Certain Low Intensity games are performing at low framerate on GTX 1080 (Possible bottleneck?)

[Clancasey]

So I've been having some pretty annoying framerate issues on games that I would consider to be fairly low intensity games (CounterStrike: Global Offensive, and Rocket League).

Let me start off by stating my rig's specs:
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founder's Edition
CPU: Ryzen 5 1600 3.4 GHz six-core processor
RAM: 2x 8GB DDR4 Dual Channel
OS: Windows 10 Version 1803
Resolution: 1080p
Screen Refresh Rate: 144Hz
PSU: 600W

The following information is using recommended (or medium) settings, with Vsync turned OFF.

The first screenshot below is my framerate and CPU/GPU statistics on CS:GO. The average framerate at 1080p for a GTX 1080 on CS:GO is around 200-300 fps, however I'm getting sub-100.

Similarly, below is my framerate and CPU/GPU statistics on Rocket League. Most benchmarks that I've found for this game also have the card pulling 200-300 fps easily, but once again I'm at around 100 fps.

Interestingly, this hasn't occured for all games. More intense games (like Witcher 3, for example) can easily run over 100-150 fps without sweat. Here's a screenshot from Witcher 3.

All of these screenshots were taken within minutes of each other, under the same clock settings (default). Looking at the numbers above, there's something interesting about the GPU and CPU utilization percentages. On both Rocket League and CS:GO I'm only utilizing around 30-50% of my GPU whereas on Witcher 3 I'm utilizing 90-100% of my GPU at all times. This has led me to believe that there is some possible bottleneck somewhere, but I can't quite figure it out. I also found it interesting that the clock speed for the GPU was around 1800MHz for Witcher 3, but only around 1600MHz for CS:GO and Rocket League (1600MHz is the factory clock speed, but I never altered the clock speed between screenshots). My guess is that when it reaches upper 90's in utilization, it bumps the clock rate up a little or something.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, I've been struggling with this for a few weeks now.

Here's a list of what I've already tried and looked into:

-Updated all GPU, CPU, and Motherboard/BIOS drivers
-Determined that my RAM IS in Dual Channel Mode (people had similar symptoms with the GTX 1080 / Ryzen 5 1600 combination of GPU/CPU, and turned out their issue was that their RAM was in Single Channel Mode, but that's not the case here).
-Ran Unigine Superposition Benchmark (got 10750 score, seemed like a solid score for my specs)
-Reset Nvidia Image Settings on the Nvidia Control Panel (to ensure it wasn't in low-performance mode or something like that)
-Ran a full scan for viruses / security threats.

I'm absolutely stumped about what to do, but it definitely seems like there's a bottleneck somewhere. At some point I thought that maybe the Power Supply wasn't large enough for my system, but given my specs, websites say that 430w is sufficient, so I figured a 600w psu wouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for reading this post in its entirety, it really is greatly appreciated.

 

[jay32267]

Here is something I might try.

If you run Afterburner, you can look at each individual core usage of the CPU.

I have had certain games.....Kerbal Space Program is one of them.....that relies heavily on one core.

What happens to me is...the one core maxes out....my other 5 cores are basically doing not much....and that's what limits my frame rate.

I think that if my clock speed was faster on that core....I'd see better fps.

Just something to look at.

 

[Anarkie13]

Missing key details:

RAM Speed - Ryzen, especially first gen thrive on faster RAM and suffer on slower RAM
PSU Model - 600W isn't 600 clean watts. Sometimes the reliability of the PSU can be suspect. But I doubt it's the issue here.
CPU Cooler - A cheap cooler will result in throttling.

I honestly think the RAM speed and cooler are the main suspects. The games in question are more CPU intensive IIRC, you want to make sure your CPU has headroom to spare. On GPU intensive games, you're seeing the 1080 do it's thing. You're getting bottlenecked in the CPU slot I'm pretty sure.

 

[Clancasey]

Missing key details:

RAM Speed - Ryzen, especially first gen thrive on faster RAM and suffer on slower RAM
PSU Model - 600W isn't 600 clean watts. Sometimes the reliability of the PSU can be suspect. But I doubt it's the issue here.
CPU Cooler - A cheap cooler will result in throttling.

I honestly think the RAM speed and cooler are the main suspects. The games in question are more CPU intensive IIRC, you want to make sure your CPU has headroom to spare. On GPU intensive games, you're seeing the 1080 do it's thing. You're getting bottlenecked in the CPU slot I'm pretty sure.

Sorry for the late response! my RAM speed on both sticks are 2133 MHz which does seem a little slow, but I felt like I used to have better framerate a few months ago while still having this RAM. Definitely could look into upgrading the RAM speeds.

I'm using the stock AMD cooler (AMD Wraith Stealth iirc) which hasn't seemed to be too much of an issue as far as temperatures are concerned, I never even approach the 80's, especially not with my CPU.

And my PSU is EVGA 80 Plus Silver rated Power Supply, so I figured that even at lower efficiencies it should still be able to output enough power for the rig. Do you think 60 watt Silver isn't enough of a buffer? Thanks!

 

[Clancasey]

Here is something I might try.

If you run Afterburner, you can look at each individual core usage of the CPU.

