Low FPS Crysis w/ 75% usage

[gidgiddonihah]

I still play Crysis so I can see what my rig can do as its the most demanding game I own right now . But I noticed something weird...

(When I play Crysis I open up task manager and pull it across my 24" 1920x1080 screen so i have a preview of a long time of CPU usage. I also open up MSI Afterburner and set it on top of Task manager to see GPU usage.)

Now I noticed something funny when I closed Crysis. I was having frame stutters occasionally and low FPS overall, but my CPU usage never went higher than 75%. My GPU usage in Afterburner never went over 80%. Sooo:

Why is Crysis have stuttering and low FPS, but it isnt using my GPU or my CPU?

My Rig:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
MSI 870-G45
AMD Phenom II B45 x4 3.1 Ghz (Unlocked Athlon II x3 445)
MSI GTX 460 1GB Cyclone (Operating at 820/1640/2000)
4GB G. Skill Ripjaw DDR3 1600 (Operating at 1333)
500 Watt Corsair PSU

 

[swifty_morgan]

your processor is slow and doesn't have any L3 cache and your video card lacks enough vram for that game. Lower your resolution to 1024x768 and try again. You can also turn off motion blur and crank back other settings.

 

[Fokissed]

1GB of VRAM is probably enough for 1080p but your processor is holding your video card back.

 

[swifty_morgan]

.............. and disable physx in the nvidia control panel.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

One, did anyone read my post? Even if my computer was too slow (which it is not) then Crysis SHOUlD use all the computers resources. Two, L3 cache is insignificant to gaming performance, there is even a toms article on this (there's like a 2-5 FPS difference). Three I don't believe Crysis even supports Physx. Four, 1GB of vRAM is plenty for '1080p'.

 

[swifty_morgan]

I read your post. Did you read mine ? First of all Tom's is wrong about the L3 cache if someone did write an article here about it being insignificant. I suggest you look it up elsewhere. Ram, L3 cache and HD cache all help to keep your games from stuttering to put it simply. There is physx involved in Crysis. 1gig is NOT enough for 1080p and it surely isn't enough for Crysis. I've been down that road. If you don't lower your resolution and tinker with your game settings you'll keep complaining until the cows come home. Your system cannot run Crysis the way you want or the way you expect. Try running in DX9 mode. That's the only other thing I can suggest that would help you.

 

[The Halo Don]

1gig is NOT enough for 1080p and it surely isn't enough for Crysis.

Hahahaha!

Dont believe this guy, 1GB DDR5 is more than adequate for 1080p.


And seeing how a you have a GTX 460 Cyclone, you should be able to max out Crysis at no problems, have you tried updating the video drivers?
I'm more than sure its the video drivers.

As for your CPU, that is also holding you back, and I suggest you upgrade ASAP for no more bottlenecks.

My bets on the drivers. If not, it's a dying card

 

[swifty_morgan]

I had to belittle myself. Here's a quote direct from tom's;;;

"Finally, it remains to be said that L3 cache memory is imperative if you want to reach the highest performance levels. At the 2.6 GHz clock speed that we benchmarked, it may not be that obvious, but at 3 GHz and up we see the Phenom II scaling much better than the Athlon II X4."

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Swift, you are wrong. I have gone higher settings than what I have now and it worked just fine. Look at toms benchies for the GTX 470 (around the performance of my overclock), and look at their settings. My card does fine with Crysis on their benches and it has done fine with me. This isn't even the issue, and you missed my very first point in my previous post. EVEN IF my computer was too slow, my computer would be maxed out, not at 75%.

 

[shane799]

I hate to throw into this flame fest...but my 955 overclocked to 3.8 and crossfired 5770's that I used to run forced me to drop resolution to 1680. At that resolution I could play most settings on the highest level and drop a few to keep things running nice. Crossfired 5770's roast a 460. I would recommend dropping to 1680 and tinkering with a few settings down in that range. You should be able to get good FPS at 1680.

 

[swifty_morgan]

I never "maxed" out any processor while playing ANY games, ever..... If the processor can't deliver it can't deliver. That's that. Your processor doesn't deliver. I don't care if the cores aren't maxed out or not. It's too darn slow and it has no L3 cache. Crysis needs more than you have. I don't understand why you don't see that. Try running in DX9. ......... belittled my self again..... the shame.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Haha thanks for your input .

BUT, my question wasn't: Can my computer run Crysis? It is: Why am I only using 75% of my rig?

I did run it with higher settings and it still ran just fine. Not to mention I have my GTX 460 OC'ed to about 470 speeds. I just got home, and ill tinker with it for a few...

