Question Pc using the cpu like there's no tommorow?

[Leviathan8]

heres my specs:
I5 9400f (normal temps)
1660ti (normal temps)
2x8Gb @ 2700hz
1tb HD & 250Gb SSD
using a 1080p Msi monitor @ 165hz (if mentioning has any use)
thing is no matter what game i play, even 2016 games. my pc uses 99% cpu but gpu will hover around 60-70%. as far as i've searched im not supposed to have bottleneck, and my temps are pretty normal (60-70C)
i tried reinstalling graphics drivers and reset everything to normal. i even tried the bitsum performance power plan. but still the same issue. what am i missing?

 

[rgd1101]

cpu temp?
bottleneck is a useless, it is all depend on the game.
are you having real issue?

 

[Joseph_138]

What resolution are you gaming at? Lower resolutions tend to use more CPU, while higher resolutions tend to use more GPU. If your monitor is capable of a higher resolution, try switching to it to see if the load balances out.

 

[CelicaGT]

Every system has a "bottleneck", and what it is it will always depend on what game or application you are running, and what specific settings you are running (if gaming). That is why the term has become mostly irrelevant, it is a moving target even on the same system. If your GPU is reaching target boost, then you are simply CPU bound in the specific game you are playing at the settings you have chosen to play at. This is completely normal. Research the specific title(s), see what other players are saying, investigate forums to find which game settings can maximize your hardware and apply them. There's just too much to explain in one forum post, in regards to what specifically will limit performance on any system on whatever library of titles you play. I expect you'll find that what you are seeing from your system is expected, and normal. 100% utilization is not the holy grail, stop looking at it that way.

 

[Leviathan8]

What resolution are you gaming at? Lower resolutions tend to use more CPU, while higher resolutions tend to use more GPU. If your monitor is capable of a higher resolution, try switching to it to see if the load balances out.

i use a 1080p monitor and the game's settings is 1080p with 100% render scale. sometimes on battlefield 1 it evens out roughly at 85% for cpu and gpu but it never stays consistent

 

[Leviathan8]

Every system has a "bottleneck", and what it is it will always depend on what game or application you are running, and what specific settings you are running (if gaming). That is why the term has become mostly irrelevant, it is a moving target even on the same system. If your GPU is reaching target boost, then you are simply CPU bound in the specific game you are playing at the settings you have chosen to play at. This is completely normal. Research the specific title(s), see what other players are saying, investigate forums to find which game settings can maximize your hardware and apply them. There's just too much to explain in one forum post, in regards to what specifically will limit performance on any system on whatever library of titles you play. I expect you'll find that what you are seeing from your system is expected, and normal. 100% utilization is not the holy grail, stop looking at it that way.

its not that im looking for 100%, the issue is presistant in all games i play (Bf1, Bf5, helldivers 2, csgo2, insurgency sandstorm, overwatch 2, Hell even LETHAL COMPANY). its always full cpu usage and barely any gpu, i shouldve mentioned that it isn't stable. like the fps is all over the place.

 

[Leviathan8]

cpu temp?
bottleneck is a useless, it is all depend on the game.
are you having real issue?

i dont understand

 

[CelicaGT]

its not that im looking for 100%, the issue is presistant in all games i play (Bf1, Bf5, helldivers 2, csgo2, insurgency sandstorm, overwatch 2, Hell even LETHAL COMPANY). its always full cpu usage and barely any gpu, i shouldve mentioned that it isn't stable. like the fps is all over the place.

If you are CPU bound, then this is exactly what you will see. Background tasks will now have a MASSIVE affect on framerate as they have to interrupt the game process. The only useful suggestion I can give is to check and see what is running in the background and eliminate it, all six cores pegged is a little suspect at least on several of the titles you list. You can use Task Manager to see what is using CPU resources, this is easier if you have dual displays but it can show you what the offender(s) may be.

 

[Leviathan8]

If you are CPU bound, then this is exactly what you will see. Background tasks will now have a MASSIVE affect on framerate as they have to interrupt the game process. The only useful suggestion I can give is to check and see what is running in the background and eliminate it, all six cores pegged is a little suspect at least on several of the titles you list. You can use Task Manager to see what is using CPU resources, this is easier if you have dual displays but it can show you what the offender(s) may be.

this is what I see, I used process lasso because my friend said TaskManager doesn't show the full picture.

 

[Leviathan8]

If you are CPU bound, then this is exactly what you will see. Background tasks will now have a MASSIVE affect on framerate as they have to interrupt the game process. The only useful suggestion I can give is to check and see what is running in the background and eliminate it, all six cores pegged is a little suspect at least on several of the titles you list. You can use Task Manager to see what is using CPU resources, this is easier if you have dual displays but it can show you what the offender(s) may be.

this is the task view when i launch Helldivers2

 

[CelicaGT]

this is what I see, I used process lasso because my friend said TaskManager doesn't show the full picture.