I have had certain games.....Kerbal Space Program is one of them.....that relies heavily on one core.

What happens to me is...the one core maxes out....my other 5 cores are basically doing not much....and that's what limits my frame rate.

I think that if my clock speed was faster on that core....I'd see better fps.

Just something to look at.

Thanks for the reply! Where can i find the individual core usage? Is that available in one of the graphs on the bottom of Afterburner or is there somewhere else to comprehensible look at it? Thanks!

 

[Anarkie13]

Missing key details:

RAM Speed - Ryzen, especially first gen thrive on faster RAM and suffer on slower RAM
PSU Model - 600W isn't 600 clean watts. Sometimes the reliability of the PSU can be suspect. But I doubt it's the issue here.
CPU Cooler - A cheap cooler will result in throttling.

I honestly think the RAM speed and cooler are the main suspects. The games in question are more CPU intensive IIRC, you want to make sure your CPU has headroom to spare. On GPU intensive games, you're seeing the 1080 do it's thing. You're getting bottlenecked in the CPU slot I'm pretty sure.

Sorry for the late response! my RAM speed on both sticks are 2133 MHz which does seem a little slow, but I felt like I used to have better framerate a few months ago while still having this RAM. Definitely could look into upgrading the RAM speeds.

I'm using the stock AMD cooler (AMD Wraith Stealth iirc) which hasn't seemed to be too much of an issue as far as temperatures are concerned, I never even approach the 80's, especially not with my CPU.

And my PSU is EVGA 80 Plus Silver rated Power Supply, so I figured that even at lower efficiencies it should still be able to output enough power for the rig. Do you think 60 watt Silver isn't enough of a buffer? Thanks!

Your PSU should be enough, though as a small tip, always pick a tier 1 or 2 from this list: https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/631048-psu-tier-list-updated/ You never go low on the PSU because it's the one part that can take any other parts with it if it fails. And by low, I don't mean wattage. Quality. There are many articles on quality of PSU if you're up to it, it can be fascinating research.

Your fan should be ok, though it's a cheap item to upgrade for more peace of mind. You don't have to, and certainly don't need too much (like liquid cooling) unless you are or plan on OC'ing it.

That brings us to my main point of concern. 2133 is almost the minimum speed for DDR4. An upgrade to 3000 or 3200 will likely see the most gains for your system. Thankfully RAM prices have gone down in the recent months. I can't say for certain that it will solve everything, but it is a worthwhile upgrade for a 1st gen Ryzen no matter what.

 

[Clancasey]

Missing key details:

RAM Speed - Ryzen, especially first gen thrive on faster RAM and suffer on slower RAM
PSU Model - 600W isn't 600 clean watts. Sometimes the reliability of the PSU can be suspect. But I doubt it's the issue here.
CPU Cooler - A cheap cooler will result in throttling.

I honestly think the RAM speed and cooler are the main suspects. The games in question are more CPU intensive IIRC, you want to make sure your CPU has headroom to spare. On GPU intensive games, you're seeing the 1080 do it's thing. You're getting bottlenecked in the CPU slot I'm pretty sure.

Sorry for the late response! my RAM speed on both sticks are 2133 MHz which does seem a little slow, but I felt like I used to have better framerate a few months ago while still having this RAM. Definitely could look into upgrading the RAM speeds.

I'm using the stock AMD cooler (AMD Wraith Stealth iirc) which hasn't seemed to be too much of an issue as far as temperatures are concerned, I never even approach the 80's, especially not with my CPU.

And my PSU is EVGA 80 Plus Silver rated Power Supply, so I figured that even at lower efficiencies it should still be able to output enough power for the rig. Do you think 60 watt Silver isn't enough of a buffer? Thanks!

Your PSU should be enough, though as a small tip, always pick a tier 1 or 2 from this list: https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/631048-psu-tier-list-updated/ You never go low on the PSU because it's the one part that can take any other parts with it if it fails. And by low, I don't mean wattage. Quality. There are many articles on quality of PSU if you're up to it, it can be fascinating research.

Your fan should be ok, though it's a cheap item to upgrade for more peace of mind. You don't have to, and certainly don't need too much (like liquid cooling) unless you are or plan on OC'ing it.

That brings us to my main point of concern. 2133 is almost the minimum speed for DDR4. An upgrade to 3000 or 3200 will likely see the most gains for your system. Thankfully RAM prices have gone down in the recent months. I can't say for certain that it will solve everything, but it is a worthwhile upgrade for a 1st gen Ryzen no matter what.

Thanks! I'll definitely look into that. I'm a little curious as to how CS:GO and Rocket League are more CPU intensive than a game like Witcher 3? I guess that's unrelated though. Thanks for the help, I'll definitely try to get a 3000MHz+ set of sticks in the future!

 

[jay32267]

"Thanks for the reply! Where can i find the individual core usage? Is that available in one of the graphs on the bottom of Afterburner or is there somewhere else to comprehensible look at it? Thanks!"

If you go to settings, you can choose all the parameters to monitor.

Basically you click a checkmark (from what I recall) next to what you want to monitor.

You can monitor each individual core usage on graphs. It's helpful to figure out what's going on in certain cases.