[SOLVED] 100% cpu usage and very low gpu usage on certain games (fortnite,valorant)

[bilyeet]

Hi guys so recently i've been getting alot of stuttering and dramatical frame drops on certain games like valorant and fortnite, even when starting up. (unplayable)
But when i play metro exodus, gta v online, pubg lite all on very high settings i get no problems at all. Also the games that stutter (valorant and fortnite) show me that my cpu usage is locked on 100% the whole time
while my gpu stays under 50%. On metro exodus etc. my cpu and gpu just stay at normal percentages. can someone please help me out because im just lost and hopeless at this moment. Also my temps on both cpu and gpu are perfeclty fine (below 60°C )

PC SPECS:
motherboard: asus prime z270-p
cpu: intel i5 7500
gpu: msi gtx 1660 super
ram: hyperx 16gb dual channel 300mhz (but now clocked at 2400mhz cuz i thought that was the problem)
cpu cooler: cooler master 212
psu: cooler master MWE 450 bronze v2
storage: 128gb ssd kingston and 1tb seagate barracuda

 

[AJNameS]

ram

Frequency ok. What about the timings? Are you sure you've put the proper timings and voltage? Have you tried higher latencies and lower voltage?

storage: 128gb ssd kingston and 1tb seagate barracuda

Frame drops you say. It's interesting to see such good hardware but with just 128 GB SSD. How free much space do you have on these two?

And what about ur internet? Are u sure things are not ping-related? You mention FPS issues only in online games.

 

[bilyeet]

Frequency ok. What about the timings? Are you sure you've put the proper timings and voltage? Have you tried higher latencies and lower voltage?


Frame drops you say. It's interesting to see such good hardware but with just 128 GB SSD. How free much space do you have on these two?

And what about ur internet? Are u sure things are not ping-related? You mention FPS issues only in online games.

On the ram i have tried everything. I put it on 2 different XMP profiles and also just standard normal settings (wich i have now and is clocked at 2400mhz).
On my ssd i still have around 45gb free while on my HDD i still have 440gb free, imo i think thats plenty not to cause any problems.
My internet couldn't be the problem because i have around 50Mbps and on Pubg i have no ping issues whatsoever, also i just tested cyberpunk 2077 and im having massive stuttering too, it is just borderline unplayable for me. The weird thing is that all those "bad" games where running perfectly fine with 100+fps (except cyberpunk ofc ) and i just dont know whats happening.

 

[AJNameS]

I'd also ask what is ur Nvidia Driver - newest, older, have u tried an older driver, though this with the cpu usage is a bit pointing elsewhere, mb some game updates.
What is your monitor (resolution, Hz) and what settings do you use in these games (high/medium/else?) And does lowering video settings in these games do any improvement (like 30+/60+ FPS if 1080p medium/low/minimum with vsync on/off or with frame limiter?

 

[bilyeet]

I'd also ask what is ur Nvidia Driver - newest, older, have u tried an older driver, though this with the cpu usage is a bit pointing elsewhere, mb some game updates.
What is your monitor (resolution, Hz) and what settings do you use in these games (high/medium/else?) And does lowering video settings in these games do any improvement (like 30+/60+ FPS if 1080p medium/low/minimum with vsync on/off or with frame limiter?

for my gpu i have the latest game ready driver from geforce experience. All my games that i have problems with have all been updated and i have 2 monitors my main is 144hz at 1080p and my second 60hz at 1080p. I usually play on the highest settings or close to the highest and no it didnt on those games it just stayed stuttery on low ghrapics and VERY unstable fps. also on startup of those games they already stutter heavily (idk if it matters, but just for you guys to know). my frame limiter is always 144 and i always have v sync turned off.

 

[AJNameS]

for my gpu i have the latest game ready driver from geforce experience

you can also try previous drivers

All my games that i have problems with have all been updated

reinstallation of the game(s) is also an option, if there's a way to try a previous version of your games, too. Not to mention Windows reinstallation...eh. This last one is a lengthy thing, nvm.

v sync turned off

I guess you've tried with vsync on.

