Looking for some easy-to-understand tech help (memory/GPU)

[nocturniauzuki]

Hello.

I've been a gamer for many years now, but I'm ashamed to say that I'm really not very technologically literate. I can solve some problems (often with the help of Google), but I encounter just as many that I can't. So I figured I'd ask some much more tech-savvy people for advice! (Thanks!)

Generally, my problems revolve around not knowing how to optimize my system for my gaming needs. Regardless of how powerful a system I may buy, it never seems to be at the quality level that Google tells me it should be.

Anyways, my current conundrum is trying to figure out why my high-end gaming laptop is having trouble running higher-end games - in this case The Witcher III -
Wild Hunt and Divinity II - Original Sin. I have tried turning down the settings significantly, but regardless the gameplay is still choppy, with substantial freezing. According to Task Manager, the problem seems to be either memory or my GPU hitting 100% use. Currently, my memory usage is at 97%+, and my GPU is at 75%; though yesterday the GPU was at 97%, before I turned down the settings. The memory usage in particular boggles my mind, since I have 16gb of RAM. I'm not sure on the VRAM, but I think it was 3gb.

I've done some Googling of the quirks for Witcher III, including that certain settings, like Nvidia HairWorks, are huge resource guzzlers with very little visual impact, so I've disabled those. The same googling has told me that with my system, I should be able to run almost everything on Ultra, assuming I'm understanding it right, and still manage 57+ FPS. However, I've turned many of the settings off/low or medium, leaving only a couple of the supposedly easier-to-run effects on high.

Can anyone explain to me why these games aren't running as I thought they should? If it helps, here's some information on my system (just ask if you need more, and I'll try to find it if I know how):

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700HQ @2.60GHz
RAM: 16GB
GPU: Nvidia GTX1060
HDD: 1TB (the games in question are on this drive)

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[strike]One thing I am wondering is if my system is somehow using my integrated Intel graphics by default for these games. I'm not sure how to check this, but I don't see why it would default to it.[/strike] The game is using my GTX1060.

Edit: Adding more info as I think of it:

The choppy gameplay I'm experiencing feels to me more like it's caused by the memory capping, actually. Though I don't have any tech-know to prove this. The reason I say this is because:

-My frames per second are not consistently low. It just spikes. I'll be running along smoothly, but then the game will just freeze for a split second, then hop ahead. These little episodes of freezing happen almost constantly, with occasional larger episodes (1-2 seconds long). This most often happens when I'm moving quickly across the field (i.e. galloping on my horse), which presumably causes the game to have to load the area in front of me faster than usual. It also sometimes happens during hectic fights. If the problem was my GPU, wouldn't my FPS be consistently low? As for the CPU, I'm not sure how that manifests itself in poor gameplay. I have experienced similar freezing in games from before I had my current laptop. My previous laptop had very serious memory issues, and I occasionally even got Global Memory Allocation Failures. The current problem feels similar, but it hasn't crashed yet. But again, I'm basing this entirely off past experience, with no actual technical knowledge.

 

[kanewolf]

You have a laptop CPU with less cache and clock speed than a similar i7 desktop CPU. That will limit your total performance. If that is a laptop, you could have a power plan that is limiting performance.

 

[nocturniauzuki]

I was under the impression that CPU wasn't nearly as important for gaming as RAM and GPU. I frequently see debates about laptops versus desktops on forums, and what I've garnered from them is that while desktops are generally better, laptops are not grossly inferior, at least not since the release of the 1000 series GPUs.

In any case, my power settings, from what I can tell, are set to high performance. At least, under my power option settings, it's set to the preset high performance mode. I opened the advanced options, and there didn't seem to be any way to turn it up higher. Though I have a laptop, I use it like a desktop (i.e., it is always on my desk). The only reason I use a laptop instead of a desktop is because at this stage of my life I am not settled down in one place, and a desktop is not convenient for moving halfway across the country and/or to other countries. My CPU use is hanging out around 60% on task manager, with the game open (but alt-tabbed to view the manager). It does occasionally spike to around 90%. GPU is at 60%. Memory is at 96%, but it's always in the 90s, regardless of what I'm doing. From what I've garnered from Google, this may be because the system uses memory liberally (an "if it's there, use it, don't waste it" approach, I guess?).

