[SOLVED] Low usage issue in almost every game with Ryzen 5 3600 and 3070 ?

ChickenGandalf

Prominent
Jan 12, 2021
20
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Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and I've seen others posting the same thing but I feel like my case is different.

So, I had a 1660super before this and I was relatively happy but I found a deal for 3070 and I just couldn't not get it. Plugged it in everything was fine and working how they should, I started playing Warzone and that's where I found my problem.

I had realized that my fps was quite low for a 3070 and compared to a "benchmark" video that uses the combo to test out games and I should be getting around 130-140fps and what i got was 90-100 on all high settings 1080p

So I began researching, long story short I've seen a lot of "driver" issues or just the game not being optimized and I wanted to leave it at that but again, the video I saw had it at 130 fps at 1080p max settings so why aren't I getting the same?

I started up afterburner and I noticed that the guy I watched on youtube had his CPU at 4100mhz while mine was capped at 3900 so I overclocked my cpu to reach 41mhz just to see if I would get the same performance but I still got the same 100fps. Next thing I noticed was that both my cpu and gpu usage was sub 60%. That's when I realized what's going on. The video I watched had the GPU at almost 100% at 1440p and cpu at 60-70% and I wasn't getting anywhere near that.

One last thing that might help, the other day I had over 140+fps on madden 21 and when I started messing with some settings on nvidia or whatever It was to fix my usage, the problem happened again with madden so now I'm sub 100fps on madden21 too with low gpu and cpu usage

So here is the final issue, I don't know why my GPU and CPU usages are so low when playing warzone, madden 21, squad and others ?

Please help. I just got this card and I really want to play games with high fps and quality FINALLY. I will try my best to respond quick but idk how fast people are to responding to posts.

Temps are good, my GPU goes to around 63c while gaming and my CPU goes upto 80-90c (ik it isn't good but its a stealth AMD cooler so I'm trying to get a better one)

Here are my specs
Ryzen 5 3600 (stock cooler)
3070 gaming x trio
8x2 3600 ram
b450m gaming plus
EVGA 600w BR
 
Solution
I'm not sure why, but this is a common theme I've been seeing over the last several months:
  • OP combines a Ryzen 3600 with a RTX 30xx GPU
  • OP plays Warzone, gets strangely low fps, notes that CPU/GPU usage is low
  • OP tries DDU, toggling different settings, it makes no difference
The common denominator I keep seeing is the Ryzen 3600 CPU. I don't know why, but it doesn't seem to play nice with Warzone. I've never once heard someone on here with an Intel CPU with the same issue.
Verify that your RAM is actually running at 3600 MHz. If it isn't, slow RAM speeds are known to severely slow down a Ryzen CPU, which in turn will then cause your CPU to bottleneck your GPU.

I'm sure your high CPU temperatures aren't doing you any favors either. As you said, you should get a better one.
 

ChickenGandalf

Prominent
Jan 12, 2021
20
1
515
Verify that your RAM is actually running at 3600 MHz. If it isn't, slow RAM speeds are known to severely slow down a Ryzen CPU, which in turn will then cause your CPU to bottleneck your GPU.

I'm sure your high CPU temperatures aren't doing you any favors either. As you said, you should get a better one.
I had turned off gaming mode on my bios and I just turned it on and now I'm getting good FPS on madden but surprisingly still at 60 ish usage for both.

I could care less about madden i'm more worried about warzone because I enjoy playing it but I'm sure it will be the same with gaming mode because I've done it before, I'll update.

My ram is running at it's rate speed and also the temps aren't bad at all on warzone it hovers around 80-86c sometimes going upto 90 but I don't think that's the issue while I'm definitely getting a better cooler. Any other suggestions??
 

ChickenGandalf

Prominent
Jan 12, 2021
20
1
515
Verify that your RAM is actually running at 3600 MHz. If it isn't, slow RAM speeds are known to severely slow down a Ryzen CPU, which in turn will then cause your CPU to bottleneck your GPU.

I'm sure your high CPU temperatures aren't doing you any favors either. As you said, you should get a better one.
So this morning I played madden and took a clip of it and I noticed that my CPU wattage was hover around 63-69w (got 140+fps) and now I'm getting bad FPS again and I check the wattage and it is around 53-58 so could this be the reason?
 
Jan 13, 2021
2
0
10
So this morning I played madden and took a clip of it and I noticed that my CPU wattage was hover around 63-69w (got 140+fps) and now I'm getting bad FPS again and I check the wattage and it is around 53-58 so could this be the reason?
So did you find a fix because I have the exact same problem and I don't know what to do.
 
I'm not sure why, but this is a common theme I've been seeing over the last several months:
  • OP combines a Ryzen 3600 with a RTX 30xx GPU
  • OP plays Warzone, gets strangely low fps, notes that CPU/GPU usage is low
  • OP tries DDU, toggling different settings, it makes no difference
The common denominator I keep seeing is the Ryzen 3600 CPU. I don't know why, but it doesn't seem to play nice with Warzone. I've never once heard someone on here with an Intel CPU with the same issue.
 
Solution

ChickenGandalf

Prominent
Jan 12, 2021
20
1
515
I'm not sure why, but this is a common theme I've been seeing over the last several months:
  • OP combines a Ryzen 3600 with a RTX 30xx GPU
  • OP plays Warzone, gets strangely low fps, notes that CPU/GPU usage is low
  • OP tries DDU, toggling different settings, it makes no difference
The common denominator I keep seeing is the Ryzen 3600 CPU. I don't know why, but it doesn't seem to play nice with Warzone. I've never once heard someone on here with an Intel CPU with the same issue.
Ok, thanks so there’s basically nothing I can do except get a better cpu?
 
