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Question Low GPU and CPU usage in games / low fps ?

Oct 8, 2022
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My benchmarks are showing good results but in game my performance is a lot lower than it should be.
When I play destiny neither my cpu or gpu go above 40% usage and I get an average of 90 fps but it goes as low as 50fps
More demanding games like cyberpunk bring usage up to around 70-80% but I would expect a game like that to have a component at 100%
Changing grahic settings or resolution minimally increases fps

Destiny performance on high settings - Screenshot 2022 10 08 202654 — Postimages (postimg.cc)
Century Age of Ashes high settings - Screenshot 2022 10 08 204213 — Postimages (postimg.cc)
Cyberpunk high settings - Screenshot 2022 10 08 204916 — Postimages (postimg.cc)


Asus X99-E Performance Results - UserBenchmark

CPU: i7 6800k
GPU: 3080ti
RAM: 32gb 2400mhz

Updated graphic and chipset drivers, clean reinstall of windows, bios is up to date and reverted to default settings

Wondering if this could be some type of hardware error or cpu or ram bottleneck, however I can't see how its a cpu bottle neck if my cpu is not reaching 100%
 
My benchmarks are showing good results but in game my performance is a lot lower than it should be.
When I play destiny neither my cpu or gpu go above 40% usage and I get an average of 90 fps but it goes as low as 50fps
More demanding games like cyberpunk bring usage up to around 70-80% but I would expect a game like that to have a component at 100%
Changing grahic settings or resolution minimally increases fps

Destiny performance on high settings - Screenshot 2022 10 08 202654 — Postimages (postimg.cc)
Century Age of Ashes high settings - Screenshot 2022 10 08 204213 — Postimages (postimg.cc)
Cyberpunk high settings - Screenshot 2022 10 08 204916 — Postimages (postimg.cc)


Asus X99-E Performance Results - UserBenchmark

CPU: i7 6800k
GPU: 3080ti
RAM: 32gb 2400mhz

Updated graphic and chipset drivers, clean reinstall of windows, bios is up to date and reverted to default settings

Wondering if this could be some type of hardware error or cpu or ram bottleneck, however I can't see how its a cpu bottle neck if my cpu is not reaching 100%
Enable xmp see if it makes a diff.
 
That's not what ubm shows.

Reboot.
Wait a few mins.
Run ubm with the browser closed.
Post a link to the results.

Asus X99-E Performance Results - UserBenchmark
Dont know why it shows high background cpu, I closed everything.
Also I used the ASUS ez oc tuning wizard which enables xmp and overclocks the cpu.
It showed xmp enabled in bios

And I just reseated all my ram sticks to see if that would make a difference but did not change anything.
 
Asus X99-E Performance Results - UserBenchmark
Dont know why it shows high background cpu, I closed everything.
Also I used the ASUS ez oc tuning wizard which enables xmp and overclocks the cpu.
It showed xmp enabled in bios

And I just reseated all my ram sticks to see if that would make a difference but did not change anything.
Ram speed still shows 2400 in ubm.

What does task manager/perf/memory show for speed?

Do you have the ram sticks in the proper slots see page 1-5.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA2011/X99-E/E11534_X99-E_UM_WEB.pdf
 
Ram speed still shows 2400 in ubm.

What does task manager/perf/memory show for speed?

Do you have the ram sticks in the proper slots see page 1-5.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA2011/X99-E/E11534_X99-E_UM_WEB.pdf

I honestly thought my ram was rated for 2400 this whole time but I brought it up to 3000hz
Asus X99-E Performance Results - UserBenchmark

It did not change my performance in game though, and I still have low utilization for cpu and gpu.
I also noticed my computer would get stuck entering bios and an orange light would light up on the motherboard. Had to go through windows trouble shooter to open up bios.
 
I honestly thought my ram was rated for 2400 this whole time but I brought it up to 3000hz
Asus X99-E Performance Results - UserBenchmark

It did not change my performance in game though, and I still have low utilization for cpu and gpu.
I also noticed my computer would get stuck entering bios and an orange light would light up on the motherboard. Had to go through windows trouble shooter to open up bios.
OK that looks better.

Next issue....if you are running ubm like I wrote then you have a lot of stuff loading at startup.

That may be why the background usage is high.

Make you startup group skinny.

None of this may have anything to do with the gaming issue.
 
Hammer a nail into drywall. You'll use every muscle in your hand to hold the hammer. You'll use every muscle in your arm to swing the hammer. You'll Not use all the strength of those muscles in your hand to hold the hammer, it doesn't require a death grip. You'll Not use all the strength in your arm to swing the hammer, you are only trying to hit the nail into drywall, not concrete.

That's usage. Not the amount of muscles brought to bare, but the amount of effort those muscles require. Applied to a cpu, you still use everything the cpu has to give, all its necessary cache, clocks, cores etc, it just doesn't require the full amount of the cache, every core, every computational unit etc.

