GPU at 90% holding back its power

[Koentro]

Hello, guys!

My GTX 1070 seems to step back when it gets past 90% usage. I've always thought reaching 100% usage would make a GPU show its full potential, but here it seems to go backwards in performance upon getting past 90%. FPS will go down as it gets closer to 100%. Is that normal? I've tried 3 different Nvidia drivers, but nothing. CPU, in its turn, sits at 45%. GPU temp in that situation hits 70ºc, which is alright, based on where I live.

Games: Ghost Recon Wildlands (not everything is at ultra settings, many are just very high, Nvidia Turf effects off)

Assassin's Creed (same as above in graphic settings)

Final Fantasy XV (no Nvidia special feature enabled, TRAM set to medium, no smoothness enabled)

CPU: i7 4790 + TX3 EVO + Gelid GC Extreme
Motherboard: z97 M-PLUS Asus
GPU: GTX 1070 - Galax Sniper White EXOC 8GB
RAM: 2x8GB 1866 Mhz Hyper X
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB
SSD: Samsung EVO 850 250GB
PSU: Corsair CS 650M
Case: Corsair 780T
Mouse: Logitech g502
Keyboard: Corsair Raptor K40
Monitor: BenQ RL2755

Thank you in advance.

 

[dstln]

Generally speaking, when your GPU utilization is less than 100%, it means that you're either CPU limited, or framerate capped. When your GPU utilization is 100%, it means that you're GPU capped, so naturally your framerate would go down at that point as the game is using all of the GPU's resources and it can't go any faster.

 

[Koentro]

But, hmm, before getting to 100%, it already starts walking backwards and dropping FPS. VSYNC ON, by the way.

 

[dstln]

It makes sense that it would be because the scene is more demanding, so it's gone from CPU limited framerate to GPU limited.