Ok, thanks so there’s basically nothing I can do except get a better cpu?

Let me put it this way: if it was me having these problems and nothing else worked, I'd spend the $300 to upgrade to a Ryzen 5600x. Low GPU usage is a sign of something amiss in the rendering pipeline (usually the CPU/RAM) and Ryzen 1600/2600/3600 CPUs have been known to limit fps even without full utilization. I'm guessing its either an IPC issue or some quirk inherent in their architectures.
 

ChickenGandalf

Prominent
Jan 12, 2021
20
1
515
Let me put it this way: if it was me having these problems and nothing else worked, I'd spend the $300 to upgrade to a Ryzen 5600x. Low GPU usage is a sign of something amiss in the rendering pipeline (usually the CPU/RAM) and Ryzen 1600/2600/3600 CPUs have been known to limit fps even without full utilization. I'm guessing its either an IPC issue or some quirk inherent in their architectures.
Thanks I appreciate the response. Last thing, why’s an IPC issue?
 
Thanks I appreciate the response. Last thing, why’s an IPC issue?

IPC stands for instructions per clock. Newer CPUs can be made faster than older ones even if they run at the same clock speeds and have the same number of cores and threads. Why? Because newer CPUs sometimes/oftentimes come with architectural or process node improvements that allow more instructions to occur per CPU clock cycle, allowing better performance with the same clock speeds.

When comparing the Ryzen 3600 with a Ryzen 5600x, not only does the Ryzen 5600x have higher clock speeds to begin with, but its architecture has been redesigned to reduce internal latency and improve single-core performance. As a result, the 5600x has significantly higher throughput and is much better than the 3600 at cranking out high refresh rates.
 

ChickenGandalf

Prominent
Jan 12, 2021
20
1
515
IPC stands for instructions per clock. Newer CPUs can be made faster than older ones even if they run at the same clock speeds and have the same number of cores and threads. Why? Because newer CPUs sometimes/oftentimes come with architectural or process node improvements that allow more instructions to occur per CPU clock cycle, allowing better performance with the same clock speeds.

When comparing the Ryzen 3600 with a Ryzen 5600x, not only does the Ryzen 5600x have higher clock speeds to begin with, but its architecture has been redesigned to reduce internal latency and improve single-core performance. As a result, the 5600x has significantly higher throughput and is much better than the 3600 at cranking out high refresh rates.
Thanks, I guess I need to upgrade my PSU too right?
 
Thanks, I guess I need to upgrade my PSU too right?

Well, it wouldn't hurt, but that's more due to your RTX 3070 (RTX 30xx GPUs are known to have large power draw spikes that can cause issues if the PSU is below the recommended wattage).

The Ryzen 3600 and 5600x both have the same TDP and since they are both 6 core / 12 thread parts on a 7 nm process node, I doubt that there is very much difference in power draw between the two (although probably a little bit due to the higher boost clocks on the 5600x). But if you can afford it, it wouldn't hurt to step up to a high-quality 750 watt PSU from Corsair or Seasonic.
 
Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and I've seen others posting the same thing but I feel like my case is different.

So, I had a 1660super before this and I was relatively happy but I found a deal for 3070 and I just couldn't not get it. Plugged it in everything was fine and working how they should, I started playing Warzone and that's where I found my problem.

I had realized that my fps was quite low for a 3070 and compared to a "benchmark" video that uses the combo to test out games and I should be getting around 130-140fps and what i got was 90-100 on all high settings 1080p

So I began researching, long story short I've seen a lot of "driver" issues or just the game not being optimized and I wanted to leave it at that but again, the video I saw had it at 130 fps at 1080p max settings so why aren't I getting the same?

I started up afterburner and I noticed that the guy I watched on youtube had his CPU at 4100mhz while mine was capped at 3900 so I overclocked my cpu to reach 41mhz just to see if I would get the same performance but I still got the same 100fps. Next thing I noticed was that both my cpu and gpu usage was sub 60%. That's when I realized what's going on. The video I watched had the GPU at almost 100% at 1440p and cpu at 60-70% and I wasn't getting anywhere near that.

One last thing that might help, the other day I had over 140+fps on madden 21 and when I started messing with some settings on nvidia or whatever It was to fix my usage, the problem happened again with madden so now I'm sub 100fps on madden21 too with low gpu and cpu usage

So here is the final issue, I don't know why my GPU and CPU usages are so low when playing warzone, madden 21, squad and others ?

Please help. I just got this card and I really want to play games with high fps and quality FINALLY. I will try my best to respond quick but idk how fast people are to responding to posts.

Temps are good, my GPU goes to around 63c while gaming and my CPU goes upto 80-90c (ik it isn't good but its a stealth AMD cooler so I'm trying to get a better one)

Here are my specs
Ryzen 5 3600 (stock cooler)
3070 gaming x trio
8x2 3600 ram
b450m gaming plus
EVGA 600w BR
I have a similar system to you. Same CPU and graphics card at least. I can run benchmarks for comparison if you like although I don't have the games you mention.
 

Kona45primo

Honorable
Jan 16, 2021
523
143
9,890
Have any friends close by with gaming PC's? If they can connect their pc 12v cables to your gpu that should test the under powered power supply theory. Looks like the 3070 is pulling 100+ more watts than the 1660.
 

ChickenGandalf

Prominent
Jan 12, 2021
20
1
515
Have any friends close by with gaming PC's? If they can connect their pc 12v cables to your gpu that should test the under powered power supply theory. Looks like the 3070 is pulling 100+ more watts than the 1660.
I believe I fixed it, my cpu was thermal throttling. I got a 212 EVO and now i’m running 130-150 fps on warzone.