Question Poor FPS but only 30-40% CPU, GPU & RAM usage ?

[TheGoldenBoy]

I built my PC about 2 years ago and it's never quite run the way I feel it should, but now it's more noticeable. It only uses between 30-40% of each of the hardware but some games it gets pretty low FPS even while not running max settings. I play with V-Sync disabled and have the latest Nvidia driver installed. Anyone have any idea what could cause this?

PC Specs
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650M DS3H. Bios Version F6a
CPU: Ryzen 9 7950x
GPU: RTX 4080 FE
CPU cooler: Corsair iCUE Elite CPU Cooler
RAM: 64gb DDR5 Corsair Vengeance
SSD/HDD: Samsung 980 PRO 2 TB M.2 , Samsung SSD 870 EVO 1 TB x 2
PSU: 2 year old Corsair RM1000e
Chassis: HYTE Y60
OS: Windows 11 Home
Monitor: Samsung 1440p 32" Curved - 144hz Refresh


Edited to correct monitor as I was wrong.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Specs listed below.
Ryzen 9 7950x
RTX 4080 FE
64gb DDR5 Corsair Vengeance
Gigabyte B650M Motherboard
(Can't remember exactly but I think this is correct) 1000W Corsair Modular Power Supply
iCue Liquid CPU cooler
We're going to need a little more info. When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

We can then move forward from there.

 

[TheGoldenBoy]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Specs listed below.
Ryzen 9 7950x
RTX 4080 FE
64gb DDR5 Corsair Vengeance
Gigabyte B650M Motherboard
(Can't remember exactly but I think this is correct) 1000W Corsair Modular Power Supply
iCue Liquid CPU cooler
We're going to need a little more info. When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

We can then move forward from there.

Updated with all requested info

 

[Teknoman2]

Have you ever updated the chipset driver?

 

[TheGoldenBoy]

Have you ever updated the chipset driver?

Not in about a year, I haven’t really thought about that. I will do that in the morning and see if it changes anything.

 

[JayGau]

I highly doubt that a year-old chipset driver is the cause of your problem.

A 40% load in games with the 7950x is pretty high (it's a 16 core CPU and most games barely use 4 cores). You should be closer to 20% even in CPU demanding games with this CPU. On the other hand, 40% for the GPU is way too low. It should be at 98-99% most of the time. It looks like you are CPU bottlenecked but that shouldn't happen with a 7950x unless there's a problem.

You should monitor your CPU usage at idle to make sure you don't have too much stuff running in background. Also, use HWMonitor to check your temperatures (CPU, GPU, RAM, drives) to make sure you are not thermal throttling somewhere. Also, check the number of CPU cores used during gaming and what clock frequency they are running at.

If you are using a GPU utility software like MSI Afterburner and recently updated the Nvidia driver while it was running in background that could haved screwed up your system (happened to me a few years ago). If it's the case you will have to uninstall both the driver and the software and reinstall them.

And although the latest Nvidia driver seems to be slightly better, they have been struggling since January with a myriad of issues (including performance problems). To rule out this possibility, you could uninstall the current driver and try 566.36 and see if it improves anything. If not, then just go back to the latest version.

By the way, using a B650 motherboard with a 7950x is far from being ideal. A high-end CPU should not be paired with a low-end mobo.

And what is your RAM frequency and timing? Did you ever enable EXPO?

 

[Teknoman2]

It could be because its 2 CCD CPU so it may be affected by core parking if the chipset drivers are old.

 

[TerryLaze]

A 40% load in games with the 7950x is pretty high (it's a 16 core CPU and most games barely use 4 cores). You should be closer to 20% even in CPU demanding games with this CPU. On the other hand, 40% for the GPU is way too low. It should be at 98-99% most of the time. It looks like you are CPU bottlenecked but that shouldn't happen with a 7950x unless there's a problem.

That's not really true for most AAA titles, while they don't get much of an benefit from more than 4 cores they do occupy more of them, some even all the available cores. They just run the same routine on all of them and grab the most current frame from whatever core finished closer to the time the next frame is up.

Also GPU usage depends heavily on resolution, if he's "only" on 1080p (the g3 comes up as being 1080p ) then 40% sounds about right, less demanding games will be there even on 1440p.

 

[TerryLaze]

I built my PC about 2 years ago and it's never quite run the way I feel it should, but now it's more noticeable.

"I feel it should" is extremely subjective....
Look up benchmarks of some games and see if they run in the same ballpark FPS on your system.

 

[JayGau]

That's not really true for most AAA titles, while they don't get much of an benefit from more than 4 cores they do occupy more of them, some even all the available cores. They just run the same routine on all of them and grab the most current frame from whatever core finished closer to the time the next frame is up.

Also GPU usage depends heavily on resolution, if he's "only" on 1080p (the g3 comes up as being 1080p ) then 40% sounds about right, less demanding games will be there even on 1440p.

