Weird GPU usage

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Last response: February 8, 2013 5:51 AM in Graphics & Displays

gogi

February 7, 2013 9:38:26 PM

Hi

First off my specs:
- AMD Gigabyte 6870 HD
- FX 8120 (stock clock ~3.1GHz)
- 8GB RAM (corsair vengeance 4x4)
- motherboard ASrock 970 Extreme+

So i've been having problems with FPS in some games. Long story short the GPU usage doesn't seem right

Games i've tested:
- Sleeping Dogs
http://prntscr.com/rxcjf

- All point bulletin : R
http://prntscr.com/rxfjk

-Blacklight retribution
http://prntscr.com/rxh6m

I also stress tested my GPU with the MSI kombustor :
http://prntscr.com/rxhlp

So is this normal behavior, is there any fix. What could cause this problem?

More about : weird gpu usage

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Kari

Graphics card Master

February 7, 2013 9:45:04 PM

either you have vsync on which limits your fps to 60 and you are sitting comfortable at steady 60fps most of the time, or your cpu is bottlenecking the card in these games at the graphic settings you are using. If you increase the in-game settings (details, AA, AF, etc) the load should go up. (thou the fps might also come down some if you over do it).
Anyways if the cpu is holding you back, try overclocking it.

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bigshootr8

Graphics card Master

February 7, 2013 9:47:55 PM

Yea its very possible that you have vsync turned on. I concur.

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gogi

February 7, 2013 9:55:30 PM

There's no Vsync on. I've had it overclocked, but pretty much the same result. My friend has the same CPU except his graph card is 5770 HD and those games are working better at his.

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bigshootr8

Graphics card Master

February 7, 2013 9:59:03 PM

Hmm, how is your CPU usage? Also, what games do you and your friend play together this will help to know whether its a graphic bound game or a cpu bound game.

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gogi

February 7, 2013 10:25:58 PM

here are the results: http://prntscr.com/rxo98

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bigshootr8

Graphics card Master

February 7, 2013 10:31:46 PM

Hmm, looks pretty low across the board. Could be that the games you are playing are just not taking advantage of cores beyond 2-4.

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gogi

February 7, 2013 10:51:01 PM

but still how come those 2- 4 cores still bottleneck my graph card even when OC'd at 4GHz

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bigshootr8

Graphics card Master

February 7, 2013 11:44:28 PM

Because there are games that won't look at your other cores. Games most games are not optimized for 8 cores as 8 cores hasn't been a common cpu range.

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gogi

February 7, 2013 11:58:16 PM

i understand, what im saying is even at 2 cores clocked at 4GHz, shouldn't bottleneck my GPU

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bigshootr8

Graphics card Master

February 8, 2013 12:01:27 AM

Right but you have to understand that your cpu frequency is being spread among your 8 cores to my knowledge they are not all running at 4 ghz.

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gogi

February 8, 2013 12:04:43 AM

i havent tryd overclocking my cpu to 4GHz running at 8 cores since im still using the stock cooling. I've locked 4 cores in the bios and OC'd it to 4GHz, so basicly its a quad core running at 4GHz.

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bigshootr8

Graphics card Master

February 8, 2013 12:10:16 AM

Ah okay so you've gone into the bios and changed it up a little. Does it act any different when its not locked versus locked?

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gogi

February 8, 2013 12:13:00 AM

Not at all.

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gogi

February 8, 2013 12:15:00 AM

i should also mention that i have a prolbme while playing Tera Rising too. The GPU usage is at 30% but when i turn off the UI interface the GPU usage rises and the ingame FPS double.
UI :
http://prntscr.com/rwcjb
VS
no UI:
http://prntscr.com/rwcdm

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bigshootr8

Graphics card Master

February 8, 2013 12:18:33 AM

Hmm that is weird well keep in mind that bulldozer does have a hard time with single threaded applications so I'm not sure with your CPU.

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gogi

February 8, 2013 12:20:01 AM

my friend is running tera just fine on his bulldozer

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bigshootr8

Graphics card Master

February 8, 2013 12:25:30 AM

Well it looks like you are as well. Do you guys have identical systems? Do you run the same settings?

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gogi

February 8, 2013 12:27:14 AM

Yeah. Except he has the 5770HD and i have the 6870 HD

The funny thing is that changing the video settings doesn't make much of a difference, the difference is around 10fps max.

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Kari

Graphics card Master

February 8, 2013 12:30:44 AM

well that is weird indeed...
what catalyst version are you running, hopefully some recent one? Thou the latests are mainly about the 7000 series.

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gogi

February 8, 2013 12:33:51 AM

I'm running the 13.1 , trying to revert to older ones right now. But my windows 8 is installing the 13.1 drivers back right away. Is there any work arounds? 0. o

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Kari

Graphics card Master

February 8, 2013 1:04:43 AM

hmm windows 8 might still have some odd quirks..

but something else came to mind, check that card is actually running at pcie x16 linkwidth, GPU-Z will show it, you can DL it here
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz

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gogi

February 8, 2013 1:05:06 AM

One more question, can the PSU ruin the GPU/CPU performance cuz i have a shitty LC power PSU.

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gogi

February 8, 2013 1:27:55 AM

Kari said:

and yes it is http://prntscr.com/ry6la

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smeezekitty

Graphics card Expert

February 8, 2013 3:50:36 AM

Quote:

One more question, can the PSU ruin the GPU/CPU performance cuz i have a shitty LC power PSU.

Usually not but if the rails are unstable then the system performance can suffer and system stability can be compromised. I would upgrade it when you get a chance.

I am not a PSU expert but I think these are fair choices for that power level but YMMV:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

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bigshootr8

Graphics card Master

February 8, 2013 5:51:13 AM

I would go with the XFX model. You get strong components in that unit then you do with the ANTEC unit regardless if they both have Seasonic parts in which case they are not the ANTEC unit is using FSP oem parts which FSP is a good brand of power supplies I just know you get the better unit with the XFX unit. 80 plus is broken into categories

80+, 80+ Bronze, 80+ Silver, 80+ Gold, 80+ Platinum, 80+ Titanium.

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