Erratic GPU usage causing low frame rates.

[Dashe101]

FX 8350 4.0 ghz

Sapphire HD 7970 GHZ Vapor x

Corsair Vengeance 8 gb RAM

Corsair CX 750w PSU

Sabre tooth 990 FX r.2 mobo

H100i CPU cooler.

Playing at 1920/1080 res.



For the past couple months I have observed low frame rates in all games, be it BF3 to TF2. I think I have found the reason for the problem but not the solution. For example when playing BF3, when
my GPU usage is 80-95% used, I get frame rates in the 90's and 100's. Although when I turn my character to where the action is(explosions, other players, vehicles) my GPU usage drops to about 50-70% and my frame rate plummets to about 30.My CPU usage stays at a steady 50-60% all of the time though. I don't know what is causing this but the same goes for all other games. I don't think a CPU bottleneck is the cause and my temperatures are normal across the board. Does anyone know what could be solving these problems?

 

[Eduello]

Run a virus scan, it's possible some malware is using your resources for its own purposes.

 

[Kari]

cpu bottleneck...
if the gpu isnt hitting like 98-100% on the 'smooth' parts then the cpu is already holding it back, looking at explosions and stuff adds even more stuff for the cpu to calculate and the gpu load drops further...

 

[Dashe101]

cpu bottleneck...
if the gpu isnt hitting like 98-100% on the 'smooth' parts then the cpu is already holding it back, looking at explosions and stuff adds even more stuff for the cpu to calculate and the gpu load drops further...

Is it normal for an FX 8350 to bottleneck a 7970 GHZ?

 

[Kari]

^^that depends on the game, if the game is poorly threaded then sure... You could overclock the cpu as you have quite nice cooler on it already

 

[Dashe101]

^^that depends on the game, if the game is poorly threaded then sure... You could overclock the cpu as you have quite nice cooler on it already

Have you seen an FX 8350 bottleneck a 7970 ghz in all games though? Is this normal?

 

[Kari]

well you could first make sure the cpu is not throttling or anything like that and is actually running at the rated top clocks as is... but the symptoms you described are typical for a cpu bottleneck situation.

 

[Kari]

i believe the amd overdrive utility can show tha real time clocks, not sure if it can do a log however...

 

[Eduello]

Well my 8350 never lets the frames drop below 60 in BF4 so I doubt that's your problem. (Haven't played that much BF3).

 

[Kari]

BF4 is better at using multicore cpus afaik...

 

[Eduello]

i believe the amd overdrive utility can show tha real time clocks, not sure if it can do a log however...

BF4 is better at using multicore cpus afaik...

Still, the frames shouldn't drop to 30 with this CPU: http://www.techspot.com/review/458-battlefield-3-performance/page7.html The FX-8150 does fairly well and the 8350 shouldn't do worse.