To add to that, during the game you are looking at a Single usage number. The game is only using a few of the available cores, threads, not all of them. So that single number is the Average, not total of individual core use. Use HWInfo64 (sensors only) and see which cores are actually used. Any of those used cores will be very high % used, the non gaming used cores much lower as they are doing background tasks.

You really do not want to hit 100% usage, it means the cpu is fully utilized. If, for instance, the cpu was putting out 100fps and there were 100 objects and npcs in a frame, and your toon turns a corner and there's suddenly 110 objects and npcs in the frame, the new 10 objects and npcs will require more time and resources, which the cpu does not have. So the frame takes far longer to process. Longer process = fps would drop from 100 to 70. Same scenario, usage at 50%, the cpu has room for expansion, so at 110 objects, usage goes up to 60%, but frame times sees very little or no affect, fps still = 100.

You assume that low utilization means there's something wrong. In reality, low utilization means just that, the game code simply doesn't require more cpu resources to make a given frame.

Same applies to the 3080ti, if you aren't running it on 4k monitor, with Raytracing enabled, you aren't really challenging the gpu at all. Any lesser resolution is pretty easy to max out the fps given by the cpu at any detail level, in most games. It takes something like Far Cry with the HD pack on Ultra to challenge a 3080Ti at 1080p.
 
OK that looks better.

Next issue....if you are running ubm like I wrote then you have a lot of stuff loading at startup.

That may be why the background usage is high.

Make you startup group skinny.

None of this may have anything to do with the gaming issue.

Asus X99-E Performance Results - UserBenchmark

Here are results manged to get background cpu down but noticed I am still not reaching the scores i did on the the original benchmark. Not sure what is causing it
 
Hammer a nail into drywall. You'll use every muscle in your hand to hold the hammer. You'll use every muscle in your arm to swing the hammer. You'll Not use all the strength of those muscles in your hand to hold the hammer, it doesn't require a death grip. You'll Not use all the strength in your arm to swing the hammer, you are only trying to hit the nail into drywall, not concrete.

That's usage. Not the amount of muscles brought to bare, but the amount of effort those muscles require. Applied to a cpu, you still use everything the cpu has to give, all its necessary cache, clocks, cores etc, it just doesn't require the full amount of the cache, every core, every computational unit etc.

To add to that, during the game you are looking at a Single usage number. The game is only using a few of the available cores, threads, not all of them. So that single number is the Average, not total of individual core use. Use HWInfo64 (sensors only) and see which cores are actually used. Any of those used cores will be very high % used, the non gaming used cores much lower as they are doing background tasks.

You really do not want to hit 100% usage, it means the cpu is fully utilized. If, for instance, the cpu was putting out 100fps and there were 100 objects and npcs in a frame, and your toon turns a corner and there's suddenly 110 objects and npcs in the frame, the new 10 objects and npcs will require more time and resources, which the cpu does not have. So the frame takes far longer to process. Longer process = fps would drop from 100 to 70. Same scenario, usage at 50%, the cpu has room for expansion, so at 110 objects, usage goes up to 60%, but frame times sees very little or no affect, fps still = 100.

You assume that low utilization means there's something wrong. In reality, low utilization means just that, the game code simply doesn't require more cpu resources to make a given frame.

Same applies to the 3080ti, if you aren't running it on 4k monitor, with Raytracing enabled, you aren't really challenging the gpu at all. Any lesser resolution is pretty easy to max out the fps given by the cpu at any detail level, in most games. It takes something like Far Cry with the HD pack on Ultra to challenge a 3080Ti at 1080p.

I understand exactly what you mean but my pc acts like it is hitting dry wall when it is facing a concrete one.

I ran destiny 2 for around 15 minutes and posted the readings of HWiNFO below.

View: https://imgur.com/aHOHu8z

View: https://imgur.com/MNb3cNP

View: https://imgur.com/uOetNmu


The one showing all the cores was taken while the game was running the other 2 were when the game was limited to 30fps because it was a background task.

Keep in mind this whole time I was only getting 80-100 fps at 1440p when im looking for 144. It also drops down to 60s when met with intense situations .
CPU stayed at around 50% usage.

Really beginning to think its a hardware issue this computer is like 5 years old besides the graphics card.
 
The stock details aren't just graphical, they include cpu bound details too, like field of vision, lighting, cloud ambience etc. You can play cyberpunk and get decent fps on Medium with very little graphics loss but a considerable amount of lowered cpu bound details. Moving up to ultra barely changes graphics above High, but does Alot to kill fps with what it means to the cpu.

You get the best fps at low preset and the best graphics by manually adjusting the graphical settings up, but ppl rarely do that, they just set ultra preset and complain of low fps, especially in games like cyberpunk.
 
I wasn't trying to get 144 fps in cyberpunk I was in Destiny 2 because its an fps and obv I want that for competitive reasons.

Also in cyberpunk im able to get 100 fps consistently but in destiny I can barely keep 80?? How does this make sense.
Furthermore, when I change my settings from high to low in both destiny and cyberpunk I see almost no increase of fps.
The only thing I have not tried is a fresh install of windows but i did reset my computer and wipe my drives.
I believe this is a hardware issue but do not know what is causing it.