Low CPU/GPU usage BF4 paired with low fps?

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Crazymania88

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Dec 17, 2013
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Hi Guys,
Please read it, because if it was something easy, I could find and fix it.
but I need your help.

I've an issue in battlefield 4 for long time now,
I actually can fix most of things myself but I couldn't fix this.
It gonna be quite long story but please help me.

My Specs:
AMD FX 8320 @ 4.3 Ghz
Sapphire 7870 XT
G.Skill Ripjawsx 2x4gb 1600mhz Kit 9-9-9-24-2T
Thermaltake PSU 600Watt 70% Efficeny
Samsung HD160JJ 7200 RPM Sata II HDD
Asus m5a97 R2.0 Mobo with latest bios
Latest drivers (I've tried every driver from 13.5beta2 to 13.11betaV9.5 with fresh windows)
windows 8.1

When I play battlefield 4 Multiplayer my GPU usage drops to 50%-60% and same time
I've low FPS.

While GPU usage is 60%, CPU Usage is 60% and none of CPU cores are over 75% usage.
Going on:
The game has an option called "Resolution Scale" it's like Super Sampling.
Strange thing is ->
When I get low GPU usage and Low FPS.

I put this setting to 25% and I have a Mario Looking battlefield and say I've 48 FPS.
I change setting back to 135% and I still have 48 FPS.

We've 1 other system it has->
FX 8320
M5a97 R2.0
Kingston HyperX 1.65V same timing same size kit.
Asus DirectCU II HD 7850 TOP II

This system have 0 issues, it never go under 60 FPS and GPU usage is always 99%,
Even this system is @stock speeds, while other system is OCed to 4.3 still cannot catch this system.
so keep this in mind.

I'll share some screenshots.
https://picasaweb.google.com/116856254276691735034/BF4?noredirect=1
(first time using picasa, tell me if it doesn't work)

3D Mark:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/7648032

GPU-Z in 48 FPS sweet spot ->
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/13/11/10/f27.png
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/13/11/10/3gb.png

Higher but still low->
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/13/12/03/9vs.png

Other One:
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/13/12/03/9vs.png

and This'll work I think,
I have it worst in the map called Shangai (because it's not full screen it has 10-15 Less FPS)
http://oi39.tinypic.com/14t64hh.jpg

I couldn't find the picture but also:
I overclocked my CPU to 4.6 ghz and monitored it.
I still got same FPS, low CPU usage and Low GPU usage.

What did I try till now ->
Unparking CPU
Disabling all Power Saving features, I know this wouldn't work.. it didn't
Updated Bios
Overclocked CPU, didn't help
Tried any driver,
Chipset drivers,
Power options under windows.

More info before you ask ->
Ofc we've tried with everything @ stock.
I also ran Memtest for 8 hours, 0 errors, not relevant but just saying.
Prime 95 etc. rock stable I am using this system for months with no BSOD
@ 4.3 ghz, and also as I say we tested @ stock.

Also:
Shutting down 2 cores gives same FPS,
Shutting down 4 cores even just loses 3%-10% GPU Usage.
(if it's 99% when 6-8 cores, it drops to 90%,89 with 4 cores)

Running other games @ backroung gives exact same FPS.
CPU just doesn't push more in battlefield 4, and I cannot find why.


I am sure nothing Throttles, I am dealing with this for a month.
and I monitored all little piece of it.

First we thought it's faulty hardware and as I said we've 2 similiar systems, we ran some benches.

In any bench, game
My 7870 XT system destroys other one, in BF4 I've this issue.

I've found other people with similiar setups having same issue, and other
with similiar setups not having this issue.

But amount of people with this problem is really low against people not having this with same specs.



So guys please help me, I'll pry for you cz I couldn't find a fix.

Thank you.

Or At least an explaination,
Why other 8320s and 8350s doesn't have this.

I hope I gave enough information, I'll just give you anything you want.



 
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I have this exact same problem. I have scoured the web for solutions and found nothing. This issue seems to be isolated to some FX-83XX. You say you have two systems running a FX-8320 and on is fine and the other isn't. Have you tried swapping the processors from one system to the other then running BF4?

