[SOLVED] Gta 5 Gpu usage low temporarely when cpu is maxing out.

[Inlexed]

So I've had quite a few problems on gta 5 and other games where my gpu usage will decrease from 90-100% to 40-50% temporarily for about 20 seconds. This happens when I see my CPU maxing out on 100% However This doesn't always happen, it runs fine maxed out normally but suddenly sometimes if I blow up a car or several police cars are chasing me, my gpu dips (I play alot of multiplayer)

Here are my specs:
Gtx 1080
i5 6600k OC to 4.1 GHZ
16gb ram ddr4 2400mhz
msi z170a motherboard pro cabron
psu 550w corsair bronze certified semi modular
SSd 1tb Crucial mx500

I've tried so many different fixes whihc just never work, I've tried changing the voltage/OC because I sometimes see a reliable voltage limit being reached on HW monitor, I've tried reducing the maximum percentage for the CPU, I've tried moving the shader cache to the SSD, I've tried optimizing my Nvidia control panel settings, I've tried reducing cpu usage by altering settings within the game (I run everything on Max in GTA 5 except for grass quality, post Fx, distance scaling and Advanced settings). My temps are completely fine usually Cpu hovers around the 55-60
degree mark and so does the GPU.

The thing is aswell, on Steep, my computer runs it so well, no stutters, no fps drops, nothing. But games like GMOD and No Mans Sky, my gpu is not maxing out even though my cpu isn't maxed and the FPS is not capped.

If anyone has any ideas to fix any of my problems then please let me know. Thank you all.

 

[Karadjgne]

You make the assumption that either cpu or gpu should be running maxed. That's not the case. Any processor under a load is always running at 100%, no matter what. The resources it needs to use to achieve that are mostly something different. (usage)

It's like you using a 22oz hammer to pound a nail, you might hit that nail with all your speed, but it's not with all your strength, a 22oz hammer is relatively light, so doesn't require it. Swap that out for a 10lb sledgehammer and it's a whole different story.

Game code is no different. The cpu can only pre-render so many frames in a second, running at whatever speed your cpu is. But that doesn't mean it's using every core, every thread, all its available bandwidth. Might be using just half of all that. Same with the gpu.

Hit a good explosion, and then particle density, physX and other things introduce massive amounts of code, which skyrockets cpu usage. This almost always results in lowered fps as the amount of info takes the cpu longer to pre-render. Lower fps = a gpu on break if that's a gtx1080 with ample power to put all that code on screen.

 

[Inlexed]

You make the assumption that either cpu or gpu should be running maxed. That's not the case. Any processor under a load is always running at 100%, no matter what. The resources it needs to use to achieve that are mostly something different. (usage)

It's like you using a 22oz hammer to pound a nail, you might hit that nail with all your speed, but it's not with all your strength, a 22oz hammer is relatively light, so doesn't require it. Swap that out for a 10lb sledgehammer and it's a whole different story.

Game code is no different. The cpu can only pre-render so many frames in a second, running at whatever speed your cpu is. But that doesn't mean it's using every core, every thread, all its available bandwidth. Might be using just half of all that. Same with the gpu.

Hit a good explosion, and then particle density, physX and other things introduce massive amounts of code, which skyrockets cpu usage. This almost always results in lowered fps as the amount of info takes the cpu longer to pre-render. Lower fps = a gpu on break if that's a gtx1080 with ample power to put all that code on screen.

So what is the likely cause of My FPS going down to around 25-30 within GTA 5 and is there a way I can fix this?

 

[Karadjgne]

Detail settings, in nvidia control panel turn down the grass detail setting (seriously, it's GTA, you aren't counting blades of grass at 100+mph lol), change pre-rendered frames from 3 (default) to 1, in Windows turn off/disable game bar and anything Xbox like DVR etc.
I also use WinAero Tweaker, it enables me to turn off the Windows store and Cortana and most any other service Windows wants to run and I have no use for, like printer services etc. Regularly run things like ccleaner from piriform to keep trash in temp files to a minimum, I'll run the registry tool every now and then to remove orphans and other dead-end links etc

Basically anything you can do to alleviate cpu necessary usage and free it up for the game. It might just be stuff running in the background, but it's still running through the cpu.

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

When you are playing the game enable task manager, and when it starts the lag cycle see if anything is running in task manager that is slowing things down. And what resolution are you using?

 

[Inlexed]

Detail settings, in nvidia control panel turn down the grass detail setting (seriously, it's GTA, you aren't counting blades of grass at 100+mph lol), change pre-rendered frames from 3 (default) to 1, in Windows turn off/disable game bar and anything Xbox like DVR etc.
I also use WinAero Tweaker, it enables me to turn off the Windows store and Cortana and most any other service Windows wants to run and I have no use for, like printer services etc. Regularly run things like ccleaner from piriform to keep trash in temp files to a minimum, I'll run the registry tool every now and then to remove orphans and other dead-end links etc

Basically anything you can do to alleviate cpu necessary usage and free it up for the game. It might just be stuff running in the background, but it's still running through the cpu.

Wow, thank you for all the information, I had a look in my task manager and I realised that since my Intel i5 6600k only has 4 cores and 4 threads, background programs were being used during my Gta 5 gameplay so when Post-fx or distance scaling (CPU bound settings) were needed; My Fps would fall as background programs were being used prior to my GTA 5 needs. I fixed this by placing my GTA 5.exe priority to ABOVE NORMAL. Now my entire game runs very smoothely almost all the time. Thank you for the help and do you know any methods to permantly set a priority on a program?

 

[Inlexed]

When you are playing the game enable task manager, and when it starts the lag cycle see if anything is running in task manager that is slowing things down. And what resolution are you using?

I was using normal 1080p.