Question Low GPU and CPU Usage ?

Stuffz121

Honorable
Dec 15, 2016
95
2
10,635
Hello,

I recently got a new ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4090 and have been comparing my in-game benchmarks of Cyberpunk 2077 and Warhammer 3 to YouTube videos and websites showing benchmarks such as here https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asus-rtx-4090-rog-strix-oc-review/4


I am on a 1440p monitor and I have been getting very similar FPS performances to that of the websites above on Warhammer 3 but maybe not so much on my Cyberpunk benchmarks. I’m using GPU Tweak to monitor my GPU and CPU and noticed something during one of the battles on Warhammer 3.

During gameplay, the OSD of GPU Tweak showed me my FPS was around 75 and my GPU usage was at 56% and my CPU usage was at 24%. Shouldn’t both of my components usage be a lot higher if my FPS is getting lower throughout a game? It would be very helpful if someone could please help clarify this for me or if maybe there’s something wrong with my PC?

Is my CPU or memory or any component possibly limiting my performance? I understand my CPU isn’t the very best currently but my FPS shouldn’t be this limited I think?

My Specs:
  • ASROCK X570 PG VELOCITA WIFI
  • AMD RYZEN 9 5900X
  • ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4090
  • Silverstone 1200W 80 plus platinum
  • Phanteks 600 case
  • DDR4 3600MHz G.SKILL Trident Z-32GB
Here is a screenshot of what GPU Tweak displays to me.
View: https://imgur.com/a/pd20b4b


Any advice or guidance would be very helpful. Thank you.
 
That really depends. There could be a few reasons for this happening.

First and foremost would be thermal throttling. You should download and install HWinfo. Run it and choose the "Sensors only" option, making sure the "Summary" option is unselected. Then, leave it running, open your game, run it and when you see this problem start happening take a look at the HWinfo sensor data and see what your CPU and GPU temps are doing, what the highs and lows of each have been and whether it indicates there has been thermal throttling or not. Taking screenshots of all the sensor data (Usually will require taking several screenshots and scrolling down between screenshots to get all the sensors) then posting them here might be helpful so we can see if there is something that stands out as well.

When using Imgur to host images, it is best to click on the image in your images section of Imgur and then select the "Direct link" code option, then come here and click on the little picture icon above the post content in between the chain links and smiley and insert the code in the box that pops up so that the image is actually an image and not just a visual link to imgur.

Other potential things to look at are what your current motherboard BIOS version is, if you are not on the latest stable version then updating is a good idea.

And, going to the ASRock support page for your motherboard model and downloading the latest network and audio controller drivers and installing them, and to the AMD website for the latest X570 chipset drivers as well as doing a clean install of the Nvidia drivers using the Display driver uninstaller (DDU) would be recommended as well.

If there are any steps listed here that you have not already done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.



First,

Make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release. In cases where you DO already have the latest BIOS version, simply resetting the BIOS as follows has a fairly high percentage chance of effecting a positive change in some cases so it is ALWAYS worth TRYING, at the very least.


BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.


Second,

Go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates. When it comes to the chipset drivers, if your motherboard manufacturer lists a chipset driver that is newer than what the chipset developer (Intel or AMD, for our purposes) lists, then use that one. If Intel (Or AMD) shows a chipset driver version that is newer than what is available from the motherboard product page, then use that one. Always use the newest chipset driver that you can get and always use ONLY the chipset drivers available from either the motherboard manufacturer, AMD or Intel.


IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.


Third,

Make sure your memory is running at the correct advertised speed in the BIOS. This may require that you set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings. Also, make sure you have the memory installed in the correct slots and that they are running in dual channel which you can check by installing CPU-Z and checking the Memory and SPD tabs. For all modern motherboards that are dual channel memory architectures, from the last ten years at least, if you have two sticks installed they should be in the A2 (Called DDR4_1 on some boards) or B2 (Called DDR4_2 on some boards) which are ALWAYS the SECOND and FOURTH slots over from the CPU socket, counting TOWARDS the edge of the motherboard EXCEPT on boards that only have two memory slots total. In that case, if you have two modules it's not rocket science, but if you have only one, then install it in the A1 or DDR4_1 slot.



Fourth (And often tied for most important along with an up-to-date motherboard BIOS),

A clean install of the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.


If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.