By the way my specs are:

FX-8320 @ 4.2Ghz
2 x 4GB 1600mhz
Evga GTX 760 SC
Asus m5a99fx pro r2.0
Windows 7 64bit
 
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I got an 8350 as well, but Paired with a R9 290, and I get drops below 60 with my rig, no matter what setting I have... anyone an idea yet? seems to happen no matter the GPU... Its ONLY in BF4, and I think my minimum is dropping only to 50 since I got 8350. I have done everything the OP has done, and also reinstalled and repaired the game, and even fresh reinstalled Windows 8.1 entirely...

Is it BF4 itself, or is there a fix?
 
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tbh man, I've made 32 threads on this issue... one continued for 213 posts, and got REALLY deep, and no one could fix me... I perplex the world with my PC that can run any game eactly as its suppossed to EXCEPT for BF4, and I've tried clean installing my BIOS, Chipset, and 14.3beta driver 3 times now... just repaired the game again today. 2 Months later, and the same issues...
 
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Yes, each many times, clean drivers once a week now trying to fix it... I don't think thats the issue, it has to be something between BF4 and my CPU, but I just don't know what or how to fix it... no drivers in the world can save me either, trust me, I've tried them all.
 
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1080p
Ultra preset, DX11, anywhere from 42-90fps, majority around 55-70fps
Ultra preset, Mantle, about 50-100, with most maps running 60-85 or so.

Its the dips below 60 I want to eliminate (not to mention for whatever reason my DX11 performance is atrocious...)
Its not my video card, or my PSU, or my RAM, that all benchmarks fine, and my PC has never shut of from lack of power (Corsair HX-850W) 1886 ram, 8gb, never fills up. Almost every other game runs perfectly or as it should be (crysis 2 is only like 40fps, hates my 8-core)

I should be able to match the results everyone else gets with their 8-core should I not?

I can't fix it, Medium preset, I still get 50-160fps... majority is about 70-100, but the game just looks awful, and the dips still happen. I just want 60+, that's all I ask for, and My top tier 290 should easily handle medium...

I don't know what to do, but turning down mesh quality and post processing to high seems to keep me 57-113fps. That's my temporary fix, and I'm just BARELY under that 60fps mark...

I shouldn't have to jump through these hoops. If mantle didn't come along, I'd still be at 40fps... what is going on?
 
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It's not like you have 10 FPS, and it seems like it's a CPU issue. Try overclocking. Those numbers are honestly completely normal.
4972
 
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Hmm.... then how does everyone else get 80-90 outta theirs? People I talk to are only at like 4.4ghz. Also, WTF BF4, all 8 cores utilized, AMD optimized and the game still runs that much better on Intels? that 4670k is literally $30 more than my 8350 and the one benched is stock... :/ I REALLY don't want to spend $500 on a new Mobo/CPU setup when this one is 2 months old, and I love having 8 logical cores, every other aspect of my PC gains from it except from these 2-3 games... Never lags ever, and loads music/video/files incredibely fast.

Really sucks it happens to one of the only ones I play... I also have to argue that Shanghi runs MUCH better on AMD CPU/GPU since this was benched, and this was before mantle... Also, not wuite a reputable source, but thanks for digging it out. What I want to know is how everyone out there is fighting/fixing this bottleneck? They seem to be getting around it somehow... I already tried OC to 4.4, even 4.6, and that helped by like 2-5fps...
 
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OCing isn't a miracle cure. Take the 5 FPS. Your monitor probably doesn't go past 60 FPS anyway. Also, the red is the minimum, with the green the maximum, I believe. That is what you are describing. As far as why Intel does better, look at the prices. The 4670k is $50 more than the 8350. It would be quite sad if it didn't perform as well. Honestly, your performance seems completely normal.
 
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I almost match this guys performance with his 8350/290x frame by frame, but he is a tad 5-6fps higher than me since he's recording, but that's totally reasonable since he has a windforce 290x.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuLD20s0K5g&list=UUk-bv...

