[SOLVED] High CPU usage and low GPU usage

[Amirnajah]

Hi, Im experiencing a high CPU usage and low GPU usage in almost all of my games. Which results in frame drops and stutters and i dont have any idea how to fix it. If any of you guys have some suggestions abt how to fix it i would like to hear that

My rig
Intel i3 9100F
GTX 1650
MSI H310M PRO M2-Plus
8GB RAM

 

[digitalgriffin]

What are your CPU thermals looking like? You can use HWiNFO (HWiNFO - Free System Information, Monitoring and Diagnostics )

 

[Amirnajah]

What are your CPU thermals looking like? You can use HWiNFO (HWiNFO - Free System Information, Monitoring and Diagnostics )

its all at 50-68 Celcius, not more than that, even less at some points

 

[digitalgriffin]

Have you run resource monitor to see which processes are sucking up the CPU?

task manager->[performance] tab "Open Resource Monitor" blue link on the bottom.

If it looks like it's all going to the game, I would do a DDU (Device Driver Uninstall) to completely wipe the registry of all graphics card drivers. Then I would reinstall.

 

[dotas1]

8 GB of RAM is not enough for most modern games. It can very well be the issue here. If it's also 1x8 instead of 2x4 it's even worse. So, upgrading to 16GB of Dual channel RAM would be the first upgrade I would do if it were me.

 

[Amirnajah]

Have you run resource monitor to see which processes are sucking up the CPU?

task manager->[performance] tab "Open Resource Monitor" blue link on the bottom.

If it looks like it's all going to the game, I would do a DDU (Device Driver Uninstall) to completely wipe the registry of all graphics card drivers. Then I would reinstall.

yes it is always the game that is on top of the list, so DDU is my only option here?

 

[digitalgriffin]

yes it is always the game that is on top of the list, so DDU is my only option here?

Unless someone else comes up with an idea. I would say it's your best bet. It's relatively painless to DDU then reinstall.

Official Display Driver Uninstaller DDU Download (wagnardsoft.com)

 

[Amirnajah]

Unless someone else comes up with an idea. I would say it's your best bet. It's relatively painless to DDU then reinstall.

Official Display Driver Uninstaller DDU Download (wagnardsoft.com)

thank you, i'll see if someone else have some idea

 

[Third-Eye]

yes it is always the game that is on top of the list, so DDU is my only option here?

Before you go uninstalling drivers, give more details on the games you are playing and what you actually have for ram, whether it's 1x8 or 2x4GB and the speed. To improve system performance, you might only need to upgrade to 2x8GB to fix the stuttering. High CPU usage and low GPU usage indicates you are playing games that are CPU biased and lowering your graphics setting will not fix that problem. Increase your graphics settings (try increasing render scaling to 1.5-2x) to see if GPU usage increases. To fix the high CPU usage, you will likely need to upgrade from your i3-9100f 4 core 4 thread CPU, to a 6+ core/thread CPU like an i5 9400 6 core 6 thread or i7-9700 8 core 8 thread.

 

[Amirnajah]

Before you go uninstalling drivers, give more details on the games you are playing and what you actually have for ram, whether it's 1x8 or 2x4GB and the speed. To improve system performance, you might only need to upgrade to 2x8GB to fix the stuttering. High CPU usage and low GPU usage indicates you are playing games that are CPU biased and lowering your graphics setting will not fix that problem. Increase your graphics settings (try increasing render scaling to 1.5-2x) to see if GPU usage increases. To fix the high CPU usage, you will likely need to upgrade from your i3-9100f 4 core 4 thread CPU, to a 6+ core/thread CPU like an i5 9400 6 core 6 thread or i7-9700 8 core 8 thread.

my ram is 1x8 gb which i plan to add another 8 if i have the money. the games i mainly play are destiny 2, rainbow 6 siege, and apex legends. but the more i increase the graphic setting, the more cpu usage they use. im kind of tight on a budget so i dont think i can upgrade anytime soon

 

[Third-Eye]

my ram is 1x8 gb which i plan to add another 8 if i have the money. the games i mainly play are destiny 2, rainbow 6 siege, and apex legends. but the more i increase the graphic setting, the more cpu usage they use. im kind of tight on a budget so i dont think i can upgrade anytime soon

How high is the CPU usage? How low is your GPU usage? What are you using to get these results? You would need to be running a program like MSI Afterburner with the in game overlay showing the usage stats to see actual usage when in game.

 

[Amirnajah]

How high is the CPU usage? How low is your GPU usage? What are you using to get these results? You would need to be running a program like MSI Afterburner with the in game overlay showing the usage stats to see actual usage when in game.

Its 60-80% of CPU usage and the GPU is not even touching 20%. I am monitoring it through task manager, haven't tried afterburner overlay. Let me try later

 

[Third-Eye]

Its 60-80% of CPU usage and the GPU is not even touching 20%. I am monitoring it through task manager, haven't tried afterburner overlay. Let me try later

Monitoring through the task manager is why you think the GPU usage is low. Alt-tabbing won't show the true usage since you change focus from the game to the desktop. Once you get the overlay setup, you will likely see it shoot up to 70-80% depending on how low you set your graphics settings.

When you do have money to upgrade, you should upgrade your ram first to 2x8GB to see if it fixes your main issue of stutter and fps drops. You might need to buy an SSD as well.

 

[dotas1]

my ram is 1x8 gb which i plan to add another 8 if i have the money. the games i mainly play are destiny 2, rainbow 6 siege, and apex legends. but the more i increase the graphic setting, the more cpu usage they use. im kind of tight on a budget so i dont think i can upgrade anytime soon

As I already said in my previous post, you need more than 8GB for these games you mentioned and for sure, dual channel RAM.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHLjOUmuNUc

 

[Amirnajah]

Monitoring through the task manager is why you think the GPU usage is low. Alt-tabbing won't show the true usage since you change focus from the game to the desktop. Once you get the overlay setup, you will likely see it shoot up to 70-80% depending on how low you set your graphics settings.

When you do have money to upgrade, you should upgrade your ram first to 2x8GB to see if it fixes your main issue of stutter and fps drops. You might need to buy an SSD as well.

im monitoring it through the other monitor, so im not really alt tabbing it. But yeah it sometimes reaches 50-60% usage and the cpu is always topped. RAM is definitely the first thing i need to buy