Graphics card driver CLEAN install guide using the Wagnard tools DDU



And last, but not least, if you have never done a CLEAN install of Windows, or have upgraded from an older version to Windows 10, or have been through several spring or fall major Windows updates, it might be a very good idea to consider doing a clean install of Windows if none of these other solutions has helped. IF you are using a Windows installation from a previous system and you didn't do a clean install of Windows after building the new system, then it's 99.99% likely that you NEED to do a CLEAN install before trying any other solutions.


How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10, the RIGHT way
 
Last edited:

Stuffz121

Honorable
Dec 15, 2016
95
2
10,635
That really depends. There could be a few reasons for this happening.

First and foremost would be thermal throttling. You should download and install HWinfo. Run it and choose the "Sensors only" option, making sure the "Summary" option is unselected. Then, leave it running, open your game, run it and when you see this problem start happening take a look at the HWinfo sensor data and see what your CPU and GPU temps are doing, what the highs and lows of each have been and whether it indicates there has been thermal throttling or not. Taking screenshots of all the sensor data (Usually will require taking several screenshots and scrolling down between screenshots to get all the sensors) then posting them here might be helpful so we can see if there is something that stands out as well.

When using Imgur to host images, it is best to click on the image in your images section of Imgur and then select the "Direct link" code option, then come here and click on the little picture icon above the post content in between the chain links and smiley and insert the code in the box that pops up so that the image is actually an image and not just a visual link to imgur.

Other potential things to look at are what your current motherboard BIOS version is, if you are not on the latest stable version then updating is a good idea.

And, going to the ASRock support page for your motherboard model and downloading the latest network and audio controller drivers and installing them, and to the AMD website for the latest X570 chipset drivers as well as doing a clean install of the Nvidia drivers using the Display driver uninstaller (DDU) would be recommended as well.

If there are any steps listed here that you have not already done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.



First,

Make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release. In cases where you DO already have the latest BIOS version, simply resetting the BIOS as follows has a fairly high percentage chance of effecting a positive change in some cases so it is ALWAYS worth TRYING, at the very least.


BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.


Second,

Go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates. When it comes to the chipset drivers, if your motherboard manufacturer lists a chipset driver that is newer than what the chipset developer (Intel or AMD, for our purposes) lists, then use that one. If Intel (Or AMD) shows a chipset driver version that is newer than what is available from the motherboard product page, then use that one. Always use the newest chipset driver that you can get and always use ONLY the chipset drivers available from either the motherboard manufacturer, AMD or Intel.


IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.


Third,

Make sure your memory is running at the correct advertised speed in the BIOS. This may require that you set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings. Also, make sure you have the memory installed in the correct slots and that they are running in dual channel which you can check by installing CPU-Z and checking the Memory and SPD tabs. For all modern motherboards that are dual channel memory architectures, from the last ten years at least, if you have two sticks installed they should be in the A2 (Called DDR4_1 on some boards) or B2 (Called DDR4_2 on some boards) which are ALWAYS the SECOND and FOURTH slots over from the CPU socket, counting TOWARDS the edge of the motherboard EXCEPT on boards that only have two memory slots total. In that case, if you have two modules it's not rocket science, but if you have only one, then install it in the A1 or DDR4_1 slot.



Fourth (And often tied for most important along with an up-to-date motherboard BIOS),

A clean install of the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.


If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.


Graphics card driver CLEAN install guide using the Wagnard tools DDU



And last, but not least, if you have never done a CLEAN install of Windows, or have upgraded from an older version to Windows 10, or have been through several spring or fall major Windows updates, it might be a very good idea to consider doing a clean install of Windows if none of these other solutions has helped. IF you are using a Windows installation from a previous system and you didn't do a clean install of Windows after building the new system, then it's 99.99% likely that you NEED to do a CLEAN install before trying any other solutions.


How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10, the RIGHT way
I see, thank you for your response and advice. I used DDU to perform a clean uninstallation of the old GPU drivers and reinstalled the drivers for my new GPU. My RAM is also running at the correct rated speeds of 3600MHz according to my BIOS and CPU-Z. I checked on my motherboard's webpage on ASRock and I will definitely update my BIOS to the newest version as well the chipset drivers.

