My iGPU is being used instead of the GPU

[ErikasLTU]

first of all my specs:
CPU: Intel i5-6600k
RAM: 2x4GB DDR4 2400mhz
Graphics card: Radeon RX480 Sapphire 8GB
Motherboard: ASUS H110M-K
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212X
Power Supply: EVGA 600w +80 Silver
1TB hard drive
--------------------------------------------------------
My RX 480 is being ignored and instead my system uses my iGPU. When I play a game my GPU is being only used by around 20% and when I'm not gaming the GPU seems to be used more. I only get 25-35fps in my games while I should be getting over 60fps. I looked up many solutions and I think the problem is my monitor. My VGA plug is connected to my motherboard and my HDMI is connected to my GPU. I heard that you need to connect the VGA plug into the GPU but my GPU doesn't have a VGA port. Should I order a DP to VGA adapter and that should fix my fps? Or is there a different problem? Thanks.

 

[henry28]

did you plug the output from the graphics card or the motherboard?

 

[henry28]

sorry, try to remove the vga from the motherboard and just have an output from the graphics card

 

[ErikasLTU]

Yes I did.

 

[ErikasLTU]

Alright so I'll order a Display Port to VGA adapter then?

 

[k1114]

If the monitor connected to the 480 is set as main in windows then your igpu is not being used for games. Windows doesn't switch and all gpu acceleration, even on the other monitor, is still done by the main gpu. Did you even check igpu usage? Gpuz and msi afterburner will show it. I'm sure it's not using it for games and the issue is something else. You should check clocks and usage of all components.

 

[ErikasLTU]

I already tested the GPU and memory clocks, no luck.
All my results are on another page
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3288787/system-stressing-gpu-memory-clock.html

 

[k1114]

Furmark even says it's using the igpu so is the monitor connected to 480 set as main?

 

[ErikasLTU]

The 480 has no VGA port, it has a HDMI port and 3 display ports. I plugged my VGA(Monitor) to my motherboard. That is why I'm asking if getting a DP to VGA adapter would be the solution to this problem. Thanks for your attention.

 

[k1114]

I am confused because you said "my HDMI is connected to my GPU." If you only have 1 monitor, it has to be connected to the gpu to use the gpu. So connecting it to the igpu uses the igpu. An adapter would work if that's the only monitor you have but it's not clear since you mentioned 2 connected, as in 2 monitors.

 

[ErikasLTU]

Sorry for the confusion. I mean't that I have 1 monitor (27'' BENQ 60hz) and I connected my HDMI cable from my monitor to my RX 480 HDMI port. And since my RX 480 had no VGA port then I had to connect my VGA from my monitor to my motherboards VGA port.

 

[k1114]

That's still not making sense. You have 2 cables connected to 1 monitor? You only need 1. Remove the vga and keep the hdmi.

 

[ErikasLTU]

I removed the VGA and kept the HMDI. Now I turn on my pc and the screen is black and nothings coming up but the pc is working.

 

[k1114]

Make sure the monitor is set to hdmi input. You may just need to reset cmos. Unplug the pc, take out the battery for a few minutes and press the power button. Put everything back and power up.

 

[ErikasLTU]

Alright it's working. Thank you very much! But my GPU and memory clocks are still stuck on 300Mhz..

 

[k1114]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from ErikasLTU : "My system isn't stressing my GPU and memory clock."

