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[SOLVED] GPU usage spikes

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Aug 21, 2019
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I've been getting multiple GPU usage spikes from 50-5 causing mini lag spikes in a few games, I have more of a high end computer and have tried a few solutions all failing. These spikes happen frequently, sometimes it will fix itself and stop. These spikes result in a my game going from either 120fps to 90 or 60fps to 30.

List of games spikes happened in:
Rainbow six: Siege
Little Nightmares
The Room
The Crew
The Crew 2
Rocket League

My specs:
Graphics card: GTX 1080ti
PSU: EVGA 850W
CPU: Intel i9 9900k 3.6ghz
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Ultra
Ram: 32GB

Things I've tried:
Reducing core clock for CPU (was overclocked to 4.7 then set back to 3.6)
Overclocking GPU using MSI afterburner.
Underclocking GPU.
Reinstalling drivers and windows.
Changing GPU fan speed to 100%.
Running full system scan on Windows Security Defender and Bitdefender.
Monitoring usage with Microsoft Process Explorer (shows the usage in games spiking down and up)

Usage in game: View: https://i.imgur.com/oovxwcL.png

Usage while (mostly) idle: View: https://i.imgur.com/0BM7XxB.png

Usage after a crash and then restarting the game: View: https://i.imgur.com/oJWaiDV.png
 
I've been getting multiple GPU usage spikes from 50-5 causing mini lag spikes in a few games, I have more of a high end computer and have tried a few solutions all failing. These spikes happen frequently, sometimes it will fix itself and stop. These spikes result in a my game going from either 120fps to 90 or 60fps to 30.

List of games spikes happened in:
Rainbow six: Siege
Little Nightmares
The Room
The Crew
The Crew 2
Rocket League

My specs:
Graphics card: GTX 1080ti
PSU: EVGA 850W
CPU: Intel i9 9900k 3.6ghz
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Ultra
Ram: 32GB

Things I've tried:
Reducing core clock for CPU (was overclocked to 4.7 then set back to 3.6)
Overclocking GPU using MSI afterburner.
Underclocking GPU.
Reinstalling drivers and windows.
Changing GPU fan speed to 100%.
Running full system scan on Windows Security Defender and Bitdefender.
Monitoring usage with Microsoft Process Explorer (shows the usage in games spiking down and up)

Usage in game: View: https://i.imgur.com/oovxwcL.png

Usage while (mostly) idle: View: https://i.imgur.com/0BM7XxB.png

Usage after a crash and then restarting the game: View: https://i.imgur.com/oJWaiDV.png

Spikes might be caused from bad frametimes, hence latency checker is a good idea, might be your ram causing the bad frametimes, however it could also be your graphics card, do some stress tests & try it in a spare pc if you can.

However spikes can definitely happen if your CPU is hitting 100% in gaming and the framerate is struggling to keep up that's clearly not the case here, but keep that in mind.

definitely check latency checker as it could be external stuff going into your usb ports causing this as well.

good luck man.
 
What kind of drive are you using, what Nvidia driver are you using, do you use Geforce Experience? Have you used latency monitor to see if you have a driver /audio problem. Use it in background when using the games. Then after all the games have been run check what the monitor has to say. https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon
Yeah I have Geforce Experience, I thought it would be the overlay it has but it wasn't I will disable it. The drive I used for the majority of these games are SSD M.2, and the others were a simple HDD. There has also been a reoccuring problem with the geforce experience, error code 0x0003 would keep appearing, reinstalling fixes it but it keeps coming back. I have the latest nvidia driver for 1080ti which was 436.02, I'll check the latency right now.


Edit: Might have found the issue, BIOS is not up to date.
 
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