[SOLVED] Low GPU Usage, and high CPU Usage

[Giorici]

On every game i play the CPU usage is always higher than the GPU. CPU always goes to 70% while my GPU Usage doesn't even hit 70%. What can i do?
CPU: I5 3470 3.5GHz (turbo boost)
GPU: RX 470 8GB GDDR5
RAM: 8GB DDR3 (Soon upgrading to 16gb ddr3)
256GB SSD + 1TB HDD
450W PSU

 

[Giorici]

And i see on YouTube people with the same specs as me, they getting 90-100% gpu usage everytime in every game. But i don't

 

[tecmo34]

What resolution you playing at?? If at 1080p, it is CPU driven so you will see higher usage than GPU. The GPU doesn't really start taking over more till you reach 1440p or higher.

 

[hotaru.hino]

Depending on the graphics settings and the game, this will cause the performance to rely more on the CPU than the GPU. If you want to push the GPU more, the only thing you can do is increase the graphics settings.

If you're looking for higher frame rates, then you may be hitting a wall with CPU performance.

 

[Giorici]

Depending on the graphics settings and the game, this will cause the performance to rely more on the CPU than the GPU. If you want to push the GPU more, the only thing you can do is increase the graphics settings.

If you're looking for higher frame rates, then you may be hitting a wall with CPU performance.

I play FiveM, which is Gta 5. And i see a guy on youtube playing gta 5 but has 90-100% GPU Usage with the same settings as i do, and he has the same specs as me.

 

[Giorici]

What resolution you playing at?? If at 1080p, it is CPU driven so you will see higher usage than GPU. The GPU doesn't really start taking over more till you reach 1440p or higher.

Yea, i play on 1080p but that doesn't really matter. I should have higher GPU Usage when playing games because it's a gpu i'm playing on

 

[RTX 2080]

On every game i play the CPU usage is always higher than the GPU. CPU always goes to 70% while my GPU Usage doesn't even hit 70%. What can i do?
CPU: I5 3470 3.5GHz (turbo boost)
GPU: RX 470 8GB GDDR5
RAM: 8GB DDR3 (Soon upgrading to 16gb ddr3)
256GB SSD + 1TB HDD
450W PSU

You can upgrade your RAM to 2 x 8 GB sticks of RAM. Modern game engines are designed to run best on two evenly matched sticks of RAM (dual-channel memory). By having a single 8 GB stick, you prevent your CPU from working at its best and your GPU doesn't receive the pre-rendered frames it needs from the CPU.

 

[RTX 2080]

I play FiveM, which is Gta 5. And i see a guy on youtube playing gta 5 but has 90-100% GPU Usage with the same settings as i do, and he has the same specs as me.

Really? Exactly the same? Because GTA 5 is CPU heavy and your i5-3470 (which has only 4 cores and 4 threads) isn't going to run a game like GTA V all that well.

 

[mdd1963]

Yea, i play on 1080p but that doesn't really matter. I should have higher GPU Usage when playing games because it's a gpu i'm playing on

It does matter; your GPU has 8 GB of VRAM, and, it would take a very modern game (BF1, BF5, etc.)with very high texture details, filtering, etc., and/or higher resolution, and a faster CPU to push up GPU usage to 70% or greater...

8 GB of VRAM is overkill for an RX470 at 1080P, so I doubt you'd ever see 50% usage at 1080P...

 

[RTX 2080]

It does matter; your GPU has 8 GB of VRAM, and, it would take a very modern game (BF1, BF5, etc.)with very high texture details, filtering, etc., and/or higher resolution, and a faster CPU to push up GPU usage to 70% or greater...

8 GB of VRAM is overkill for an RX470 at 1080P, so I doubt you'd ever see 50% usage at 1080P...

I guess you're assuming that the OP's references to GPU usage are referring to VRAM usage? Because that's what it sounds like you are saying. The OP isn't concerned about VRAM usage, they're concerned about the amount of GPU processing power being left on the table.

 

[Giorici]

You can upgrade your RAM to 2 x 8 GB sticks of RAM. Modern game engines are designed to run best on two evenly matched sticks of RAM (dual-channel memory). By having a single 8 GB stick, you prevent your CPU from working at its best and your GPU doesn't receive the pre-rendered frames it needs from the CPU.