Quick question if you don't mind. The latest chipset drivers on the motherboard's webpage is different to the latest chipset driver version on AMD's X570 support page. The guidelines that you posted mention to always go with the newest chipset drivers so I should go with AMD's website then? Do I need to uninstall the old chipset drivers first before I install the newest version? I have posted two screenshots below just in case.

xLm7Nxl.png

oYvVpxe.png


Regarding updating my BIOS, just to confirm, would I be able to skip right ahead to the newest BIOS version to update as well? Also, would updating my BIOS reset my XMP profile and possibly mess with how AIO or fans work? Worried that my RAM will go back to its default settings that for some reason doesn't have it automatically at its 3600 rated speeds. I installed HWinfo and hope to upload sensor data soon. My GPU and CPU temps from my earlier image during gameplay were 55 and 69 Celsius respectively. Are those already thermal throttling temps? I apologize for all my questions, as always any help is great.

Thanks again!
 
Also, GPU usage is highly dependent on what your in game settings are at. If you are at medium settings at 1440p then you are not going to use anywhere near the full capability of that graphics card. Move the settings to Ultra everything and you'll see much higher GPU utilization. If you are already at Ultra everything then it's probable that the game simply does not tax that graphics card like a more demanding game might. But there's not going to be many games more taxing than Cyberpunk 2077, so if you are at Ultra settings in Cyberpunk and have done all the things I've listed and there has been no change, then in order to see higher GPU utilization you would probably need to make the move to a higher resolution monitor.
 
"CPU limited" with a 5900x? Please, stop with that. LOL. You guys kill me I swear.
Well, it's not really known as a barn burner these days, and it sounds like WH3 might be pretty unoptimized so who knows how the threads are allocated across the CCX's. Anyways looking at the temps, and the clock speed it's getting hit pretty hard unless the OP has a <Mod Edit> cooling solution. And yes, a 5900X is the limit in a fair few games, especially with a 4090 begging for and with Vsync disabled at 1440p. I know, not the case here with WH3 as the GPU is left waiting at 56% but if 2 or 3 cores are fully pegged this is exactly what you'd expect to see. I can't say much more without knowing more about both WH3 and OP's system configuration. 24% CPU utilization tells us nothing without knowing how the cores are loaded. Best thing to do if OP is concerned with CPU is to monitor per core utilization, it would reveal a lot more.

To be clear I'm not saying anything in opposition to what you have stated, your upthread instructions are fantastic and should expose the issue. It IS a possibility however, that the CPU could be limiting performance in WH3, but there is no data here in this thread to support nor eliminate the theory.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Stuffz121

Honorable
Dec 15, 2016
95
2
10,635
Also, GPU usage is highly dependent on what your in game settings are at. If you are at medium settings at 1440p then you are not going to use anywhere near the full capability of that graphics card. Move the settings to Ultra everything and you'll see much higher GPU utilization. If you are already at Ultra everything then it's probable that the game simply does not tax that graphics card like a more demanding game might. But there's not going to be many games more taxing than Cyberpunk 2077, so if you are at Ultra settings in Cyberpunk and have done all the things I've listed and there has been no change, then in order to see higher GPU utilization you would probably need to make the move to a higher resolution monitor.
All settings on both Cyberpunk and Warhammer are at Ultra or Extreme settings where applicable. I used HWInfo on several scenes during the game and here are some results.

sdv1N8S.png
yWaRmPo.png
PCrCgtG.png
4CZe8nn.png


This is a snapshot at one point during the game. Below is a second snapshot of the CPU Temp and GPU temps ate another point in the game.

tRCukP2.png
JNBj7iu.png



So does everything look all right? From what I understood while reading the tool tips and info on all these metrics, my system seems to be fine but what do you think? Also I attempted to get some clarification online or through HWinfo about the differences between Core T0 and Core T1 for example. Each core has T0 and T1, which one should I primarily pay attention to?
 
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Stuffz121

Honorable
Dec 15, 2016
95
2
10,635
You need to monitor per core utilization of the CPU. The number you indicate is an average across all cores. Once you monitor per core you will likely find you are at 100% on one or two cores and are very likely CPU limited.
I see, thank you for your feedback. So using HWinfo I saw that only Core 11 T0 is the one with the highest usage at 96%. The next highest usage was Core 1 T1 at 41%. Is this behavior normal? The total CPU usage at this moment was 19% as well. Below are some screenshots of my HWinfo data if you would like to take a look at it.
Thanks!
toswgKN.png
tRCukP2.png
 
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