R9 290 GPU usage spikes

[TanquerayGnT]

Is it normal for my GPU usage to be up and down this much? The recording is during a round of battlefield 4 multiplayers.
Recordings
I keep the fan at 70% so the temperature isn't a problem.

 

[neon neophyte]

do you play with vsync on?

 

[woltej1]

That is funky, do you notice anything in game like fps surges?

 

[neon neophyte]

see, my thinking is that he plays with vsync on and the demand to achieve 60 fps changes drastically

 

[woltej1]

it's bouncing from 0% to 100% though, vsync shouldn't be doing that.

 

[neon neophyte]

true, zero is quite strange... you think he would notice no rendering going on and wouldnt have to ask if it was normal though...

 

[woltej1]

if he doesn't notice any fps drops I say don't worry about it, maybe it's something funky with your monitoring software. If you do, uninstall everything graphics related, drivers, monitoring software, etc and do a re install of drivers only first.

 

[TanquerayGnT]

do you play with vsync on?

My vsync is off

 

[TanquerayGnT]

That is funky, do you notice anything in game like fps surges?

I do see FPS drops in certain maps down to Low 40s. But these FPS drops do not correspond to the GPU usage ups and downs.

 

[TanquerayGnT]

My system is

FX8350
R9 290
MSI 970A-G43
Corsair 8GB 2133MHz
Corsair TX650

The reason why I asked this question was because I seem to be getting lower FPS than what I should expect with my spec. Some maps my minimum FPS is 40 and this makes it unplayable for me.

My game settings are

1360 x 768 @ 60Hz
Full Ultra
4XMSAA
HABO



Thanks in advance

 

[woltej1]

you're using a 290 at that low of resolution?

 

[TanquerayGnT]

you're using a 290 at that low of resolution?

That's the most my monitor can go...Yeah I know, my monitor is really old

I don't know if it this is relevant but I tried increasing the in game resolution to 200% but that just decreases my overall average FPS and just improve the FPS dips.

 

[woltej1]

well have you tried the stuff i mentioned in my post about the software.

 

[TanquerayGnT]

well have you tried the stuff i mentioned in my post about the software.

Yeap, I've tried everything you've mentioned. Clean old drivers reinstall new versions of drivers for GPU and updated everything else. Even a clean install of Win 8.1

 

[krystyanb]

Hello,

I am getting exactly the same thing; spikes from 0 to 100% in gpu usage, while experiencing fps drops in game also. I am monitoring this with the MSI afterburner. I do not have my R9 290 overclocked and neither my CPU/ram. I am only playing world of warcraft atm.

My system specs are:
biostar h55a+
intel i7 870
8 gb ddr 1333 ( I can look at the brand if needed)

Also worth mentioning:
- until today I used a Seasonic M12 with 620 Watt (80 bronze) and I got the same spikes with it; this psu should be enough but just in case I bought a new one (I had to upgrade an older pc anyway).
- today I installed a Seasonic M12 with 750 Watt (80 bronze evo edition) and I still get the same spikes, no improvement; therefore we can safely conclude that it's not the power supply.

I also performed a clean uninstall of the graphic drivers (using ccleaner and driverswiper) and still no improvement. Also updated the mb bios yesterday (before re-installing the drivers for the graphic card).

Maybe my mb/cpu is limiting the graphic card (my mb has only pci x16 2.0) or maybe this is how it should work. I would like to make sure that my card is not faulty though; seeing many comments like this online kind of reassures me that this is how it should work; I'm no expert so I might be extremely wrong.

Anyway for WoW it is known that because of the old graphic engine of the game, upgrading the graphics card does not improve things a lot and low fps with high-end systems are not a surprise.

I hope my comments were helpful. I for one am out of options.

Edit: before I upgraded to R9 290, I used to have a HD 5750 and I did not get these spikes in the gpu usage. There is a considerable improve in performance though with the new card, despite the "cosmetic" spikes.

Regards,
Cristian

 

[woltej1]

are you guys using a reference style cooler? The VRMs are known to get too hot so even if the GPU readings are ok temp wise, the VRMs may overheat. If you guys get these spikes as soon as you enter a game though heat shouldn't be a problem.