You know, last time I saw such a thing in my games, I just had to give my machine a little break (well, more than 6 hrs in rest actually, but I mean, turned off even from the PSU with inactive mobo) and it worked normally afterwards. I had used it a lot for gaming then, though both cpu & gpu usages were below 70% (still temps. were 60 or less, but I mb exhausted my machine a bit ;p xd).

Check also the FAQs, support and forums of these games of yours. I don't personally play them.
Some insane ideas are to try on another cpu, gpu, ram...

 

[bilyeet]

you can also try previous drivers


reinstallation of the game(s) is also an option, if there's a way to try a previous version of your games, too. Not to mention Windows reinstallation...eh. This last one is a lengthy thing, nvm.


I guess you've tried with vsync on.

You know, last time I saw such a thing in my games, I just had to give my machine a little break (well, more than 6 hrs in rest actually, but I mean, turned off even from the PSU with inactive mobo) and it worked normally afterwards. I had used it a lot for gaming then, though both cpu & gpu usages were below 70% (still temps. were 60 or less, but I mb exhausted my machine a bit ;p xd).

Check also the FAQs, support and forums of these games of yours. I don't personally play them.
Some insane ideas are to try on another cpu, gpu, ram...

i rolled back gpu drivers but no succes. Also reinstalled valorant and nothing changed either. It just sucks because i dont know what to do at this moment, they were working and running fine i just dont know what happened to them or my pc .

 

[AJNameS]

Actually where are your problematic games - on the ssd or on the hdd?

 

[bilyeet]

Actually where are your problematic games - on the ssd or on the hdd?

how can i see that? bcs i dont really know

 

[AJNameS]

how can i see that? bcs i dont really know

The question of the century ;DDD
Ook, if these are Steam Games, they're installed in the Steam library by default, unless you've specified another drive when installing. This basically means right-click on the desktop 'Steam' shortcut and then see the 'Target' - the drive is there.
In a part of games can use the shortcuts on the desktop -> right-click -> target for each game, but for Steam games and mb other platforms it's far too often different.

 

[bilyeet]

The question of the century ;DDD
Ook, if these are Steam Games, they're installed in the Steam library by default, unless you've specified another drive when installing. This basically means right-click on the desktop 'Steam' shortcut and then see the 'Target' - the drive is there.
In a part of games can use the shortcuts on the desktop -> right-click -> target for each game, but for Steam games and mb other platforms it's far too often different.

They are all installed on my HDD, so i think thats good.

 

[AJNameS]

They are all installed on my HDD, so i think thats good.

I wouldn't say. Ppl often recommend SSD for a reason. Personally I've installed lots of games on HDDs, but, tbh SSD is better, though not FPS is the word to say, but saying 'stuttering', loading times and some others, yes.
Can't you install 1-2 or more of them on the SSD? 45 GB free, you said. I guess this SSD is A400.

 

[bilyeet]

I wouldn't say. Ppl often recommend SSD for a reason. Personally I've installed lots of games on HDDs, but, tbh SSD is better, though not FPS is the word to say, but saying 'stuttering', loading times and some others, yes.
Can't you install 1-2 or more of them on the SSD? 45 GB free, you said. I guess this SSD is A400.

would i really change a thing? since my drive usage is always below 15%. i think its something weirdly cpu related bcs its always locked at 100% on valorant etc.

 

[AJNameS]

Yes, the thing you described usually means either too heavily cpu-intensive gaming, either a bottleneck, though the 2nd is in the borders of the first.. On 1080p low... I think we're talking about less than 30 FPS in just some of those games, which is not normal even for AAA-games, not to mention VR.
What 'd cost you to try, though? Another reinstall with changing directory this time.
Have you scanned your drives for viruses?

 

[mdd1963]

At even 1080P, the i5-7500 with only 4 threads is likely not capable of fully saturating a 1660 Super, so, might as well crank up the details/texture/quality to as high as possible...

 

[AJNameS]

At even 1080P, the i5-7500 with only 4 threads is likely not capable of fully saturating a 1660 Super

Yes, we can expect this combo to have its bottlenecks, but the OP says 'unplayable' and this pretty much means below 30 FPS, and on the top of this stutters. C'mon... if it was RTX or 1080 Ti in AAA-high sets 2k-4k mb it'd sound somewhat more logical, but this is <30 FPS in just some of those mid-range or whatever-games in low preset when the system is capable.

