My 3570k is bottlenecking my 1070 quite badly, should it?

[Snostorm8]

I have a 3570k, only Oc'd to 3.8 and recently bought a 1070, however in almost every game i've tested the GPU usage sits at around 60% while my CPU is at 100%. Is there something worng with my system or is my CPU just really not up to the task?
No extra processes either

 

[bhupeshm]

Try restoring the cpu to optimised defaults and then save the bios settings and start again and check if the problem still persists?

 

[13thmonkey]

what resolution, what framerates? I'm surprised. Is it actually 100% or running 95%-100% Check what processes you have running.

 

[Snostorm8]

1080p witcher 3 is 60-70 fps on high, Rise of the tomb raider, 50 fps high, battlefield 1 is 60 medium. No dif in lowering settings

and its 100% all the time when in any game, nothing else open, i've tried reducing my processes aswell

 

[Snostorm8]

Try restoring the cpu to optimised defaults and then save the bios settings and start again and check if the problem still persists?

how would i do that?
Thanks

 

[13thmonkey]

That's not normal, pegged at 100%. Something else is using those cycles.

 

[photonboy]

1) BIOS-> set CPU to default, and enable XMP then save

You can SKIP this if you want. I just like to set things to default when testing.

2) CPU diagnostic-> https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool

3) If passes, run again with Task Manager (right-click Start)-> Performance-> CPU enabled (show all four graphs to confirm all four cores are running).

You should see the CPU ramp up to roughly 3.6GHz under full load by default. Slightly higher if your CPU is 3.8GHz at all times (not sure how you overclocked)

4) If that's fine (and I suspect it will be) then you can try to clean install the video drivers:

a) Download the latest NVidia drivers, then
b) DDU-> http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html
c) then start to install the NVidia drivers but choose "custom-> clean" install path to reset any lingering settings

5) run Unigine Valley benchmark. Should see:
a) near 100% GPU utilization, and
b) can compare SCORE (must use the EXACT same settings you find elsewhere)
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2016/06/21/asus-geforce-gtx-1070-strix-review/10

Asus Strix version got a score of 6613 for these settings:
- 1920x1080
- ULTRA
- no AA

If getting within 5% or so for GTX1070 at same frequency your hardware is working fine likely.

 

[Snostorm8]

That's not normal, pegged at 100%. Something else is using those cycles.

do you have any idea how i'd try and find what is using it? I've been using afterburner and task manager to check usage and processes, the game process always hit 95% plus. the other 5% is background windows processes

 

[bhupeshm]

Try restoring the cpu to optimised defaults and then save the bios settings and start again and check if the problem still persists?

how would i do that?
Thanks

Just go to your bios settings and based on your bios it should be inside in save and exit place.

 

[photonboy]

That's not normal, pegged at 100%. Something else is using those cycles.

do you have any idea how i'd try and find what is using it? I've been using afterburner and task manager to check usage and processes, the game process always hit 95% plus. the other 5% is background windows processes

??
That's very strange. If true it seems like your CPU clock is far too low, or you aren't running all four cores.

 

[Snostorm8]

1) BIOS-> set CPU to default, and enable XMP then save

You can SKIP this if you want. I just like to set things to default when testing.

2) CPU diagnostic-> https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool

3) If passes, run again with Task Manager (right-click Start)-> Performance-> CPU enabled (show all four graphs to confirm all four cores are running).

You should see the CPU ramp up to roughly 3.6GHz under full load by default. Slightly higher if your CPU is 3.8GHz at all times (not sure how you overclocked)

4) If that's fine (and I suspect it will be) then you can try to clean install the video drivers:

a) Download the latest NVidia drivers, then
b) DDU-> http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html
c) then start to install the NVidia drivers but choose "custom-> clean" install path to reset any lingering settings

5) run Unigine Valley benchmark. Should see:
a) near 100% GPU utilization, and
b) can compare SCORE (must use the EXACT same settings you find elsewhere)
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2016/06/21/asus-geforce-gtx-1070-strix-review/10

Asus Strix version got a score of 6613 for these settings:
- 1920x1080
- ULTRA
- no AA

If getting within 5% or so for GTX1070 at same frequency your hardware is working fine likely.

did that diagnostic, and it reduced my cpu speed down to 3.37GHz, not sure why?
But it passed, will try the benchmark next
Also all 4 cores are being used

 

[13thmonkey]

unselected.
you do have a z-mobo?
Photonboy's process above is good.