 

[TanquerayGnT]

are you guys using a reference style cooler? The VRMs are known to get too hot so even if the GPU readings are ok temp wise, the VRMs may overheat. If you guys get these spikes as soon as you enter a game though heat shouldn't be a problem.

Yes, I'm using a reference cooler. It is known to get pretty hot, so I increase the fan speed using a third party software. The temperature stays below 60C. However, if, as you mentioned, VRM is getting hot, I should try to order an aftermarket cooler.

 

[Djentleman]

Had the 290 and it did the same thing.
This is common with amd cards.

 

[Djentleman]

Check out 3:00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8vMr7dTt_s
Even with a gpu bound application it skips like that. Doesn't effect perf at all

 

[Jak_Sparra]

Hello,

I am getting exactly the same thing; spikes from 0 to 100% in gpu usage, while experiencing fps drops in game also. I am monitoring this with the MSI afterburner. I do not have my R9 290 overclocked and neither my CPU/ram. I am only playing world of warcraft atm.

My system specs are:
biostar h55a+
intel i7 870
8 gb ddr 1333 ( I can look at the brand if needed)

Also worth mentioning:
- until today I used a Seasonic M12 with 620 Watt (80 bronze) and I got the same spikes with it; this psu should be enough but just in case I bought a new one (I had to upgrade an older pc anyway).
- today I installed a Seasonic M12 with 750 Watt (80 bronze evo edition) and I still get the same spikes, no improvement; therefore we can safely conclude that it's not the power supply.

I also performed a clean uninstall of the graphic drivers (using ccleaner and driverswiper) and still no improvement. Also updated the mb bios yesterday (before re-installing the drivers for the graphic card).

Maybe my mb/cpu is limiting the graphic card (my mb has only pci x16 2.0) or maybe this is how it should work. I would like to make sure that my card is not faulty though; seeing many comments like this online kind of reassures me that this is how it should work; I'm no expert so I might be extremely wrong.

Anyway for WoW it is known that because of the old graphic engine of the game, upgrading the graphics card does not improve things a lot and low fps with high-end systems are not a surprise.

I hope my comments were helpful. I for one am out of options.

Edit: before I upgraded to R9 290, I used to have a HD 5750 and I did not get these spikes in the gpu usage. There is a considerable improve in performance though with the new card, despite the "cosmetic" spikes.

Regards,
Cristian

I can confirm it has nothing to do with PCIe 2.0 I use a Motherboard (ASUS Rampage II Extreme), which is also only a PCIe 2.0 and my r2 290 ir running a smooth 80+ FPS in Crysis 2 on Ultra settings @ 1920 x 1200. I've tested the card with Unigine Valley and Heaven all maxed out and get a steady consistent FPS, Valley runs at around 70fps on Ultra and 57fps on ExtremeHD for example.

I also uninstalled MSI afterburner and downloaded the Beta so you might want to try that. Get Unigine Valley and Heaven and give them a go as they show min, max and average fps whilst they are benchmarking. They are also free.

 

[harshp344]

I have this exact same problem with a r7 260x. I also have windows 8.1. It seemed to run smooth before the windows 8.1 installation, when i was on windows 7. My question is, could the OS have any affect on this?

 

[TanquerayGnT]

I have this exact same problem with a r7 260x. I also have windows 8.1. It seemed to run smooth before the windows 8.1 installation, when i was on windows 7. My question is, could the OS have any affect on this?

As someone above suggested, try installing the latest BETA MSI afterburner. It seem to show less of a up and down spikes of the cards.

 

[Sotyka94]

Same problem. Uninstall cata 14 and reinstall the last stable version (13.12) Work for me (and 290 can handle a bf4 whitout mantle. Wait the first stable 14.x cata)

 

[Jovashi]

Hello im having the same problem but i manage to fix my fps in wow to make it stable try to
go to options then advanced
Tripple buffering enable
reduce imput lag enable
Hardwer cursor enable
directX 9
And go in graphic options and set Multisampling to 4x
this fixed my fps but even the reading of my gpu usage is still unstable. maby its becaouse of windows 8.1 ill try to fix gpu usage this days i just got r9 290 and i found out this prob.. if u alredy manage to fix it it would be grate if u tell me how. Tnx