To the OP: idk what you did by now, but I'd recommend you to post here 3-5 screenshots from MSI Afterburner with checking everything on Screen (core frequency, usages, etc...-everything with a tick), while also 1-2 from the start of the game (let's say after 10 seconds while in main menu).

 

[bilyeet]

Yes, we can expect this combo to have its bottlenecks, but the OP says 'unplayable' and this pretty much means below 30 FPS, and on the top of this stutters. C'mon... if it was RTX or 1080 Ti in AAA-high sets 2k-4k mb it'd sound somewhat more logical, but this is <30 FPS in just some of those mid-range or whatever-games in low preset when the system is capable.

To the OP: idk what you did by now, but I'd recommend you to post here 3-5 screenshots from MSI Afterburner with checking everything on Screen (core frequency, usages, etc...-everything with a tick), while also 1-2 from the start of the game (let's say after 10 seconds while in main menu).

Ok so here i have a link to a private youtube vid i recorded, just to show you how it look for me from start to finish when i start one of those "bad" games up. BTW on obs it looks alot different and stuttery but irl it looked a bit better but still unplayable. the framerate just skyrockets and ill have good gameplay for 1 or 2 seconds and then it will just drop down to like below 20 fps. Also selected almost all msi afterburner OSD things. here's the link

View: https://youtu.be/fFbI1zNv-3k

 

[AJNameS]

Now when we went to the actual 'gameplay' we actually had 100% cpu usage. You still had a few settings you could crank down. Even one of the filterings (anisotropic or else it was) could go low (2x) or turned off, I guess. Bloom to be off, all qualities - low... even things with usually low impact to be out of here. Everything minimum. I sometimes go even below 1080p just for the temporary tests. Is this all you're gonna do?? You even put some things on high.
Also that loading time or whatever waiting it was...I think the video could be even twice shorter if the game was on SSD. That's why ppl prefer to have 240-512 GB SSD.

almost all msi afterburner OSD things

Now, when we say all, this means all. Ok, let's say some things really aren't necessary... on previous stuff you had all logical cores displayed. Here you show me the 4 physical ones only. (or is it Afterburner doing this?) Still 100% cpu usage, which is a thing that lowering settings should 'fix'.
If you go idle (with leaving only the mandatory processes from TaskManager and disabling as many other processes as possible), does cpu usage go 0-9% or it it goes 10+ %? How much exactly?

Now look: i7-4790 is produced before mid-2014. 780 Ti and the 1st ever Titan are produced in 2013. And all i7's for s.1150 'd keep it OK with 7th generation Nvidia. But from then on...
9th generation comes after mid-2014. There've been some tests, one showing that we can compare 980 Ti and 980 on overclocked i7-4790k (4,4-4,8 GHz). We can expect the i7-4790 to keep with s.th. between GTX 980, 1660 and 1070 in the terms of GPU speed. But from then on, it's hard to say. RTX 2060/1080 are good ideas only if s.o. wants to play on higher resolutions with such a cpu. You have 1660 Ti OC, and there are even some tiny rare moments when it can outperform the 2060. So bottlenecks around here are on the edge of inevitable.

 

[Fiorezy]

You are having this issue only with CPU intensive games and from what you described I'm mostly certain that there is some sort of process running in the background, could be some random apps or even malwares, so here is what you can do to fix this:

- The short and easy solution which will mostly fix your issue is to clean install Windows, just move the files that you want to keep to your HDD before you do that.

- The longer and more advanced way is to monitor your background process then find and eliminate the cause of what is making your CPU busy, you can also perform a full virus scan and disable some Windows services.

Let me know if you need more details if you want to go with the 2nd solution, but if I were you, I would go with the 1st solution as it is easier and more effective.

Btw, something else worth mentioning, when you lower down graphics settings you will put more pressure on the CPU so it is a good practice to try to set Fortnite and Valorant on higher presets .

 

[bilyeet]

Now when we went to the actual 'gameplay' we actually had 100% cpu usage. You still had a few settings you could crank down. Even one of the filterings (anisotropic or else it was) could go low (2x) or turned off, I guess. Bloom to be off, all qualities - low... even things with usually low impact to be out of here. Everything minimum. I sometimes go even below 1080p just for the temporary tests. Is this all you're gonna do?? You even put some things on high.
Also that loading time or whatever waiting it was...I think the video could be even twice shorter if the game was on SSD. That's why ppl prefer to have 240-512 GB SSD.

