[SOLVED] MSI Afterburner limiting specs

Nov 28, 2021
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Hey guys!
I've been dealing with low hardware usage lately, and I think I've finally found the issue.
My specs are the following:
-1070ti
-32gb ram
-ryzen 5 1600x

I noticed today that when I open the MSI Afterburner, and in it the hardware monitor, I can see weird limitations:
View: https://imgur.com/a/nZlryLn

On the pictures you can see that for example gpu temp is limited to 57 (doesn't go any higher, even if the PC is under stress)(GPU temp limit is around 85 degrees in afterburner, not around 60), similarly to the CPU, it's around the same value, both have low usage.
One more interesting thing is that MSI afterburner only seems to recognize 16 gb ram, instead of 32, since the absolute max value is around 16 gbs.
Is there any way to remove these limitations and increase hardware usage? It sucks playing 10 year old games at 60 fps sometimes (prime example is csgo on bigger maps, deathmatch, casual etc.)
 
Solution
There's no real limitations pictured, and you haven't found anything - yet.

On the pictures you can see that for example gpu temp is limited to 57 (doesn't go any higher, even if the PC is under stress)(GPU temp limit is around 85 degrees in afterburner, not around 60), similarly to the CPU, it's around the same value, both have low usage.
That 57C is simply the highest recorded temperature on the gpu core. Afterburner can only put down what it sees.
You can use Gpu-Z if you believe Afterburner is lying.

One more interesting thing is that MSI afterburner only seems to recognize 16 gb ram, instead of 32, since the absolute max value is around 16 gbs.
You have to manually change that one to 32,768 from the default 16,384...

Phaaze88

Titan
Ambassador
There's no real limitations pictured, and you haven't found anything - yet.

On the pictures you can see that for example gpu temp is limited to 57 (doesn't go any higher, even if the PC is under stress)(GPU temp limit is around 85 degrees in afterburner, not around 60), similarly to the CPU, it's around the same value, both have low usage.
That 57C is simply the highest recorded temperature on the gpu core. Afterburner can only put down what it sees.
You can use Gpu-Z if you believe Afterburner is lying.

One more interesting thing is that MSI afterburner only seems to recognize 16 gb ram, instead of 32, since the absolute max value is around 16 gbs.
You have to manually change that one to 32,768 from the default 16,384 in monitoring settings. It does not auto-detect and update ram above 16GBs.
 
Solution
Nov 28, 2021
5
0
10
That 57C is simply the highest recorded temperature on the gpu core. Afterburner can only put down what it sees.
You can use Gpu-Z if you believe Afterburner is lying.
Figured as much when I was creating the post, just wasn't sure.
You have to manually change that one to 32,768 from the default 16,384 in monitoring settings. It does not auto-detect and update ram above 16GBs.
Done. Cheers!

On an additional note, do you have any idea why my PC wouldn't get more than 40% usage on both the GPU and CPU in games such as CSGO(as mentioned), Rust, EFT etc.?
It's really frustrating, I've done everything I could. I upgraded my RAM, bought a stable PSU, cleaned my PC, installed drivers, etc. yet the problem still stands
 

Phaaze88

Titan
Ambassador
No idea. I could only guess/speculate a few things.
-high disk activity.
-a single cpu thread is maxing out.
-running outdated Windows drivers/keys/registries from an older system. In other words, the C drive was carried over, but it was not completely wiped and the OS reinstalled via a pendrive or other.
-Xbox game bar and game mode aren't disabled.
-cpu thermal throttling.


CSGO is largely single thread bound, it'll never see very high multi-thread cpu activity. Don't know about those other 2.
 
Nov 28, 2021
5
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No idea. I could only guess/speculate a few things.
-high disk activity.
-a single cpu thread is maxing out.
-running outdated Windows drivers/keys/registries from an older system. In other words, the C drive was carried over, but it was not completely wiped and the OS reinstalled via a pendrive or other.
-Xbox game bar and game mode aren't disabled.
-cpu thermal throttling.


CSGO is largely single thread bound, it'll never see very high multi-thread cpu activity. Don't know about those other 2.
CPU Thermal Throttling shouldn't be an issue, since the average CPU temperature is about 60 degrees. Single CPU thread maxing out is most likely the problem, which sucks, considering I can't run fairly older games. Could you elaborate further what high disk activity means?
 

Phaaze88

Titan
Ambassador
You know how cpu core usage works? It's sorta the same thing, but with storage.
When:
-it's full, or within 80% full
-its ram cache fills up
It's slows down. The game needs to access its own files from time to time. It's even more frequent with always online games.
 
Nov 28, 2021
5
0
10
You know how cpu core usage works? It's sorta the same thing, but with storage.
When:
-it's full, or within 80% full
-its ram cache fills up
It's slows down. The game needs to access its own files from time to time. It's even more frequent with always online games.
I've cleared up some of the useless stuff, hopefully that helps a bit. Thanks for your help!