I should have written "barely fully use 4 cores". Although all the cores can be used a some extend, games rarely fully use more than 4 and there's no way a 16 core/32 thread cpu will be loaded at 50% by a game. That's why people panic and think they are GPU bottlenecked because their CPU is not reaching 100%, but this can't happen unless there's a problem. And he says he has low fps but he should get crazy high frame rates with a 7950x and a 4080 especially if he plays at 1080p (but we don't even know about his resolution). 40% on the GPU means that the CPU is heavily bottlenecked but the 7950x is a powerful chip. I agree performance is subjective, but if he really gets low fps with this system, there's certainly something wrong.

It could be because its 2 CCD CPU so it may be affected by core parking if the chipset drivers are old.

Core parking on dual CCD CPUs can only be a problem with X3D chips. There's no reason to worry about that with a regular 7950x. So, unless Windows introduced a major change in the last 12 months, the latest chipset driver shouldn't change anything as compared the one released a year ago.

 

[TheGoldenBoy]

That's not really true for most AAA titles, while they don't get much of an benefit from more than 4 cores they do occupy more of them, some even all the available cores. They just run the same routine on all of them and grab the most current frame from whatever core finished closer to the time the next frame is up.

Also GPU usage depends heavily on resolution, if he's "only" on 1080p (the g3 comes up as being 1080p ) then 40% sounds about right, less demanding games will be there even on 1440p.

My apologies, that must not be the correct model. I can't remember exactly, but it's a Samsung 1440p 32" curved monitor with 144hz refresh. I can't find it anywhere and I've lost access to the account I ordered it on.

 

[TheGoldenBoy]

"I feel it should" is extremely subjective....
Look up benchmarks of some games and see if they run in the same ballpark FPS on your system.

Escape from Tarkov, I am now having trouble getting over 50-60 FPS. A simple game I've been playing called Soulstone Survivor, I am getting around 90 with spikes and stutters.

 

[TheGoldenBoy]

I highly doubt that a year-old chipset driver is the cause of your problem.

A 40% load in games with the 7950x is pretty high (it's a 16 core CPU and most games barely use 4 cores). You should be closer to 20% even in CPU demanding games with this CPU. On the other hand, 40% for the GPU is way too low. It should be at 98-99% most of the time. It looks like you are CPU bottlenecked but that shouldn't happen with a 7950x unless there's a problem.

You should monitor your CPU usage at idle to make sure you don't have too much stuff running in background. Also, use HWMonitor to check your temperatures (CPU, GPU, RAM, drives) to make sure you are not thermal throttling somewhere. Also, check the number of CPU cores used during gaming and what clock frequency they are running at.

If you are using a GPU utility software like MSI Afterburner and recently updated the Nvidia driver while it was running in background that could haved screwed up your system (happened to me a few years ago). If it's the case you will have to uninstall both the driver and the software and reinstall them.

And although the latest Nvidia driver seems to be slightly better, they have been struggling since January with a myriad of issues (including performance problems). To rule out this possibility, you could uninstall the current driver and try 566.36 and see if it improves anything. If not, then just go back to the latest version.

By the way, using a B650 motherboard with a 7950x is far from being ideal. A high-end CPU should not be paired with a low-end mobo.

And what is your RAM frequency and timing? Did you ever enable EXPO?

I've always used NZXT Cam but will download HWMonitor as advised.

CPU usage at idle is 2-3%, around 50-55c, getting up to 70-80c while gaming which I was told on another forum was completely normal as these CPUs are designed to run a little warmer.

I have MSI Afterburner installed but I haven't used it to overclock or anything.

As far as the GPU driver goes, I've been having this problem for a while now but I will try to revert to an older version.

What motherboard would you suggest I run with my CPU? They came together as a package, so I figured it was optimal.

Ram frequency says Default : 2400MHz Current : 1800MHz so somewhere along the way my bios dropped EXPO I'm assuming and will check to see what's going on there.
UPDATE: XMP somehow found its way off, so I am now back up to 2600MHz clock speed

 

[JayGau]

I've always used NZXT Cam but will download HWMonitor as advised.

CPU usage at idle is 2-3%, around 50-55c, getting up to 70-80c while gaming which I was told on another forum was completely normal as these CPUs are designed to run a little warmer.

I have MSI Afterburner installed but I haven't used it to overclock or anything.

As far as the GPU driver goes, I've been having this problem for a while now but I will try to revert to an older version.

What motherboard would you suggest I run with my CPU? They came together as a package, so I figured it was optimal.

Ram frequency says Default : 2400MHz Current : 1800MHz so somewhere along the way my bios dropped EXPO I'm assuming and will check to see what's going on there.
UPDATE: XMP somehow found its way off, so I am now back up to 2600MHz clock speed

Yes your temps are normal for this CPU. What is your RAM model exactly (frequency and timing)? An XMP (intel) kit wouldn't work great with a Ryzen. You need an EXPO kit, or, if you have an XMP kit, tweak the voltage and timing to match the EXPO profile.

About the motherboard, I'm not saying it's the cause of your problem, although we are still not sure what the problem is exactly (what is "low fps" for you and in which games?). Maybe the board is working just fine, but me, personally, I wouldn't pair a 7950x with anything below a X670 board.