My build that I built recently:
CPU: Intel i5-6600k
RAM: 2x4GB DDR4 2400mhz
Graphics card: Radeon RX480 Sapphire 8GB
Motherboard: ASUS H110M-K
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212X
Power Supply: EVGA 600w +80 Silver
1TB hard drive
--------------------------------
Alright so I've tested many games and I see that my GPU's clock and gpu's memory clock is stuck at the same speed as being idle. The CPU isn't the problem it's something up with the GPU. Here's the result image of a game that I played for 20 minutes:
https://postimg.org/image/4316hp6vd/
I only get around 25-35 fps. I went on to Game Debate to see if my rig can handle the game and it shown that I can run this game on high settings 1080p with no problem, while I can barely reach 30 fps on Medium 720p. My average GPU clock has to be 1266Mhz while I'm only getting 300Mhz.
------------
Side notes:
-I've updated my drivers and BIOS
-I tried overclocking and it didn't help
-GPU temperature didn't raise at all (was 26C, 27C after 20 minutes of playing)
-------------
More info images:
https://postimg.org/image/khjxmajgz/
https://postimg.org/image/c70p07vpt/
After GPU-z stress test:
https://postimg.org/image/uauuwk7ah/

My build that I built recently:
CPU: Intel i5-6600k
RAM: 2x4GB DDR4 2400mhz
Graphics card: Radeon RX480 Sapphire 8GB
Motherboard: ASUS H110M-K
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212X
Power Supply: EVGA 600w +80 Silver
1TB hard drive
--------------------------------
Alright so I've tested many games and I see that my GPU's clock and gpu's memory clock is stuck at the same speed as being idle. The CPU isn't the problem it's something up with the GPU. Here's the result image of a game that I played for 20 minutes:
https://postimg.org/image/4316hp6vd/
I only get around 25-35 fps. I went on to Game Debate to see if my rig can handle the game and it shown that I can run this game on high settings 1080p with no problem, while I can barely reach 30 fps on Medium 720p. My average GPU clock has to be 1266Mhz while I'm only getting 300Mhz.
------------
Side notes:
-I've updated my drivers and BIOS
-I tried overclocking and it didn't help
-GPU temperature didn't raise at all (was 26C, 27C after 20 minutes of playing)
-------------
More info images:
https://postimg.org/image/khjxmajgz/
https://postimg.org/image/c70p07vpt/
After GPU-z stress test:
https://postimg.org/image/uauuwk7ah/

By any chance do you actually have the monitor hooked up to the display outputs on the mainboard instead of the graphics card? That might explain why your graphics card isn't being stressed - the iGPU is the one handling the load.

Yeah I have the VGA hooked up from the monitor to the mainboard and HDMI from my graphics card to my monitor.
Do I disable iGPU how is there a way to switch to make the rx480 being stressed not the iGPU? Thanks.
My motherboard dosen't have a HDMI port but my GPU has, but the GPU dosen't have a VGA port, is this a problem?
Since my rx480 doesn't have a VGA port, should I order a Display port to VGA adaptor and try see if it fixes the problem?

 

[k1114]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from ErikasLTU : "I am not getting the right FPS that I should get ..."

I just built a rig the specs are:
CPU: Intel i5-6600k
RAM: 2x4GB DDR4 2400mhz
Graphics card: Radeon RX480 Sapphire 8GB
Motherboard: ASUS H110M-K
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212X
Power Supply: EVGA 600w +80 Silver
1TB hard drive
--------------------
I've tested multiple games and I didn't get the FPS that I was expecting. For example 'Dying Light' I should be getting around 70fps on 1080p maximum graphics and I'm getting around 30 fps on low graphics 720p. I've updated my drivers, bios and I set my power to high performance and it didn't help. Any advice? Thanks.

latest motherboard bios? Dont test on low as that shifts GPU to your CPU for a few settings. Check your CPU temps while stressing your CPU. Could be you had a bad thermal paste air pocket and your CPU is throttling. Use prime95 version 26.6 and speedfan to watch temps.
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/H110M-K/HelpDesk_Download/
http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=15504
http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

Yes I have the latest bios installed. The thermal paste I used was the one that was included with the CPU cooler. I just played the game for 20 minutes on high graphics and here are the results: CPU load: 45%, RAM load: around 80%, CPU temperature: 29C, GPU temperature: 26C, FPS: 24-35~.

