99% gpu usage for the first few mins then it stabilizes, kinda

[ivogelezarov]

I made this PC a few years ago. So far everything is running smoothly - League of Legends, CS:GO, Battlefield 3, even the crysis series is absolutely playable, as well as some newer titles.

Since a few months back I've been having an issue where in age of empires 2 gpu usage would remain at 99% and the game would run at 10-15 fps. The game was completely unplayable, but alas there was nothing I could do about it, so I stuck to playing other games.

Skip some time and a week ago I had a windows update which deleted both my sound and my video drivers for some reason, good job microsoft. Since then whatever I've played, League of Legends and CS:GO, for the first 3-4 minutes or so the same issue was occuring - 99% gpu usage, 25-40~ish cpu usage for both cores and after some time it eventually settled and fps stopped at 60.

This is now a constant problem. If anyone has any ideas, I've been using cpuid hwmonitor.

Specs:
Core 2 duo e6700
Radeon hd 6950 1G
4gb ram
Coolermaster gx lite 500w

Please refrain from commenting on the age of the system

I just checked gpu usage in the main menu of aoe2, it's hovering between 90-97%

 

[krzyimprt]

I had a problem where in age of empires 2 gpu usage would remain at 99% and the game would run at 10-15 fps. The game was completely unplayable, but alas there was nothing I could do about it.

Skip some time and a week ago I had a windows update which deleted both my sound and my video drivers for some reason, good job microsoft. Since then whatever I've played, League of Legends and CS:GO, for the first 3-4 minutes or so the same issue was occuring - 99% gpu usage, 25-40~ish cpu usage for both cores and after some time it eventually settled and fps stopped at 60.

This is now a constant problem. If anyone has any ideas, I've been using cpuid hwmonitor.

Specs:
Core 2 duo e6700
Radeon hd 6950 1G
4gb ram
Coolermaster gx lite 500w

Please refrain from commenting on the age of the system

I just checked gpu usage in the main menu of aoe2, it's hovering between 90-97%

e6700 is nearly 8 years old. I think it's time for an upgrade.

 

[brandxbeer]

I know you don't want to hear it but sounds like you need an upgrade. Ideally you want your gpu to be as close to 100 percent usage as possible. Cpu usage is opposite.
You always want your gpu to be your bottleneck.
Other than an upgrade, check the usual suspects... Driver updates, virus checks, check minimum specs of games.

 

[ivogelezarov]

You don't really seem to understand my issue and rather you're writing it off as old hardware. That's like saying a q6600 is obsolete and should be upgraded asap. It DIDN'T HAPPEN BEFORE. Both cpu and gpu usage were at about 50% and my games were running at about 80-100fps on 1080p. I can run crysis 3 at medium settings at 30-50 frames for god's sake. Now cpu usage is the same but the gpu usage is stuck at 99% with games stuck at 10-17fps. 99% IS NOT how it should be. 99% means something is wrong somewhere, otherwise it would be 100%.

 

[krzyimprt]

You don't really seem to understand my issue and rather you're writing it off as old hardware. That's like saying a q6600 is obsolete and should be upgraded asap. It DIDN'T HAPPEN BEFORE. Both cpu and gpu usage were at about 50% and my games were running at about 80-100fps on 1080p. I can run crysis 3 at medium settings at 30-50 frames for god's sake. Now cpu usage is the same but the gpu usage is stuck at 99% with games stuck at 10-17fps. 99% IS NOT how it should be. 99% means something is wrong somewhere, otherwise it would be 100%.

That's because the Q6600 IS OLD. 4gigs of ram? just booting into windows you're already sitting at 50% usage, that leaves nothing for games. It's most likely a driver issue judging by what you said. You'll want a windows 10 driver for your 6950. Your GPU usage is suppose to be 99% with v sync off, it fluctuates depending on the game. A e6700 will bottleneck a 6950 pretty hard...