 

[Snostorm8]

1) BIOS-> set CPU to default, and enable XMP then save

You can SKIP this if you want. I just like to set things to default when testing.

2) CPU diagnostic-> https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool

3) If passes, run again with Task Manager (right-click Start)-> Performance-> CPU enabled (show all four graphs to confirm all four cores are running).

You should see the CPU ramp up to roughly 3.6GHz under full load by default. Slightly higher if your CPU is 3.8GHz at all times (not sure how you overclocked)

4) If that's fine (and I suspect it will be) then you can try to clean install the video drivers:

a) Download the latest NVidia drivers, then
b) DDU-> http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html
c) then start to install the NVidia drivers but choose "custom-> clean" install path to reset any lingering settings

5) run Unigine Valley benchmark. Should see:
a) near 100% GPU utilization, and
b) can compare SCORE (must use the EXACT same settings you find elsewhere)
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2016/06/21/asus-geforce-gtx-1070-strix-review/10

Asus Strix version got a score of 6613 for these settings:
- 1920x1080
- ULTRA
- no AA

If getting within 5% or so for GTX1070 at same frequency your hardware is working fine likely.

ok, so did the benchmark, 4068 and GPU got to a max of 81% usage, which is not the 100% you said i should get :/
monkey my motherboard is a ASUS P8Z77-V LK Intel Z77

 

[13thmonkey]

can you run cpu-z /coretemp at the same time and tell us the temps and actual clock speeds.

Theory is that it is not clocking up to what you have set it to.

 

[Snostorm8]

can you run cpu-z /coretemp at the same time and tell us the temps and actual clock speeds.

Theory is that it is not clocking up to what you have set it to.

cpu temps were around 60C and clocks were all at 3799.8 MHz

Did the benchmark again and got 4084 does this mean its not my CPU that is bottlenecking but something is wrong with my GPU?
I did a complete clean install of drivers aswell :/

 

[13thmonkey]

So the new score is with a faster CPU clock speed?

 

[Snostorm8]

So the new score is with a faster CPU clock speed?

no CPU speed has remained unchanged, doesn't Valley not use the CPU though?

 

[13thmonkey]

I've just a bit of uniengine heaven and that uses about 90% of my 3570k @4.3 So yes it does.

The test now is to go back to your OC'd settings and see if the score increases.

 

[Snostorm8]

I've just a bit of uniengine heaven and that uses about 90% of my 3570k @4.3 So yes it does.

The test now is to go back to your OC'd settings and see if the score increases.

my overclock is still on, after a reboot it went back up, the 4000 score was at 3.8Ghz, can't really OC more as it then gets unstable.
Im completely at a loss, everything and everyone says i shouldn't have a bottleneck and yet i just can't seem to get my gpu usage high :/

 

[bhupeshm]

Did you try setting the bios on optimized defaults and checking it thereafter?

 

[13thmonkey]

I've just a bit of uniengine heaven and that uses about 90% of my 3570k @4.3 So yes it does.

The test now is to go back to your OC'd settings and see if the score increases.

my overclock is still on, after a reboot it went back up, the 4000 score was at 3.8Ghz, can't really OC more as it then gets unstable.
Im completely at a loss, everything and everyone says i shouldn't have a bottleneck and yet i just can't seem to get my gpu usage high :/

And what score with no OC, i.e. default CPU.

 

[Snostorm8]

Had to go to work so will set the optimised settings once I'm back and will re rum the benchmark once the PC is off

 

[hdgaming]

Did you check if your anti virus isnt scanning your pc?

 

[photonboy]

1) Verify minimal CPU load before starting Unigine Valley (under 10% usage). TM-> Performance-> CPU

2) Intel Diagnostic always sets the CPU back to default settings. You have to REBOOT to go back to any modified settings.

3) *Unigine Valley. I really don't think the CPU should be bottlenecking the GPU by that much.

