New GTX 970 appearing to bottleneck my i5 3570k?

[Eesaws]

Hey all,

I just bought a new graphics card (a Zotac GTX 970) and it appears to be bottlenecking my old i5 3570k.

I decided to check the GPU and CPU usages on my system as the benchmarks didn't seem improved from my previous video card (GTX 660 Ti), even though this card should be drastically better.

The GPU usage on my system seems to be fine (99% usage) but the CPU usage is only 67%.

I haven't found a cause for this issue; I've ran multiple benchmarks using 3DMark as well as playing high-end games, and my GPU just doesn't seem to be performing at it's best.

If any one has a reason for this supposed bottleneck, and possibly even a fix, I'd really appreciate it.

Cheers.

 

[bimbaws]

Do you have installed latest driver for your GPU?

 

[Eesaws]

Yes, I have the latest GeForce Game Ready Driver version 347.09.
I tried uninstalling all of the previous drivers, but that didn't make a difference.

 

[bimbaws]

http://www.davescomputertips.com/how-to-determine-gpu-vs-cpu-bottlenecks-and-possible-solutions/ hope this will help

 

[babernet_1]

Sometimes you need to install the latest driver for the motherboard too.

 

[Eesaws]

Hey again,
I updated my motherboard's chipset, along with the BIOS. There is an improvement of 1-2 fps, but CPU usage % is still low, averaging at about 65%.
'If lowering the graphics settings has no effect on frame rates, then the bottleneck is your CPU' - I read this on that link, @bimbaws, and this only occurs on Arma 3.

Anyway, thank you guys for the help - I really appreciate it. Although the problem is not fixed yet, and I've tried the things you guys have sent, I'll still be on the lookout for causes of this.

Cheers.

 

[dominirican3351]

WHy do you say that it is bottlenecking your gpu, just because cpu isn't at 100 doesn't mean its a bottleneck. What are you fps when playing and what settings and resolution are you playing at

 

[Eesaws]

I never said it is bottlenecking my GPU, I said that it is appearing to bottleneck it.

Anyway, let's take Arma 3 for example. I play on 1920x1080 at ultra settings and get around 30fps - although this is decent as Arma 3 is poorly optimised and is notorious for the lack of frames. On Far Cry 4 at max settings (Nvidia) I get around 40fps, which doesn't seem very good for one of the best GPUs on the market.

 

[mamba238]

I never said it is bottlenecking my GPU, I said that it is appearing to bottleneck it.

Anyway, let's take Arma 3 for example. I play on 1920x1080 at ultra settings and get around 30fps - although this is decent as Arma 3 is poorly optimised and is notorious for the lack of frames. On Far Cry 4 at max settings (Nvidia) I get around 40fps, which doesn't seem very good for one of the best GPUs on the market.

That is extremely odd, I too have an Intel i5-3570K & a 970 (Gigabyte G1 Gaming). I also played Far Cry 4 and I have FPS between 60-85(Max Settings), without overclocking. So, it may be another hardware issue, memory, PSU, or can be a faulty GPU. I hope you resolve this, take care buddy.