[SOLVED] Change graphic settings, but FPS doesn't change.

Nov 17, 2020
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I had recently had to get a whole new windows installation, but when I wanted to play a game, such as Modern Warfare, my pc wasn't as good as it was before the new installation. Beware my PC is hella scuffed.
FTW3 3090 (Bottle-necking a lot, but wanted to get a GPU like a 2070s or something. When I went to Microcenter I asked if they had any cards in the back and they said only one, and that one was a 3090 so I just felt like I had to get it.)
i5-9600k boosts to 4.3? pretty sure stock
NZXT AIO
z390 gaming-plus
Black SN_750 500GB SSD
2tb HDD
2x8 3200MHz G.Skill Trident Z

I never previously had my CPU being pegged at 100% constantly, should I just resort to a new CPU? Preferably AMD side. I was well-aware that I was bottle-necking but never had a problem. Ran games perfectly fine without getting my CPu to 100%.
This issue is with multiple games, I try change graphics settings but my FPS doesn't change at all. even when I put render settings to 66% which is like 1280x720p and when I put it to 4k my FPS doesn't change. It's around 50-70fps sometimes 90. on BOTH resolutions. Also my browser sometimes spikes in CPU usage to 30 even when I'm not doing anything on the browser.

I feel as though it's something with my GPU or bottleneck (never had a problem like this) i'm going to post pictures.
(GPU) MAX is when in-game
(CPU) MAX is when in-game

All im doing is in a discord call, and listening to music. Also seems that my CPU utilization is oddly high looking at task manager. I scroll down to see if anything is taking up that much, but the processes' percentages don't add up to the actual percentage that it shows at the top.

Also happens on; Minecraft, Tom clancy's ghost recon wildlands, Call of Duty Modern Warfare, Warzone, and Cold War (somewhat) I've tried reinstalling drivers, my CPU drivers/chipset GPU drivers. No clue as to why this is happening. I am praying that you guys can come up with some answer, even if it's I have to get a new CPU/Motherboard. (doesn't support newer-gen processors. So i'd have to get a new MOBO either way. want to go to AMD)
 
Solution
Seems like a simple CPU bottleneck issue. Lowering graphics details has little to no effect when the GPU is already able to render more frames than the CPU is able to throw at it. You should do the opposite: increase graphics until either the GPU is starting to have trouble keeping up or everything is as close to maxed out as you can be bothered with.

Not really an issue as long as your CPU is able to meet your minimum performance expectations.
800MHz (799) CPU reading is the key here. Your CPU is downclocking to it's emergency/power throttled speeds (forgot what the 800MHz speed drop is called).
You're either hitting a power limit, a thermal limit, or both.


It's possible the above is with power/speedstep/c-state controls in place. Check those.
 
Last edited:
Nov 17, 2020
6
0
10
800MHz (799) CPU reading is the key here. Your CPU is downclocking to it's emergency/power throttled speeds (forgot what the 800MHz speed drop is called).
You're either hitting a power limit, a thermal limit, or both.


It's possible the above is with power/speedstep/c-state controls in place. Check those.
But I've never had this problem previously. I have no clue what Speedstep nor c-state controls are.
 

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
Seems like a simple CPU bottleneck issue. Lowering graphics details has little to no effect when the GPU is already able to render more frames than the CPU is able to throw at it. You should do the opposite: increase graphics until either the GPU is starting to have trouble keeping up or everything is as close to maxed out as you can be bothered with.

Not really an issue as long as your CPU is able to meet your minimum performance expectations.
 
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Solution

Howardohyea

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David0ne86

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It still doesn't make any sense why would a 9th gen intel run at 100% when gaming tho. That should never happen. That is indeed weird. I would honestly try to reinstall windows and see how it goes from there. Something else at the software level must be going on here because again, no games nowadays will utilize a fairly modern cpu 100%. Bottlenecking has nothing to do with this issue imo. Sure, dude is def bottlenecking a 3090, but not to that extreme.
 

boju

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It still doesn't make any sense why would a 9th gen intel run at 100% when gaming tho. That should never happen. That is indeed weird. I would honestly try to reinstall windows and see how it goes from there. Something else at the software level must be going on here because again, no games nowadays will utilize a fairly modern cpu 100%. Bottlenecking has nothing to do with this issue imo. Sure, dude is def bottlenecking a 3090, but not to that extreme.

Depends on cpu utilisation in a particular game and frame rate. Some games, BF 1942/5 for example, a 6 core processor can reach maximum usage quite easily. I agree with you, or at least, a 6 core cpu shouldn't max out in every game if frame rate is lowered. I'd expect similar with the games OP is playing.

These types of games, more so with open world, there's a lot more going on. To describe a few key aspects of those are script events, AI, physics algorithms, draw distances, large maps, shadows, audio, netcode + supplying frames to the graphics card has shown 6 core processors can be on the limit. Maxing out a cpu isn't always a bad thing though but there is a likelihood of stutters and reduced graphics card performance since the cpu can't give it any more. These days, Hyperthreading/SMT is a good idea.

This might interest you David0ne86 and Headsmen, an example of frame rate having an affect on cpu usage. He explains well regarding frame pre rendering and what he says from around 4:30 about not being in the action yet.

But I've never had this problem previously.
Also seems that my CPU utilization is oddly high looking at task manager. I scroll down to see if anything is taking up that much, but the processes' percentages don't add up to the actual percentage that it shows at the top.

How high is high? does it bounce around or is it static? If you click the column title (cpu), you can assort the list dragging the heaviest using processes to the top instead of trying to scroll through. Might point something out. More than likely it's just Windows doing it's thing, doing all sorts of background things, while you're not playing a game but Windows should minimise it's activity when playing a game, well usually. So try limit fps as suggested and see if that helps. Whats your frame rate in your games btw?

Maybe run Userbenchmark and link us to public results page. There might be a clue there regarding background usage, cpu/gpu clocks, ram amount/speed etc, anything that may indicate something out of the ordinary.
 
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Before you do anything... have you considered simply overclocking both ram and cpu?
Well you don't seem to have a problem tbh
Are you sure it is running at it's rated speed?
if so ....you should first OC/tune your ram see how far you can push it
you will see more frames while gaming...... guaranteed or your money back!
if you are wanting a new cpu the 9900k is what you should be looking at
they are pretty cheap relatively speaking,
spending all that extra switching platforms won't be worth it.
9900k games as good as any will.
Have you considered a much faster set of ram?

Just putting it all out there.

Im guessing your ram is running at 2133