I KNOW my PC is running right, I even run Single player like everyone else frame by frame. Its the multiplayer that is so much harder on my PC than everyone elses, and its alarming how fast this game could cut down my to tier FX Chip, even on medium settings.
Check out this 8350@4.3ghz/ 780ti SC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E91Mj4GqC0E

He gets the same FPS dip to 50 as me when he looks at the plant in the room in the mission, but I have no idea if he is losing fps or not in recording...Plus this is Singe player, so its mostly GPU tied anyways, so hmm...

I just can't figure out if its a bottle or just an unfortunate use of my GPU's usage capabilities...
BTW, he doesn't seem to be too bottled with that 8350 in any other videos, and I see many others like him play multiplayer on youtube fine with their 8350 and 780ti with no drops. they all even have their MOBO's default OC profile of 4.3ghz... They didn't even need to troubleshoot for 200 hours like me. Not all bad, throught this all, my minimum isn't 45 like it was on DX11, but still... I can't stand the inconsistent frame rate.
 
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Understood that this is an old and repeatedly necro'd thread, but I see some fairly recent activity, so let me see if I can jump in and add some fuel to the fire. I experience the very same issues across multiple games ranging from Direct X 9 to the newest Direct X 11 games. At random places (fairly consistently) in games, my GPU utilization will drop to 30-50% and my FPS will drop to around 30-50 as well.

Monitoring the rest of the system, nothing is really even taxing my system. CPU usage, I'm at a MAX of 30% used, and none of my 8 logical processors are hitting 100%. My VRAM isn't close to maxed out, my ram usage is around 50%, and my SSD peaks up to maybe 5% at times. I've experimented with both an AMD/XFX R9 280x, and an NVIDIA GeFORCE GTX 770. The behaviors are similar, if not exact, in the same areas of the same games.

I'm running an 850watt gold rated power supply with very stable rails, and not even challenging the capacity of the PSU, so that isn't the issue. That was my first thought, and I've put it through a number of tests with a multimeter and oscilloscope.


Processor: i7 4770k
Motherboard: MSI z87-GD65
Ram: 16 Gigs PC1600 9-9-9-24@ 1.5v
Harddrive: 2x Samsung 840 PRO
GPU: GTX 770 / R9 280x
OS: Windows 8.1 Enterprise 64-bit
PSU: 850watt Gold Rated
Monitor: Asus (the version escapes me, but just in case this is the common factor)

The GPU "throttling" behavior happens regardless of graphics settings. Lower, or higher in-game settings seem to make no difference. However, for some games, cranking all of the 3d settings up in CCC or NVIDIA Control Panel seems to alleviate the throttling. The one thing I do notice on the NVIDIA card is that when this low usage and poor performance happen, MSI Afterburner shows the Utilization Limit flag set to 1 (meaning that the card isn't being challenged enough and is down-clocking or throttling.).

Sometimes compatibility mode helps, sometimes it doesn't depending on the game / situation. Overall, the behavior still exists, just seems to shift where.

I've tried a clean OS install, running the OS and/or game from a physical disk instead of SSD, removing the page file, moving the page file, HPET on/off, disabling ULPS, dynamic Vsynch(and the NVIDIA equivalent), Disabling Hyperthreading, raising process priority, Lucid Virtu MVP on and off, all manner of VSYNCH settings, etc. etc. I've been down a number of paths.

My next troubleshooting step is to install a copy of Windows 7 64-bit, and possibly using a DIsplayPort cable instead of DVI or HDMI (should NOT make any difference).

For BF4, I notice the issue FAR less frequently running in 64-bit mode... are all of you also seeing this behavior in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the game? I'd be curious to see if this throttling behavior is a function of 32-bit memory boundaries, etc.

Also, is everyone running some flavor of Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 that is experiencing this issue?

I'm continuing to chase down additional steps and tweaks, so will be monitoring to see if anyone makes progress, and will report back if I get anywhere with my own testing.
 
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Wow, yeah, Windows 8.1 build 9600. Seems to be an issue with 4770k too? hmm... I haven't troubleshooted that far ahead, as I actually see it mainly in just BF4 and Crysis 2. Most other games run my cpu 50-70%, and GPU 80-100%, with dips occasionally. Seems you're in deeper shit than me :/

Temporary fix for BF4 for me is Mantle+Mesh Quality turned down to High+Post processing to high. Gives me like 10 more minimum fps, so I'm 65-105... just hate that it limits my detail and view distance a bit 🙁 In DX11, Mesh quality doesn't help, and I still drop to 45 in many maps (Gulf of oman and Altai range are the worst...)
 