I do have 2x4 now, i'm gonna upgrade to 2x8 soon, hope it solves the problem, and sometimes most of the games freeze for miliseconds every 5-6 seconds, barely playable

 

[InvalidError]

Modern game engines are designed to run best on two evenly matched sticks of RAM (dual-channel memory).

It doesn't really have much to do with games being "designed" for dual-channel, it has more to do with the CPU itself being designed for dual-channel and suffering a 10-50% handicap when its usable memory bandwidth is cut in half, which doubles the performance penalties from every cache miss.

I do have 2x4 now, i'm gonna upgrade to 2x8 soon, hope it solves the problem, and sometimes most of the games freeze for miliseconds every 5-6 seconds, barely playable

Having a freeze every few seconds in an open-world game when you don't have enough memory to keep all assets in-memory would be consistent with some combination of the game having to reload stuff from storage and Windows dumping stuff into the swapfile either to make more memory available for software or increase the file system cache size.

 

[RodroX]

I do have 2x4 now, i'm gonna upgrade to 2x8 soon, hope it solves the problem, and sometimes most of the games freeze for miliseconds every 5-6 seconds, barely playable

From the specs you listed, 8GB of RAM and a Core i5 3470, I think the issue here is that the CPU is working, really, really hard to keep it up to what the GPU can handle.

Now the fact that games freeze every 5-6 seconds could also be related to high temps. It wouldn't be a bad idea to keep an eye on those while playing. You can do this with msi afterburner (which you can download from MSI or Guru3D). There are lots of tutorials on how to set the OSD, is really easy it may take 3~5 mins.

 

[geofelt]

Game performance will always be limited by something.
Usually cpu or gpu.
Such as GTA V will be cpu limited and largely single threaded.
It is unrealistic to expect 100% of both.
And, you really would not want that either.
When you are running a resource at 100% there is no reserve to handle the inevitable surges of demand.
Some games are cpu limited, and some are graphics limited.
How can you tell?
Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
This makes the graphics card loaf a bit.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

Possibly ram is an issue. If you have insufficient ram, you may be having hard page faults.
When that happens, processing stops until the fault is resolved.
8gb seems to be a bit restrictive these days, particularly if you are doing any multitasking at all.

Another possibility is thermal throttling.
Run HWmonitor or similar.
If your idle temperature is much more than 10-15c. over ambient, your cooler is not doing the job.
If you see a max of 100c. You have throttled until the heat issue is resolved.
That will show low cpu and gpu usage but will be evident as a performance stall.

 

[Giorici]

From the specs you listed, 8GB of RAM and a Core i5 3470, I think the issue here is that the CPU is working, really, really hard to keep it up to what the GPU can handle.

Now the fact that games freeze every 5-6 seconds could also be related to high temps. It wouldn't be a bad idea to keep an eye on those while playing. You can do this with msi afterburner (which you can download from MSI or Guru3D). There are lots of tutorials on how to set the OSD, is really easy it may take 3~5 mins.

In Gta, my GPU is between 55-62 degrees celsius, doesn't get past that. And the CPU same thing. 100% CPU Load in GTA but stays under 65 degrees celsius

 

[geofelt]

If pushed, a gpu should run at 80c to get maximum performance.
Really, you are cpu limited, particularly single thread.

Time, I think to consider a more modern cpu.
As little as $250 would buy you a much stronger processor like the i3-10100, a lga1200 motherboard, and 16gb of ddr4 ram.
With a better budget, I would go stronger.
Here is a review:

Intel Core i3-10100 Review - Affordable 4c/8t

Intel's Core i3-10100 is the most affordable Comet Lake "Core" processor. Unlike its predecessor, it finally has HyperThreading, which brings the core configuration to 4c/8t. Our Core i3-10100 review takes a close look at how Intel's new budget offering performs against AMD Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X.

www.techpowerup.com

 

[RodroX]

In Gta, my GPU is between 55-62 degrees celsius, doesn't get past that. And the CPU same thing. 100% CPU Load in GTA but stays under 65 degrees celsius

Temps looks ok, so as I wrote, and others did too. Sounds llike your GPU is been limited by the CPU. I had similar issue in some games with a GTX 1060 and a Core i5 3570.