[SOLVED] CPU Bottlenecking?

[cblefty21]

So I just got a brand new NZXT prebuilt gaming PC. It has been perfect so far until today. I'm not sure what happened or how it occurred, but an issue came to light. I've been playing Rainbow Six Siege and It has been running smooth as can be, fan barely makes any noise, temps stay low. However, after today, I have been playing and have noticed FPS drops. I checked the usage within my components, and it seems that my CPU is being used more than my GPU. The CPU is going up to 80-100% while my GPU remains significantly lower. My question is, is this evidence of a sudden, spontaneous CPU bottleneck? I did just recently download the new NVIDIA drivers (2/3/20 -- Version 442.19); could that be the culprit? I tried rolling back drivers, but that did not seem to work.

Thanks for the help in advance,
Caleb

p.s. when I downloaded the driver It didn't prompt me to restart my pc to complete it; is this normal?

Specs:

CPU: i5 9600K
GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Zotac

 

[Zizo007]

So I just got a brand new NZXT prebuilt gaming PC. It has been perfect so far until today. I'm not sure what happened or how it occurred, but an issue came to light. I've been playing Rainbow Six Siege and It has been running smooth as can be, fan barely makes any noise, temps stay low. However, after today, I have been playing and have noticed FPS drops. I checked the usage within my components, and it seems that my CPU is being used more than my GPU. The CPU is going up to 80-100% while my GPU remains significantly lower. My question is, is this evidence of a sudden, spontaneous CPU bottleneck? I did just recently download the new NVIDIA drivers (2/3/20 -- Version 442.19); could that be the culprit? I tried rolling back drivers, but that did not seem to work.

Thanks for the help in advance,
Caleb

p.s. when I downloaded the driver It didn't prompt me to restart my pc to complete it; is this normal?

Specs:

CPU: i5 9600K
GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Zotac

Yes I did update too and it didn't ask for a restart.
What's your CPU and GPU temps during the issue?

 

[cblefty21]

My temps for both have not gone over 65 degrees yet, but CPU usage still remains high, and more importantly, it is being used more than my GPU.

 

[Zizo007]

My temps for both have not gone over 65 degrees yet, but CPU usage still remains high, and more importantly, it is being used more than my GPU.

Check in Task Manager if there is anything using your CPU.

 

[cblefty21]

Nothing seems to be standing out significantly. It does seem like my CPU is being used over my GPU for games perhaps though. Or maybe that is just the evidence of the bottlenecking? It doesnt make sense why it would be bottlenecking since my CPU and GPU are quite similar in performance levels.

 

[Zizo007]

Nothing seems to be standing out significantly. It does seem like my CPU is being used over my GPU for games perhaps though. Or maybe that is just the evidence of the bottlenecking? It doesnt make sense why it would be bottlenecking since my CPU and GPU are quite similar in performance levels.

Are you using an SSD?
Did you modify anything in the system?
Is your RAM in dual channel in CPUZ?

 

[cblefty21]

I didn't modify anything in my system, but my only drive is a 1 TB SSD.

 

[n00bguy84]

Bottlenecks just don't spontaneously happen. If you had a bottleneck it would have been present from the start unless you changed the hardware. A bottleneck happens when your CPU can't keep up with your GPU.

I don't think it's a bottleneck cause if it was you would have had these issues from the day you started using it. I am not 100% expert. My understanding of PC stuff is a bit over basic. But I do know what a bottleneck is and I don't think you have that. I have a bit of a bottleneck with my CPU and GPU. My CPU is a i7 6700 and my GPU is a MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming. So I know what a bottleneck looks like and how it happens.

I don't know what the issue is exactly but there is something going on. I just don't have the knowledge to say what. Hopefully someone else who does know will help you.

But maybe it's a GPU driver issue? Maybe something is using your CPU while you are gaming?

You would want to see high GPU usage and low CPU usage. When the CPU gets higher usage than the GPU then it's a bottleneck. It will cause frame rate loss and stuttering issues. Your gameplay won't be as smooth.

Now a Bottleneck most likely won't harm your PC. You can turn up settings, increase the resolution or use something like Nvidia DSR or AMD's Virtual Super resolution. But that's only for bottlenecks.