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yeah... I've found a coping method, but I'm sick of troubleshooting, I've got other thigns in life to use my time with.

Interestingly enough, I found this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49BRaDH5QsY

He has an 8350 stock at 4ghz and a 780 like you... he even has a windfore ghz edition, so a tad lower clocked than yours I bet. You don't get drops like that do you? That should be his real FPS, He's using a capture card, his fps is just used by fraps in the background. Maybe theres others out there like me that just live with it or aren''t bothered? He seems to benchmark a LOT of games (check his other videos, see how he compares to you) and he seems perfectly happy with it so...
 
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well i didnt watched the whole video but he is playing on a full server and from what i've seen is FPS are mostly hovering around 70 to 80 fps at one point i saw 56fps it think...also his FOV is set to 120 thats makes for more renderings...i think his FPS are pretty good and are consistent with mine...unless theres a part of the video i missed i watched intervals on the video maybe point me the part where he gets a dips i know in the beginning i saw 56 and i rarely see such low numbers on my system but on a full server like that it's not impossible...

Also another thing i realised and i don't know why but capping my fps in afterburner or in game console at 65fps makes the game feel a lot more fluid then when i uncap the fps..i cant tell why but 70-80fps fluctuating gives me the impression of running at 50fps but when i cap them to 65 then i feel much more fluid and fast...it's curious and it may be related to my monitor or something but defenetly try to cap your framerates at 65 in afterburner and tell me if you feel the difference in game...
 
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look around here: http://youtu.be/49BRaDH5QsY?t=3m54s Those are about the drops I get, little ones like that that will drop for a bit, then return to 80... They happen a bit more in the, but yeah, drops to 52-56 for a few seconds, and then he also gets the dangerously close 61-65 a lot in the match too. That's what I'm trying to do, further myself from that 60 mark. Do you hover near that 60 mark? the diffrence with me is that I get near 60, and then I inevitablely dip...
 
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OK NO, i saw a 49 there and you know what, i've never seen 49 on my system on ANY maps at ANY time...never seen below 54-55 in fact...
I made some testing again and i can assure you that my framerate is much more consistent when i cap the FPS at 65...it stays at 65 basicaly no mather what but when i uncap it it goes mostly around 80 but drops in the 60-64 fps sometimes whereas on the same server with frame capped at 65 it just stays at 65 and feel much more fluid...have you at least tried it?
 
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Afterburner hates my R9 290, and reads its usage levels all wrong. It also caused crashig issue with BF4 a few months ago, so I uninstalled it. I might try locking my fps to like 65 or so with an ingame command though. I can do that right? lock it with the ingame commands in a config file?
 
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Yeah, seeing this behavior on 4770k. I wouldn't say this is a BF4 specific issue. Having re-installed the OS clean, I've also re-installed BF4 and other games clean each time to ensure no issues. I've also tried swapping the PCI-e slot that the card is in.

In windows 8.1, especially, I've found that running with VSynch disabled causes a lot of extra unneeded stress on all cards. Essentially, they are trying to run as fast as they possibly can even though your monitor may only be able to display at 60 / 120Hz. This is especially true, it seems, for older DX9 games. Diablo 3, for example, claims a fairly steady 120-210 FPS, but FEELS very very jerky with vSynch off. However, in-game vSynch is utter garbage unless you also limit max frames to 1 less than your monitor's refresh rate. For example, 59Hz on a 60Hz monitor. The majority of the stutter in that (and other games) with vSynch disabled seems to be centered around text. For example, particle effects, nameplates, ground loot, etc. in MMOs and Diablo 3. vSynch with Tripple buffering seems to even a lot of those games out, but also under-stresses both of my cards resulting in some level of 'throttling'.

For the R9 280X, using RadeonPro or MSI Afterburner to limit maxFPS (outside of the games themselves) reduces a large amount of the jerkyness, but doesn't alleviate the occasional reduced cpu/gpu/fps trifecta. Dynamic vSynch in RadeonPro seems the best solution, but does produce occasional tearing and incompatibilities in some games. Adaptive vSynch with NVIDIA cards also provides fairly good results.