I looked into which GPU was being used, but it has been using the GTX 1060 the whole time. I downloaded GPU-Z. Here's a screenie of what it stands at with the game running.

When it comes to the meaning of caches and clock speeds, that's where my tech knowledge really comes to an end. What I know is that more is better. I'm not sure how good or how much of a difference the 6700 and 2.60GHz is compared to something higher, but I had thought that, given the CPU's supposed lesser importance to gaming, that any i7 would be more than enough for everything but the highest-end games with maxed graphics settings.

As of editing this, the GPU temperature has actually shot up to 92 (96 is the cap, apparently). Perhaps this explains why the game has a tendency to run fairly well for a little while, then gets progressively worse as time goes on? Cooling systems are something I have very little knowledge of.

If the clock speed is the problem, then perhaps I could look into overclocking. It's something I've always shied away from, however, since I don't have much tech know-how and worry that I will end up breaking something.

 

[nocturniauzuki]

I'm very confused by the memory, actually. The task manager and more detailed resource manager do not add up to 16gb. Somehow, I'm using all 16gb, but the total memory in use if I add up all of the memory allocation on the resource monitor doesn't even come up to 8gb. So somehow I'm invisibly using all of my memory. What could cause this? Here's the resource monitor:

https://imgur.com/a/llHbf

 

[J_E_D_70]

You look to be running a ton of extraneous services. This an MSI laptop? And yes that’s too hot and will throttle.

I would kill that Malwarebytes while gaming and make Avast as passive as possible.

You can kill SCM (MSI onscreen notification). Dragon Center too (that also msi bloatware?). If you have Cortana, turn it off.

I’d uninstall nVidia Geforce Experience. Make sure Xbox DVR is off:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6239-DZCB-8600

Basically kill everything but basic antivirus. If that doesn’t help, download and run DDU in safe mode and wipe gpu software. When you log back in, run the gpu installer on custom and only do the driver and physx.

Given the temps, might look at a cooling pad to try and allow both the cpu and gpu the chance to reach max turbo settings:
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/best-laptop-coolers

 

[Guest]

Hi,

You need to change ur power plan to maximum performance.

Disable Intel graphics completely.If you can't find it in the BIOS then Control Panel > Hardware/Device Manager > Display Adapters > right click on Intel HD Graphics and disable.

Also do the following
Go into graphics settings and do the following :
Disable NvdiaHairworks.
Disable Nvdia HBAO+
Disable Motion Blur
Lower Anti-Alising to 4x
V-Sync OFF

The above stated settings are very taxing on gpu. A more powerful gpu like gtx1070 or 1080 can handle them without any problem.

Trying updating your windows 10 to build 1709 or updating nvdia drivers to latest.

Run Memtest+ for diagnostic tests for memory.

Tell us after all these steps.

Thank you,
Ishaan

 

[nocturniauzuki]

Thank you for the responses. I'm currently going through and trying to do what you suggested.

Active Status:

- Avast has been set to passive mode. (This seems quite inconvenient though, since it requires a system restart every time it is changed).
- Attempted to end Cortana's task, but it kept popping up again seconds later. Attempted to permanently disable Cortana with a simple registry edit I found online (ref: https://www.howtogeek.com/265027/how-to-disable-cortana-in-windows-10/ ). Restarted, but it's still popping up in the task manager.
- Attempted to permanently disable Xbox DVR via registry editor (ref: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6239-DZCB-8600 ). Restarted. No idea how to tell if it worked.
- SCM task ended. But this is likely not permanent?
- Intel Graphics disabled via Device Manager.
- Nvidia GeForce Experience has been uninstalled.
- Re: cooling pad. I looked them up, and I might be able to afford one. Do you have any recommendations, must-have knowledge, and tips regarding them?

- [strike]Game has been launched. But the visuals are not working (audio plays, but it's a black screen).[/strike] Relaunched the game, this time it worked.
[strike]- Task Manager diagnosis has changed. With the game running, GPU is at 0% (I don't think it's even running, evidently). Probably as a result, Memory is also untouched, while CPU is capped at 100%.[/strike] This time CPU and GPU are both 100%, memory is untouched.
[strike]- Attempting to open Nvidia Control Panel gives me the following message: https://imgur.com/a/bNNHF ; however, my display is still active, just not for the game.[/strike] Nvidia Control Panel now no longer opens at all.

