really don't know.
 
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lumaber1601

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Feb 8, 2018
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I can't find anything on the interwebs about gaming on this board, I think it is quite a rare one.
It is a clean installation of Windows 10 with all of the latest drivers and all of the CPU is used up by the game, not by any background activity.
 
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