UPDATE:
First, I have an i7-3770K + GTX680 but I can still make some predictions:

1) MSI Afterburner
- click the gear icon for settings
- under "monitoring" click "show in on-screen display" for:
a) GPU usage
b) Core clock (GPU frequency)
c) CPU1-CPU4 frequency
d) CPU1-CPU4 usage

2) Unigine Valley benchmark results for - custom, DX11, Ultra, 1920x1080, 0xAA (must use EXACT same settings if comparing results)

a) 82.3FPS average, 3400 score, min 33FPS, max 156FPS (GTX1070 seems to get almost exactly 2X the perf for this benchmark though higher in most games)
b) GPU usage at 99% most of the time
c) also, my CPU usage wasn't really high. Obviously yours would be higher, but even when I disabled hyperthreading to simulate an i5-3570K (at 4.2GHz) my CPU usage was about 30% (average of all four physical cores with HT disabled), but each core was varying quite a bit.

I really don't think you should be using 90% CPU usage even with a GTX1070 since the CPU usage should be at most 2X that of mine due to the score differences. That's why I wanted to monitor your CPU frequency for each core to see if it's running low.

*Make sure you're looking at the CPU average, not the result of just one of the cores.

Hopefully retesting while monitoring shows something useful, but the problem appears to boil down to:

**One last thing.. the GPU frequency in the upper right is not correct on my system in the Valley benchmark though the MSI Afterburner value is correct. I think GPU usage reflects how often the GPU is sitting idle waiting for data to process and not the GPU frequency which should stay near the top at all times.

If 80% usage that means the FPS should be 25% higher if 100% usage.

(If I didn't mention already, at my settings other GTX1070's got an FPS average of 161FPS which is why I said at least 150FPS is what you should get)

 

[Snostorm8]

1) Verify minimal CPU load before starting Unigine Valley (under 10% usage). TM-> Performance-> CPU

2) Intel Diagnostic always sets the CPU back to default settings. You have to REBOOT to go back to any modified settings.

3) *Unigine Valley. I really don't think the CPU should be bottlenecking the GPU by that much.

UPDATE:
First, I have an i7-3770K + GTX680 but I can still make some predictions:

1) MSI Afterburner
- click the gear icon for settings
- under "monitoring" click "show in on-screen display" for:
a) GPU usage
b) Core clock (GPU frequency)
c) CPU1-CPU4 frequency
d) CPU1-CPU4 usage

2) Unigine Valley benchmark results for - custom, DX11, Ultra, 1920x1080, 0xAA (must use EXACT same settings if comparing results)

a) 82.3FPS average, 3400 score, min 33FPS, max 156FPS (GTX1070 seems to get almost exactly 2X the perf for this benchmark though higher in most games)
b) GPU usage at 99% most of the time
c) also, my CPU usage wasn't really high. Obviously yours would be higher, but even when I disabled hyperthreading to simulate an i5-3570K (at 4.2GHz) my CPU usage was about 30% (average of all four physical cores with HT disabled), but each core was varying quite a bit.

I really don't think you should be using 90% CPU usage even with a GTX1070 since the CPU usage should be at most 2X that of mine due to the score differences. That's why I wanted to monitor your CPU frequency for each core to see if it's running low.

*Make sure you're looking at the CPU average, not the result of just one of the cores.

Hopefully retesting while monitoring shows something useful, but the problem appears to boil down to:

**One last thing.. the GPU frequency in the upper right is not correct on my system in the Valley benchmark though the MSI Afterburner value is correct. I think GPU usage reflects how often the GPU is sitting idle waiting for data to process and not the GPU frequency which should stay near the top at all times.

If 80% usage that means the FPS should be 25% higher if 100% usage.

(If I didn't mention already, at my settings other GTX1070's got an FPS average of 161FPS which is why I said at least 150FPS is what you should get)

So did another test using those settings on the on screen display
GPU usage, averaged 68%
CPU 1 Usage Averaged 71%
CPU 2 Averaged 33%
CPU 3 Averaged 23%
CPU 4 Averaged 20%
CPU Total Averaged 45%
Score of 4064
Min Fps 33.4
Max FPS 142.6

Is this any help?

BTW thank you so much for all your help with this

bhupeshm tried that and had no affect on usage 🙁