- The game has launched; however, load times are now more than twice as long, and the game is running in extreme slow-motion. As in 1 FP2S (1 frame per 2 seconds).

- Re-enabled Intel Graphics, which seems to have been running my desktop display while the 1060 handled games. Game is now running, seems like as before, though marginally better. I'll let the 1060 play it for awhile and heat up to see if the freezing starts up again. Good news is that my task manager values are now sitting much lower:

CPU 46%
RAM 38%
GPU 49%

Previously it was roughly:

CPU 60%
RAM 97%+
GPU 65%



And an extra question regarding GPUs. The numbers tend to misrepresent their strengths, especially to an inexperienced eye. While the difference between something like a 900 series and 1000 series Nvidia GPU registers with me, I was not aware the difference between 1060 and 1070 could be so substantial. That being said, when I bought my laptop a bit over a year ago, the price leap for a 1070+ from a 1060 was too much for me, especially considering, if I'm recalling correctly, the Ti versions were limited to desktop only. So I stuck with the 1060. I should have mentioned this at the start but this is my laptop model:

MSi GE62VR GRF Apache Pro

Also, would putting the game on my SSD make a large difference? Doing so would eat up over half of what I have left on it (since for some reason the OS came installed on the SSD... not sure if that's normal or if I just mucked up my order, but at least it boots fast...). Though I'm not sure I can move a single game from my SteamLibrary on my HDD to my SSD and still have Steam launch the game.

 

[J_E_D_70]

The mobile 1060 is slightly slower than the desktop version but should still be plentry playable.

I’d buy whatever that article said to buy - was on first page.

 

[nocturniauzuki]

So far so good, the game's definitely running at higher FPS, and the freezing hasn't happened at all yet. I'm not great at eyeballing, but previously I'd say it was somewhere in the 35-40 range, and now it seems to be at its 60 cap. I'll let you know if anything changes, but for now it seems to be fixed.

 

[J_E_D_70]

Good! Would like to hear how it goes.

 

[nocturniauzuki]

One other interesting thing I noticed during this was that SCP Service Manager was eating an absurd amount of my CPU. In fact, now it's eating even more, but for whatever reason, the game is still running smoothly. It's currently hanging around 25-35%, as in this screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/2kfzI

SCP Service Manager is part of SCPToolkit, which is one of the three different third party controller programs I have, which let me use my PS4 controller with my computer. I have three because, well, none of them seem to work properly, depending on what game I'm playing. But in addition, I've now discovered that SCPtookit uses a ridiculous amount of processing power. I'd love to ditch it, but it also seems to be the only program that can manage the PS4's touchpad. If I try to use my other two (DS4 Windows or InputMapper) for Witcher III, the touchpad starts acting like a mouse, and does various other crazy stuff when I press it. It also makes the game give me PS4 controls in the game's tool menu, and Xbox controls everywhere else.

I don't suppose you happen to be familiar with any of these programs and how to get them to work properly, or know of another one I might try. I'd like to get rid of the 30% CPU usage without messing up the game controls.

 

[J_E_D_70]

I’d get rid of all that mapping software and just get a wired or wireless Xbox controller - they just work without fooling around. The wired version can be had for $15.

Not a hard adjustment from PS controller. I play on a PS3 as well and no problems switching back and forth.

 

[nocturniauzuki]

Heh, I've always loathed Xbox controller. It's the way they have the joysticks. It's unnatural. The only controller I can put up with that on is the Gamecube one, since the C-stick was never for camera control anyways.

Well, thanks for all your help with the issues. It's been working well for the rest of the night, even with the extra CPU usage from the mapper, and I managed to turn the settings up significantly too. Only issue I've run into so far is huge FPS drop after fighting the same monster for 15 minutes. Not sure why the GPU would struggle to repeatedly play the same animations for that long, but overall it's a very minor issue. I usually don't go around fighting monsters so far over my level it takes that long to kill them...

Cheers.

 

[J_E_D_70]

Good deal! Still want to watch your temps if that stuttering starts. Could be a deal where you’ve freed the cpu up enough that it’s feeding the gpu enough to finally let it run at max.