So basically your games aren't pushing your system at all. Does prime95 get your CPU near 100%? Also try furmark to see if you gpu is working right. If both are operating correctly then could be some game settings. Seperate possible causes also use cpuz and gpuz to see if they are running at correct speeds.
http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

You could try reinstall the GPU driver. Uninstall in control panel and use DDU to remove all configs. Then download the newest version from AMD and reinstall. Be sure to download again just to make sure the drivers wasn't corrupt.
http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html
http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

I just built a rig the specs are:
CPU: Intel i5-6600k
RAM: DDR4 8GB 2400mhz
Graphics card: Radeon RX480 Sapphire 8GB
Motherboard: ASUS H110M-K
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212X
Power Supply: EVGA 600w +80 Silver
1TB hard drive
--------------------
I've tested multiple games and I didn't get the FPS that I was expecting. For example 'Dying Light' I should be getting around 70fps on 1080p maximum graphics and I'm getting around 30 fps on low graphics 720p. I've updated my drivers, bios and I set my power to high performance and it didn't help. Any advice? Thanks.

One oddity I can see is RAM: DDR4 8GB 2400mhz. Is that one module or two? Dual channel? Two sticks. But that wouldn't account for a 50% performance hit if you only have one module.

The second oddity I see is "GPU temperature: 26C, FPS: 24-35~". 26C is relatively frigid which a GPU under load while gaming. If I were gaming with a very cold ambient temp like I had when I took this screenshot

I might expect a a 26-35C temperature spread but at normal room temperature those numbers are umm, well, odd.

How did you come to those FPS conclusions? I'd go to youtube and look for a similar setup.BUT if you only have one module that'll of course skew any comparison.

Alright I ran the CPU and GPU stress test. The CPU tests were successful but there's something wrong with the GPU, I ran the stress test with FurMark. I ran the test for 10 minutes on 1080p. I was getting 7-9 fps and the GPU's temperature stayed the same the whole time (26C) rarely it went up to 27C. The GPU fan didn't even speed up nor the temperature raised.
I know 26C is quite cold it's probably because I'm in a cold room and I have 4 fans inside the PC case.
Update:
I noticed when playing games that my GPU and memory clock stay at 300Mhz when in game. Rarely the GPU clock spikes up to 370Mhz and then comes back down to 300Mhz.
Here's an Image of me using GPU-z and tracking my results.
https://postimg.org/image/4316hp6vd/

This may be a dumb thing to ask but have you made sure the games settings are set to higher than 30 FPS? A lot of games, especially ports from consoles to PC, are locked at either 30 or 60 FPS. Some games have a setting that lets you change the maximum FPS or remove the limit altogether (though whenever I do this the game still seems to lock at 60 FPS).

Another thing I'd recommend is going to the Steam Discussion for the particular game and see if anyone else has the same FPS issues. I just bought Home Front: The Revolution and no matter what I did I couldn't get more than 30 FPS on an i5 6600k/GTX 1070/16 GB RAM system. Doing some digging on the Steam discussion page for the game I discovered there was one setting (can't remember what it was) that if you turn it down or disable it completely it made the FPS shoot up to a tolerable 60.

But yeah, before investigating your rig it's a good idea to make sure the games PC optimization is up to par which sadly isn't usually the case and needs the user to make adjustments. Also try testing other games that don't have native limitations to the FPS. If you have a game like the Witcher 3 or Skyrim SE try running them on max settings and see what the FPS are; I'm pretty sure neither have an FPS limit and should work as a quick benchmark.

Reinstall drivers following my suggestion above using DDU. If that doesn't work reseat the GPU and check your PCIE power plug connection. To reseat the card pull it out and put it back in. This cleans the PCIE slot connectors of dust that may cause single weakness. Try resetting your motherboard bios and possibly if the card allows reset its bios if its dual. To reset the bios on the GPU it should have a button near the crossfire connection.

 

[k1114]

Does furmark say your 480 is being used?

 

[ErikasLTU]

OMG! It finnaly works!!! thank you thank you thank you! You are the best!!!