 

[gidgiddonihah]

I don't care if the cores aren't maxed out or not. It's too darn slow and it has no L3 cache. Crysis needs more than you have. I don't understand why you don't see that. Try running in DX9. ......... belittled my self again..... the shame.

Your not getting it: NEITHER my GPU OR MY CPU were maxed out. One or the other should be maxed out. With Crysis I understand that my GPU should choke up before my CPU, but NIETHER of them were maxed. People use CPU usage and GPU usage to figure out bottlenecks, when one hits the ceiling before the other, that component is the bottleneck.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Here at the L3 tests on gaming that Toms did:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-l3-cache,2416-6.html

Here’s a forum. Look at the last post (Against another guy who made ridiculous claims without backing it up):

http://www.overclock.net/hardware-news/586854-tomshw-athlon-ii-phenom-ii-does.html

I used to think the same thing till i was told differently by about 7 other people in a thread I posted in. I did some research and pulled up mutlple things that pointed that L3 cache does almost nothing in gaming.

 

[4745454b]

What is using 75%? Crysis.exe? What is using the other 25%?

I've never done a lot of crysis digging, any chance it's only using 3 of your 4 cores by design? Perhaps it can't max a quad?

 

[gidgiddonihah]

What is using 75%? Crysis.exe? What is using the other 25%?

I've never done a lot of crysis digging, any chance it's only using 3 of your 4 cores by design? Perhaps it can't max a quad?

Finally someone else . Roughly 75% of my CPU is being used by Crysis, the other 25% is free, according to Windows Task Manager. My GPU usage ranged from 65-70%, spiking to 85% sometimes. Im not sure how many cores it can use...

 

[k1114]

You can see how many cores it's using in task manager.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

I know irts that I had to leave agin and I didnt see this morning when I posted.

 

[bystander]

I read your post. Did you read mine ? First of all Tom's is wrong about the L3 cache if someone did write an article here about it being insignificant. I suggest you look it up elsewhere. Ram, L3 cache and HD cache all help to keep your games from stuttering to put it simply. There is physx involved in Crysis. 1gig is NOT enough for 1080p and it surely isn't enough for Crysis. I've been down that road. If you don't lower your resolution and tinker with your game settings you'll keep complaining until the cows come home. Your system cannot run Crysis the way you want or the way you expect. Try running in DX9 mode. That's the only other thing I can suggest that would help you.

These two items you list take all credibility out of your diagnosis. I was ready to believe the cache issue, but this is just flat wrong.

Crysis does NOT use physX. It uses the Havoc physics engine instead.

People, myself included, have been running Crysis at maxed settings for years with 1GB and lower VRAM.

 

[mouse24]

wow these other people are trolling you bud, honestly there is VERY LITTLE performance difference between no L3 and L3.... i mean srsly guys calm down and get off your high pillar, quit trying to drum up sales be feeding people false info so they can waste 200 bucks on a new processor...

anywho, have you tried it with a completely fresh windows install?

Edit and when i say very little i mean not even 15 dollar upgrade worthy

 

[bystander]

Btw, what kind of FPS are you getting with your 460 in Crysis? I would not expect a single 460 would perform very well at that resolution in Crysis.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

I'll bench it later tonight and stick the results up. I also will try messing with the settings and see if I can get that to work.

No i haven't installed a fresh copy. I have 6 users, all with multiple "i" devices and personal programs, its a pain in the **s to get them all back to where it was. Plus I have Adobe Suite Master Collection CS5 all set up, i dont want to reinstall that mess . I could try, but its a last ditch effort and im not there yet .

 

[bystander]

If you have a 2nd HDD, you could try installing a fresh copy of Windows on a 2nd HDD to test. I have in the past run into problems with Crysis with other software. It's possible another program in the background is giving you issues.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

i mean srsly guys calm down and get off your high pillar, quit trying to drum up sales be feeding people false info so they can waste 200 bucks on a new processor...

haha I was actually planning to upgrade to this sometime soon:

8 Core Bulldozer
A Better Mobo
Corsair H80 or H100
Either ATI 6990 or GTX 590 (I don't have room for two cards in my case)
16GB DDR3 1600 RAM
1200 Watt PSU

(Edit) Sometime soon meaning like Christmas lol

 

[mouse24]

hahaha, i find it humorous that you can afford all that and not a HaF 912 or something similar

you could also make like say a 25g partition and dual boot maybe?

Edit: now that i think about it maybe your Direct X got corrupted?

Edit2: ah nvm that, doesnt Crysis 1 only use DX9?