What the heck is Steam Client doing at 8.4%? Also looks like Defender is doing a scan, and Search at 6.3%? None of those things should be above 1%. You can also open Performance Monitor (Next tab to the right on Task Manager, then there should be another icon that looks like a speedometer) and you can see per core usage. Anyways, that 9400f wasn't a barn burner to begin with, it's showing its age here. If you can, close Steam or at least let it finish what it's doing, let that malware scan finish, and ditch any third party software you have running. All those little processes add up to lots of CPU uptime you can't spare. The game utilization looks like what I'd expect, it's likely the other stuff that's causing your ails.

 

[rgd1101]

what the ssd usage? game on the hdd?

 

[Leviathan8]

What the heck is Steam Client doing at 8.4%? Also looks like Defender is doing a scan, and Search at 6.3%? None of those things should be above 1%. You can also open Performance Monitor (Next tab to the right on Task Manager, then there should be another icon that looks like a speedometer) and you can see per core usage. Anyways, that 9400f wasn't a barn burner to begin with, it's showing its age here. If you can, close Steam or at least let it finish what it's doing, let that malware scan finish, and ditch any third party software you have running. All those little processes add up to lots of CPU uptime you can't spare. The game utilization looks like what I'd expect, it's likely the other stuff that's causing your ails.

idk its always like that, and defender is always using this much cpu%, i understand the cpu is showing its age but i dont understand why it performs like this even with older games of its era.
should i install tiny11 to get rid of unnecessary background bloat?

 

[CelicaGT]

what the ssd usage? game on the hdd?

It's decent, you can see it in the Task Manager screenshots.

 

[DSzymborski]

When was the last time you did a full wipe and reinstall of the OS?

 

[SkyNetRising]

should i install tiny11 to get rid of unnecessary background bloat?

Upgrade your cpu to i7 8700.
9400f has only 6cores/6 threads.

BTW - your ram is running at 2133mhz (not 2700mhz).

 

[CelicaGT]

idk its always like that, and defender is always using this much cpu%, i understand the cpu is showing its age but i dont understand why it performs like this even with older games of its era.
should i install tiny11 to get rid of unnecessary background bloat?

No, Tiny11 comes with a list of caveats that you don't want to deal with. Kill Steam in the background if you can, and find out what Defender is doing, unless it's actively scanning the answer shout be "not much". There's a lot of "stuff" going on in the background there that just shouldn't be going on. I'll reiterate, if you have any third party software that isn't required, either disable it or uninstall it. Chat apps, RGB apps, any kind of OEM bloatware...the list goes on. Also, in regards to Helldivers, a quick search on my end finds that CPU utilization is high in general with this game, lots of posts on Reddit etc about it. Might do well to do a specific search and see if there's anything other players have figured out. Tom's is a great resource, but when it comes to specific games I always recommend going to the source. Either the games official forum, or Steam comments, or even Reddit or third party forums for more focused advice.

 

[geofelt]

Excepting a system scan, defender will normally show no activity.
Possibly, you have some app that is of need to be checked.

If your cpu is overloaded, it makes sense that it can not drive the graphics card more.
Actually, for best performance, you want neither resource to be near 100%.

Looking at your images, I notice that the active power plan is changing
constantly. What is that about?

 

[Leviathan8]

Upgrade your cpu to i7 8700.
9400f has only 6cores/6 threads.

BTW - your ram is running at 2133mhz (not 2700mhz).

my mistake

 

[Ralston18]

And you can also use Process Explorer (Microsoft, free) to learn more about what all is happening.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

 

[Leviathan8]

When was the last time you did a full wipe and reinstall of the OS?

long ago actually, but im wondering if i should install a lighter iso

 

[CelicaGT]

Looking at your images, I notice that the active power plan is changing
constantly. What is that about?

Some "Game Boosters" do this. I cannot recommend uninstalling that kind of software enough...

 

[Leviathan8]

No, Tiny11 comes with a list of caveats that you don't want to deal with. Kill Steam in the background if you can, and find out what Defender is doing, unless it's actively scanning the answer shout be "not much". There's a lot of "stuff" going on in the background there that just shouldn't be going on. I'll reiterate, if you have any third party software that isn't required, either disable it or uninstall it. Chat apps, RGB apps, any kind of OEM bloatware...the list goes on. Also, in regards to Helldivers, a quick search on my end finds that CPU utilization is high in general with this game, lots of posts on Reddit etc about it. Might do well to do a specific search and see if there's anything other players have figured out. Tom's is a great resource, but when it comes to specific games I always recommend going to the source. Either the games official forum, or Steam comments, or even Reddit or third party forums for more focused advice.

do you recommend a clean install of windows?

 

[Leviathan8]

Excepting a system scan, defender will normally show no activity.
Possibly, you have some app that is of need to be checked.

If your cpu is overloaded, it makes sense that it can not drive the graphics card more.
Actually, for best performance, you want neither resource to be near 100%.

Looking at your images, I notice that the active power plan is changing
constantly. What is that about?

I don't know what's happening, defender shows no threats or anything but it always has this much use... i change the power plan while testing, i use either high performance plan or bitsum "highest performance".

 

[Leviathan8]

Some "Game Boosters" do this. I cannot recommend uninstalling that kind of software enough...

i should get rid of the bitsum powerplan?