 

[TheGoldenBoy]

Yes your temps are normal for this CPU. What is your RAM model exactly (frequency and timing)? An XMP (intel) kit wouldn't work great with a Ryzen. You need an EXPO kit, or, if you have an XMP kit, tweak the voltage and timing to match the EXPO profile.

About the motherboard, I'm not saying it's the cause of your problem, although we are still not sure what the problem is exactly (what is "low fps" for you and in which games?). Maybe the board is working just fine, but me, personally, I wouldn't pair a 7950x with anything below a X670 board.

XMP is just the setting that's in the motherboards BIOS, not sure if I can change that. As for the ram model, Corsair Vengeance RBG DDR5 16GBx4 5200 MHz - CMH32GX5M2B5200C40. As far as timing, I'm not entirely sure what that means. I see on the specifications for the RAM CAS Latency 40. 1.25 volts

The problem is low performance, Escape from Tarkov is going to be the best example I have as it's one of the only games I play with it's own built in FPS monitor. I get between 50 and 60 FPS after turning the XMP profile back on. I also forgot about this issue when posting but it also has trouble turning on sometimes. When powering on the computer, it will turn all the RBGs on and fans spin up, but sometimes it takes a minute or two for the keyboard and mouse to turn on and get display.

 

[RTX 2080]

I know what your problem is as I had the exact same RAM kit that you have right now (Corsair Vengeance 16 GB x4 5200 MHz CL40). It’s garbage. I had a hunch that my RAM was holding me back in games and causing my CPU to not perform at its best. There are three problems with this RAM kit:

1. Slow speed: 5200 MHz is low even for Ryzen CPUs. 6000 MHz is the sweet spot for a modern Ryzen.
2. CL40 is high latency which is just as bad for gaming as low MHz is. Aim for CL30.
3. 4 sticks of RAM will run a game more poorly than 2 sticks of RAM. I don’t fully understand the reason, but it’s a known fact.

Taken together, your ideal RAM kit with be similar to the one in my signature, you’ll just have to pick the capacity. My kit is 96 GB, but 64 is plenty. Upgrading to this dual rank, high speed, low latency, AMD EXPO enabled kit (very important, get the one that is AMD EXPO compatible) was like upgrading my CPU: higher GPU utilization, higher overall fps, and higher 1% lows.

A Corsair Vengeance 32GB x2 6000 MHz CL30 EXPO kit is more than $200 but well worth it.

 

[TheGoldenBoy]

I know what your problem is as I had the exact same RAM kit that you have right now (Corsair Vengeance 16 GB x4 5200 MHz CL40). It’s garbage. I had a hunch that my RAM was holding me back in games and causing my CPU to not perform at its best. There are three problems with this RAM kit:

1. Slow speed: 5200 MHz is low even for Ryzen CPUs. 6000 MHz is the sweet spot for a modern Ryzen.
2. CL40 is high latency which is just as bad for gaming as low MHz is. Aim for CL30.
3. 4 sticks of RAM will run a game more poorly than 2 sticks of RAM. I don’t fully understand the reason, but it’s a known fact.

Taken together, your ideal RAM kit with be similar to the one in my signature, you’ll just have to pick the capacity. My kit is 96 GB, but 64 is plenty. Upgrading to this dual rank, high speed, low latency, AMD EXPO enabled kit (very important, get the one that is AMD EXPO compatible) was like upgrading my CPU: higher GPU utilization, higher overall fps, and higher 1% lows.

A Corsair Vengeance 32GB x2 6000 MHz CL30 EXPO kit is more than $200 but well worth it.

Well, I’ll try to get a new motherboard and ram on order and see if that changes anything. As far as the ram goes, I ran everything perfectly fine with 32gb at 3200hz, why would more ram at a higher frequency result in worse performance?

 

[VizzieTheViz]

I know what your problem is as I had the exact same RAM kit that you have right now (Corsair Vengeance 16 GB x4 5200 MHz CL40). It’s garbage. I had a hunch that my RAM was holding me back in games and causing my CPU to not perform at its best. There are three problems with this RAM kit:

1. Slow speed: 5200 MHz is low even for Ryzen CPUs. 6000 MHz is the sweet spot for a modern Ryzen.
2. CL40 is high latency which is just as bad for gaming as low MHz is. Aim for CL30.
3. 4 sticks of RAM will run a game more poorly than 2 sticks of RAM. I don’t fully understand the reason, but it’s a known fact.

Taken together, your ideal RAM kit with be similar to the one in my signature, you’ll just have to pick the capacity. My kit is 96 GB, but 64 is plenty. Upgrading to this dual rank, high speed, low latency, AMD EXPO enabled kit (very important, get the one that is AMD EXPO compatible) was like upgrading my CPU: higher GPU utilization, higher overall fps, and higher 1% lows.

A Corsair Vengeance 32GB x2 6000 MHz CL30 EXPO kit is more than $200 but well worth it.

I feel you’re really overstating the influence ram has on gaming performance - even the very best and fastest kits show negligible differences in gaming benchmarks. It’s barely measurable let alone noticeable.

If this system is really underperforming ots not because of slow ram. If ram is the cause it’ll be because it’s just plain broken.