As I said earlier, for whatever reason, raising and forcing high 3d settings seems to somewhat alleviate top-end performance issues. Strangely, running other 3d apps in the background(fullscreen windowed or windowed) keeps things from drooping, but obviously has a performance hit associated.

If you can live with the input lag, Full Screen+vSynch+tripple buffering seems to alleviate a lot of the stark drops in framerate. Generally, 60Hz / 60FPS is a magic number... if you dip below that, there will generally be a much larger performance hit. Especially with vSynch on and no tripple buffering. This is because of the way that vSynch down-scales... it will be a fraction of your monitor's refresh rate. I believe there is a 45Hz step before the 30Hz step... so if you dip, it'll show a significant drop. The exact reported number will be reported as 40-50fps depending what fraction of a second it drops to this lower refresh rate. If I understand it correctly, Dynamic / Asynchronous vSynch only imposes the limit when the maximum refresh rate of your monitor is reached, and will disengage if you droop below in an attempt to alleviate the large frame impact without imposing the same input lag that tripple buffering comes with.

All that being said, there is really no significant reason for the behavior we are all seeing across a wide variety of games. I do notice that the issues are MUCH worse in 32-bit versions, and have only seen this behavior on Windows 8.1. My laptop running a 670m, Windows 7, i7-3610QM@ 2.3GHz. With TurboBoost, it hits around 3.2GHz. This laptop doesn't perform as well as my desktop, but also doesn't see the low cpu/gpu/fps combo. I was convinced it must be the NVIDIA graphics card, so I grabbed a GTX 770 to test against my R9 280X. However, that wasn't the common factor.

This week is going ot be busy around the office, so I'm not going to get around to a windows 7 dual-boot. Intermediate steps may be running in a Virtual Machine to see what happens (though I anticipate all sorts of issues there). Other than that, I may try limiting the PCIe lane from PCIe3.0x16 to PCIe2.0, and see if the behavior is present... just on a whim. I'm getting pretty tired of chasing this random issue down. 90% of the time, performance is excellent, but its those few special places... in SWTOR, the behavior is extremely repeatable on Balmorra. I can recreate the behavior in Diablo 3 by throwing a bunch of loot on the ground in town and walking around. BF4 - especially Shanhai, and some of the BF3 maps show similar behaviors.

Across the board, 32-bit seems to be a massive issue... maybe its hitting the 2-3 gig memory boundary throttling these games due to a soft vMEM boundary. I do know that some of the games i was having issues with saw improvement but not alleviation by making the 32-bit executable large address aware.

Teddy - are you running BF4 from the 64-bit, or 32-bit executable? bf4.exe should be the x64. If you aren't positive, check the information screen in Origin, and select Edit next to Launch Options. Make sure you have x64 selected in the dropdown box... it really does make a world of difference for me. Only certain parts of Shanghai give me issues now rather than the entire map in 32-bit mode. For whatever reason, Origin defaulted me to 32-bit mode initially. If you were running 32-bit(x86), check out 64-bit, and let me know if there is any change.
 
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Yes. I don't see this usage problem in manyt other games except BF4, BF3 some, and like Crysis 2, sleeping dogs, and Far Cry 3, which are very buggy slow games.

I have always been in 64-bit, and I see no difference between 32/64 bit. You think this issue is the way games are handling hyperthreading in our high end processors? I have no idea on what else it could be? I usually don't even mess with v-sync, as it lowers my overall fps in 90% of cases, and manually capping and messing with buffering rates in CCC helped none..
 
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yes you can also use precision X from evga i think it also allow to cap the FPS, or you can just use the console command wich is :
gametime.maxvariablefps 65

You can also edit a.cfg file if you don't want to type it everytime you play...

i can tell you that it makes a very big difference on how smooth the game is running...please try it out for a good 15 minutes, turn it on and off to feel the difference and tell me if it helps...

i tried to cap it at 60fps and i was getting major screen tearing issues like every 5 seconds i had a tear, then i tried 59fps and it does not felt as smooth, 65fps is really the best for me.
 
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