Now, when we say all, this means all. Ok, let's say some things really aren't necessary... on previous stuff you had all logical cores displayed. Here you show me the 4 physical ones only. (or is it Afterburner doing this?) Still 100% cpu usage, which is a thing that lowering settings should 'fix'.
If you go idle (with leaving only the mandatory processes from TaskManager and disabling as many other processes as possible), does cpu usage go 0-9% or it it goes 10+ %? How much exactly?

Now look: i7-4790 is produced before mid-2014. 780 Ti and the 1st ever Titan are produced in 2013. And all i7's for s.1150 'd keep it OK with 7th generation Nvidia. But from then on...
9th generation comes after mid-2014. There've been some tests, one showing that we can compare 980 Ti and 980 on overclocked i7-4790k (4,4-4,8 GHz). We can expect the i7-4790 to keep with s.th. between GTX 980, 1660 and 1070 in the terms of GPU speed. But from then on, it's hard to say. RTX 2060/1080 are good ideas only if s.o. wants to play on higher resolutions with such a cpu. You have 1660 Ti OC, and there are even some tiny rare moments when it can outperform the 2060. So bottlenecks around here are on the edge of inevitable.

I cranked down all my settings to the lowest but still, its the same story. 2 weeks ago when i could run valorant very well the loading didnt take much any longer 5 seconds. Idk what u really mean with msi afterburner but i just ticked all boxes except for 3 or 4 bcs i thought they were unnecessary. when i go in idle and just stay on my destop screen my cpu usage % hover around 7-9%.

 

[bilyeet]

You are having this issue only with CPU intensive games and from what you described I'm mostly certain that there is some sort of process running in the background, could be some random apps or even malwares, so here is what you can do to fix this:

- The short and easy solution which will mostly fix your issue is to clean install Windows, just move the files that you want to keep to your HDD before you do that.

- The longer and more advanced way is to monitor your background process then find and eliminate the cause of what is making your CPU busy, you can also perform a full virus scan and disable some Windows services.

Let me know if you need more details if you want to go with the 2nd solution, but if I were you, I would go with the 1st solution as it is easier and more effective.

Btw, something else worth mentioning, when you lower down graphics settings you will put more pressure on the CPU so it is a good practice to try to set Fortnite and Valorant on higher presets .

I think im gonna do a clean windows install since i have no choice left. Could you maybe help me out on how to do it since it dont want to delete any nessesary files. A yt link is also fine.

 

[Fiorezy]

I think im gonna do a clean windows install since i have no choice left. Could you maybe help me out on how to do it since it dont want to delete any nessesary files. A yt link is also fine.

By performing a clean reinstall of Windows 10, every file saved in your SSD will be deleted, means all files on your desktop, documents, music, pictures, videos will be deleted. If you have anything that you want to keep jjst move it to the 1TB disk.

Once you finish this step, just follow one of the many guides on how to clean install Windows 10 with a USB drive, you can follow this video guide.

Once you successfully burn Windows 10 installation on a usb drive, reboot and make sure to boot on it, and when choosing where you want to install it, make sure to select your SSD, you can know which one by looking at their size, and ofc make sure yo select thr option that will perform a clean install, the video that I ptovided should state this.

 

[bilyeet]

By performing a clean reinstall of Windows 10, every file saved in your SSD will be deleted, means all files on your desktop, documents, music, pictures, videos will be deleted. If you have anything that you want to keep jjst move it to the 1TB disk.

Once you finish this step, just follow one of the many guides on how to clean install Windows 10 with a USB drive, you can follow this video guide.

Once you successfully burn Windows 10 installation on a usb drive, reboot and make sure to boot on it, and when choosing where you want to install it, make sure to select your SSD, you can know which one by looking at their size, and ofc make sure yo select thr option that will perform a clean install, the video that I ptovided should state this.

do i have to purchase windows again?

 

[AJNameS]

do i have to purchase windows again?

What is your key? Don't you already have one that you used by now? Retail or whatever?