Is my CPU limiting my GPU? - No Man's Sky Testing

[carlsow]

Hello, Everyone!

With some of the recent holiday deals, I decided to perform a graphics card update to my desktop build in hopes that I could kick back, relax, and play No Man's Sky. My original GPU was an XFX - Radeon HD 7870 2GB and I ended up swapping it out with an XFX - Radeon RX 580 8GB GTS XXX GPU. You can find my entire build on pcpartpicker using the following link.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/CtqgxG

Unfortunately, I've found that my system is struggling to run the game and it appears as though my CPU usage is experiencing some major spikes. Furthermore, even though it appears as though my GPU usage is hitting 100% at times (I'm monitoring using FPS Monitor), it appears as though it never exceeds 3.4ish GB of memory use (even though it has 8GB).

I've reduced the graphics settings in No Man's Sky Substantially. Additionally, it appears as though my system exceeds the minimum system requirements that are outlined on steam (by a substantial amount IMO). Here is a link to the Steam outlined system requirements.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/275850/No_Mans_Sky/

In the end, I'm hoping to find out if I have a hardware limitation. If it appears as though my hardware is sufficient, could it be something to do with No Man's Sky? I'm not trying to point fingers but it did seem like I was able to find a number of threads reporting high CPU use in the game. Sadly, many of the recommendations outlined in those threads did little to help me.

If you think that I have a hardware limitation, I would welcome any suggestions on improvement!

Thank you for your time and Best Regards!

Here are some additional resources/specifications/screenshots that I have gathered.

• 
  • Windows 10 Home
  • 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor
  • No Man's Sky was installed onto my 1TB WD HDD
  • Picture 1 (No Man's Sky Graphics Settings) - https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ah2OefNZZop3gbxuuZIShOHOrisJuA
  • Picture 2 (High GPU Load) - https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ah2OefNZZop3gbxyTaxC_J41hXggGQ
  • Picture 3 (High CPU Load) - https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ah2OefNZZop3gbxz4TY847SxO5zbMw

 

[NightHawkRMX]

That cpu is reasonably powerfull but if that game is cpu dependant you may have trouble. You could upgrade your cpu to a 3770k or if you want a newer platform

 

[gourge]

You can go to this siteand check if you have a bottleneck. unless your 3570k isn’t overclocked you should do that to decrease the bottleneck what you can do is overclock the first core as most games only run single core but you will not have turbo enabled if you overclock that way or you can just overclock all cores. I have the same cpu if want to know anymore

 

[NightHawkRMX]

[PCPartPicker part list](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8Y43XP) / [Price breakdown by merchant](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8Y43XP/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/jLF48d/amd-ryzen-5-2600-34ghz-6-core-processor-yd2600bbafbox) | $170.88 @ OutletPC
**Motherboard** | [Gigabyte - B450 AORUS PRO WIFI (rev. 1.0) ATX AM4 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/43BTwP/gigabyte-b450-aorus-pro-wifi-rev-10-atx-am4-motherboard-b450-aorus-pro-wifi-rev-10) | $123.98 @ Newegg
**Memory** | [Team - Night Hawk RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/MYs8TW/team-night-hawk-rgb-16gb-2-x-8gb-ddr4-3200-memory-tf1d416g3200hc16cdc01) | $124.99 @ Newegg
**Storage** | [Kingston - A400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/btDzK8/kingston-a400-240gb-25-solid-state-drive-sa400s37240g) | $39.89 @ OutletPC
**Video Card** | [MSI - Radeon RX 580 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/TTfmP6/msi-radeon-rx-580-8gb-armor-oc-video-card-rx-580-armor-8g-oc) | $199.99 @ Newegg
**Power Supply** | [Corsair - CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/3hkwrH/corsair-power-supply-cp9020102na) | $39.89 @ OutletPC
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $739.62
| Mail-in rebates | -$40.00
| **Total** | **$699.62**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2018-12-31 10:01 EST-0500 |
Here is my go to setup for situations like this.
This includes your rx580.

 

[WildCard999]

You can go to this siteand check if you have a bottleneck. unless your 3570k isn’t overclocked you should do that to decrease the bottleneck what you can do is overclock the first core as most games only run single core but you will not have turbo enabled if you overclock that way or you can just overclock all cores. I have the same cpu if want to know anymore

That site is terrible, there are other factors such as the game, resolution and other factors that determine if the CPU is holding back the GPU or vice-versa. This site is much better.
https://davescomputertips.com/how-to-determine-gpu-vs-cpu-bottlenecks-and-possible-solutions/

 

[carlsow]

That cpu is reasonably powerfull but if that game is cpu dependant you may have trouble. You could upgrade your cpu to a 3770k or if you want a newer platform

Hi Remixislandmusic,

Thanks for the quick response and suggestion. I'm actually going to pick-up a water cooled cpu cooler (Corsair - H115i Pro) and try overclocking for my first time.

Ultimately, after much research today and familiarizing myself with some of the latest technology, I'm feeling constrained by the LGA 1155 socket type and DDR3 memory that my current build uses. I'd like to have the ability to start playing around with some of the cpus that offer 6 & 8 cores.

In the mean time, if I have any luck with the overclocking of my current system, I will let everyone know.

Thank you for your input.

Carlsow

 

[carlsow]

You can go to this siteand check if you have a bottleneck. unless your 3570k isn’t overclocked you should do that to decrease the bottleneck what you can do is overclock the first core as most games only run single core but you will not have turbo enabled if you overclock that way or you can just overclock all cores. I have the same cpu if want to know anymore

Hi Gourge,

Thank you for your input! As I mentioned to, Remixislandmusic, I'm actually going to pick-up a water cooled cpu cooler (Corsair - H115i Pro) and try overclocking for my first time.

If you have any additional information on the overclocking of your 3570k that you'd be willing to share, I'd love to look it over.

In the end, I'm seriously considering an upgrade of motherboard, CPU, and RAM. In the mean time, overclocking my current setup will be a good experience.

My hopes is to do some comparisons between the default state and the overclocked state and try to follow up with that.

Thank you for your help!

Carlsow

 

[NightHawkRMX]

[No message]

 

[Karadjgne]

From a review IGN of No Man's Sky :

"And on PC, while planetary landings are smoother I couldn’t get a reasonably steady 60 frames per second on any resolution higher than 1080p even with a GTX 1080 and a Core i7-7700. No Man’s Sky doesn’t look good enough to justify that kind of sluggishness."

Seems to be a game that's seriously crappy optimization and very hard on any cpu if an i7-7700/gtx1080 struggles with 60fps@1080p.

Swap to a i7-3770k would barely help in this case, the game code is seriously screwed.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Sounds like saints row 4. A pc port from like 10 years ago that still wont run stablily on an amd ryzen 5 and 1070.

 

[Karadjgne]

Yeah. Although there's similar issues with graphics on Xbox and ps4 for that game. Devs pumped it out without perfecting it.