 

[cblefty21]

Thank you for the help

 

[TerryLaze]

If you don't set an upper limit, either by using the FPS limit option or by using high enough settings that your GPU will limit the FPS,the game will use all the CPU it can to produce as many FPS as it can.
Put in a FPS limit just a few FPS lower than what you get on average and CPU usage will drop dramatically.

 

[Rodrigodrt]

First things first, that cpu will not bottleneck anything per say, ever.

If it were working fine and then suddenly not, we have an issue elsewhere there, and also, note that you WANT everything working at 100%, they're designed for that purpose and 100% usage on cpu doesn't mean its bottleneck, it just means its doing what it is supposed to do, plus RS is not even a demanding GPU wise, so... more details on the drop would help better to understand the case, they could be the 1% lows, often not noticeable, but technically speaking every GPU on every game have a small spike of actually super low FPS,

 

[cblefty21]

First things first, that cpu will not bottleneck anything per say, ever.

If it were working fine and then suddenly not, we have an issue elsewhere there, and also, note that you WANT everything working at 100%, they're designed for that purpose and 100% usage on cpu doesn't mean its bottleneck, it just means its doing what it is supposed to do, plus RS is not even a demanding GPU wise, so... more details on the drop would help better to understand the case, they could be the 1% lows, often not noticeable, but technically speaking every GPU on every game have a small spike of actually super low FPS,

It was working fine before, but seems to be acting weird now. I can’t provide more temps/test at the moment, but I can tell you that I’ve been playing at 144fps cap. I did also try uncapping the frame rate but it seemed to remain the same. An interesting thing is, my CPU usage is high, but the temp stay low around 60C. Do you believe this indicates an issue that is not actually involved with the CPU? Could it be corrupt drivers? I am considering doing a factory reset even though the PC is less than a week old.

 

[Zizo007]

It was working fine before, but seems to be acting weird now. I can’t provide more temps/test at the moment, but I can tell you that I’ve been playing at 144fps cap. I did also try uncapping the frame rate but it seemed to remain the same. An interesting thing is, my CPU usage is high, but the temp stay low around 60C. Do you believe this indicates an issue that is not actually involved with the CPU? Could it be corrupt drivers? I am considering doing a factory reset even though the PC is less than a week old.

Which windows power plan are you using?
You didn't change anything in the bios, right?

 

[cblefty21]

Which windows power plan are you using?
You didn't change anything in the bios, right?

I have not changed anything in BIOS, but I am unsure what power plan on using at the moment. Is there a plan you recommend?

 

[Zizo007]

I have not changed anything in BIOS, but I am unsure what power plan on using at the moment. Is there a plan you recommend?

Its in power settings in control panel, try High Performance power plan.

 

[cblefty21]

I’ve had a gaming pc for one week now. Yesterday, at some point, perhaps after I installed new Nvidia drivers, I noticed that my CPU is being used more for games and goes up to 90-100%. My specs indicate this should not be happening if I am correct, so does anyone have any idea what the issue may be?

I’ve thought of two sources of the problem with the help of others,

1. ULL/Low Latency Mode is on
2. New Drivers are causing issues

Any possible solutions or guides on how to fix the possible sources of the problem I listed?

Thanks so much fellow PCers

Cpu: i5-9600k
Gpu: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060

 

[rgd1101]

malware scan?
ram/ssd/hdd usage?

 

[bryanc723]

I’ve had a gaming pc for one week now. Yesterday, at some point, perhaps after I installed new Nvidia drivers, I noticed that my CPU is being used more for games and goes up to 90-100%. My specs indicate this should not be happening if I am correct, so does anyone have any idea what the issue may be?

I’ve thought of two sources of the problem with the help of others,

1. ULL/Low Latency Mode is on
2. New Drivers are causing issues

Any possible solutions or guides on how to fix the possible sources of the problem I listed?

Thanks so much fellow PCers

Cpu: i5-9600k
Gpu: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060

Possibly you didn't do a clean install of your graphics drivers. There's a driver removal tool somewhere on this site under "graphics cards" in a sticky. Follow those instructions and see if you can't get things cleared up. It's a pretty easy process.