My cpu usage goes up when I lower settings in games?

[DanGaming]

I have a huge problem! I notice in AC Syndicate my cpu stays at 100% usage all the time! And when i increase the settings it goes down? That is the strangest thing Ive ever seen! When the cpu is at 100% usage I get screen freezes for a second, from time to time!... also if I try to record gameplay... when i playback the video its stuttering non stop! And the only way to get the cpu usage to drop to like 80-90% usage is to increase the settings in-game - which then makes the game run with a lot less FPS ! Am I forced to play all games with 40 fps or what?

My PC is: i5 4460 , gtx 970 , 8gb ram, 1tb hdd, 120gb ssd, supernova 750w g2 psu, z97 mobo!

Please guys help me... im really worried atm ;/

Thank you !

 

[ingtar33]

that's not strange at all.

when you lower settings the bottleneck shifts from the gpu to the cpu, when you raise settings the main bottleneck becomes the gpu.

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... have you disabled "core parking"?... disable it... Youtube it.
Check your Windows Power Settings for limit settings.

 

[DanGaming]

that's not strange at all.

when you lower settings the bottleneck shifts from the gpu to the cpu, when you raise settings the main bottleneck becomes the gpu.

What do i do then? how to balance the bottleneck or what? Idk .. also i remember 2 days ago when i was playing crysis 3 .. i was getting stuttering with FXAA ... and with freakin MSAAx8 i was gettin no stuttering!!! i was getting less frames with the msaax8 but no stutter ... maybe it was the cpu thing with that game too .. help me senpai 😀

 

[ingtar33]

that's because graphic drivers are pretty good at evening out stuttering when the gpu is under load, but they do nothing for CPU bottleneck stuttering.

as for what you can do. you'll probably have to lower the graphic settings to boost the FPS up over 60fps, then turn on vsync, that should lower your cpu usage.

 

[DanGaming]

that's because graphic drivers are pretty good at evening out stuttering when the gpu is under load, but they do nothing for CPU bottleneck stuttering.

as for what you can do. you'll probably have to lower the graphic settings to boost the FPS up over 60fps, then turn on vsync, that should lower your cpu usage.

I will try that! But I turned vsync on yesterday but i remember still getting 100% usage .. but im not sure .. ill try it a lil later and ill write ! Thanks ... also .. is there a way to get the cpu usage down .. like the gpu does .. so i dont get such a big bottleneck ? (except the vsync thing which i will try later today) thanks again

 

[ingtar33]

not really. you need to find another bottleneck to lower the cpu usage. unfortunately there really isn't one. unless the game itself is capped with vsync.

 

[king3pj]

Also some games have specific settings that have more impact on CPU than GPU. If you can figure out which settings those are you might just be able to turn those ones down without having to turn everything down.

Some games like Arkham Knight have helpful descriptions of whether a setting depends on your CPU, GPU power, or GPU VRAM. Most do not so it would be up to you to google them and try to figure it out.

I haven't played AC Syndicate so I can't help you there but I know those games have a large number of AI NPCs in the world. That is something that has a big impact on CPU usage. If there is a setting that limits the number of NPCs or limits draw distance so the game doesn't have to keep track of as many of them it might lighten up the strain on your CPU.

In Dying Light there are tons of zombies on screen and this caused a CPU problem for many people. The fix in that game was to limit draw distance.

 

[DanGaming]

Also some games have specific settings that have more impact on CPU than GPU. If you can figure out which settings those are you might just be able to turn those ones down without having to turn everything down.

Some games like Arkham Knight have helpful descriptions of whether a setting depends on your CPU, GPU power, or GPU VRAM. Most do not so it would be up to you to google them and try to figure it out.

I haven't played AC Syndicate so I can't help you there but I know those games have a large number of AI NPCs in the world. That is something that has a big impact on CPU usage. If there is a setting that limits the number of NPCs or limits draw distance so the game doesn't have to keep track of as many of them it might lighten up the strain on your CPU.

In Dying Light there are tons of zombies on screen and this caused a CPU problem for many people. The fix in that game was to limit draw distance.

there is environment quality! which adds stuff and objects in the distance! ill try lowering that

 

[king3pj]

I have a feeling that that may have more impact on the amount of VRAM in use than CPU usage but it's worth trying. If it limits the amount of NPCs in the distance in addition to how far away buildings are drawn it might get the job done.

 

[king3pj]

Also, what are you using to record gameplay? If you are using a software based recorder like FRAPS it makes sense that it would cause problems on a game that is already demanding on your CPU.

Since you have an Nvidia GPU you can use Shadowplay to use the hardware video encoder built into your 970 though. This should have minimal impact on game performance.

 

[gamerk316]

I have a huge problem! I notice in AC Syndicate my cpu stays at 100% usage all the time! And when i increase the settings it goes down? That is the strangest thing Ive ever seen! When the cpu is at 100% usage I get screen freezes for a second, from time to time!... also if I try to record gameplay... when i playback the video its stuttering non stop! And the only way to get the cpu usage to drop to like 80-90% usage is to increase the settings in-game - which then makes the game run with a lot less FPS ! Am I forced to play all games with 40 fps or what?

My PC is: i5 4460 , gtx 970 , 8gb ram, 1tb hdd, 120gb ssd, supernova 750w g2 psu, z97 mobo!

Please guys help me... im really worried atm ;/

Thank you !

Basically, with high graphics settings, most of the time, the CPU is waiting around for the GPU to finish it's job. When you lower graphics settings, the CPU is now faster then the GPU, and will run about as fast as it can go.

 

[DanGaming]

Also, what are you using to record gameplay? If you are using a software based recorder like FRAPS it makes sense that it would cause problems on a game that is already demanding on your CPU.

Since you have an Nvidia GPU you can use Shadowplay to use the hardware video encoder built into your 970 though. This should have minimal impact on game performance.

Of course im using shadow play ... who uses fraps with an nvidia 900 series card 😀 Also enviroment quality adds stuff far away ... like it adds more flowers on a garden for example!