RX 470 's GPU Usage Fluctuating

[DrSandwich]

So recently I upgraded my PC, going from a GTX 650 to an RX 470. While I saw a major FPS increase, I am also noticing that my frames are jumping around a lot and shouldn't be what they are (getting 30 fps when many are getting 60 fps) so I am here for help! Is there a bottleneck in my system anywhere? A bad driver maybe? Any help is appreciated

Specs:
i5 2400 @3.1ghz
8gb 1600 mhz
ASRock H61M-DP3/ASM Mobo
MSI Armor RX 470 4gb
Western Digital Green 1tb (OS and some games)
External harddrive (Games)

My Gpu temps was around 154-156 fahrenheit (68-69 Celsius i believe)

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Eximo]

i5-2400 isn't bad, but isn't great either. Some newer titles are setting their minimum above that. Some games are also using most of the memory on an 8GB system.

Well a green drive isn't the fastest. Ideally you should move your OS to an SSD as a relatively inexpensive upgrade.

Temperatures look fine for the GPU.

I would try and hold out and start saving money for a new processor/motherboard/ram

 

[DrSandwich]

i5-2400 isn't bad, but isn't great either. Some newer titles are setting their minimum above that. Some games are also using most of the memory on an 8GB system.

Well a green drive isn't the fastest. Ideally you should move your OS to an SSD as a relatively inexpensive upgrade.

Temperatures look fine for the GPU.

I would try and hold out and start saving money for a new processor/motherboard/ram

Could that cause my random GPU Flucuation though? My cpu and ram seem to be enough for a game like Insurgency, but my fps will go from 50 to 30 a lot. Same with Mount and Blade: Warband with Max settings and Rust at Max Settings (I realise Rust may be CPU bottlenecked though).

Should've mentioned the games I was having trouble with, sorry. If it helps, later on I can record gameplay with MSI Afterburner on screen if that would help.

 

[DigitalHamster]

If you were to check task manager for CPU usage and another program (maybe MSI afterburner) while playing games, you might be able to see if its a bottleneck or not.
CPU not that high but GPU is - GPU is struggling, and maybe bottleneck. Still, an RX470 gives good performance.
CPU high but GPU isnt (especially if one core is maxed out) - CPU bottleneck... however sandybridge CPUs are known to be good overclockers, but this is a bit off topic. If you OCed to 3.6GHz, modern games will work fine.
Both high - The game is really demanding and short of a new PC not much will improve this.
Both are low - Time to look at drivers, perhaps your RAM is set to a weird low speed in BIOS...

Thats my experience with it. Hope you find a good solution!

 

[DrSandwich]

If you were to check task manager for CPU usage and another program (maybe MSI afterburner) while playing games, you might be able to see if its a bottleneck or not.
CPU not that high but GPU is - GPU is struggling, and maybe bottleneck. Still, an RX470 gives good performance.
CPU high but GPU isnt (especially if one core is maxed out) - CPU bottleneck... however sandybridge CPUs are known to be good overclockers, but this is a bit off topic. If you OCed to 3.6GHz, modern games will work fine.
Both high - The game is really demanding and short of a new PC not much will improve this.
Both are low - Time to look at drivers, perhaps your RAM is set to a weird low speed in BIOS...

Thats my experience with it. Hope you find a good solution!

Thank you for your reply! I don't believe that I can overclock my CPU because of my Motherboard. My CPU usage (in Mount and Blade) was around 70% and gpu usage flucuated from 100-95% to 20% often times. In a game like that, It doesn't seem normal, but I can still check it out. It seems I am getting same FPS as I was with my older gpu. I will make sure to check out other games later to see if its the same.

 

[DigitalHamster]

I do agree that the sudden drops in GPU usage are odd, especially if you are not looking at walls or entering a cutscene.
I assume you have up-to-date drivers, but perhaps the drivers do not work as well with that game.
It is possible that a HDD could introduce lag when loading different parts of the map, especially on a portable drive. The theory here is that the game cannot do much until it loads in the new segments, so the GPU gets an easy time until the map and objects load in.

Considering the game was released back in 2007, it may have flaws in performance. You could try on other modern games which might support the hardware better. GTA V, the Metro games, DiRT series come to mind. If you own any of these it will be useful to hear if you experience the same framerate fluctuations while playing.

 

[DrSandwich]

I do agree that the sudden drops in GPU usage are odd, especially if you are not looking at walls or entering a cutscene.
I assume you have up-to-date drivers, but perhaps the drivers do not work as well with that game.
It is possible that a HDD could introduce lag when loading different parts of the map, especially on a portable drive. The theory here is that the game cannot do much until it loads in the new segments, so the GPU gets an easy time until the map and objects load in.

Considering the game was released back in 2007, it may have flaws in performance. You could try on other modern games which might support the hardware better. GTA V, the Metro games, DiRT series come to mind. If you own any of these it will be useful to hear if you experience the same framerate fluctuations while playing.

Sadly, I don't have any of those games (am poor) but what about benchmarks like Heaven? I also have games like Rust, Ark Survival Evolved, Insurgency, CSGO, and some others. Any of those work?

 

[DigitalHamster]

Yes of course. My reasoning was just playing more demanding modern games would allow you to see where the fluctuations occur.
I would avoid stress tests like Heaven as they only stress the GPU, so they won't be that helpful.
The games you have listed are definitely a good selection - uncapping the fps on CS:GO will make it pretty intensive, so that can be a good test.
I would recommend you have some fun and play some of them and see if the issue arises in those games as well 😀

 

[DrSandwich]

Yes of course. My reasoning was just playing more demanding modern games would allow you to see where the fluctuations occur.
I would avoid stress tests like Heaven as they only stress the GPU, so they won't be that helpful.
The games you have listed are definitely a good selection - uncapping the fps on CS:GO will make it pretty intensive, so that can be a good test.
I would recommend you have some fun and play some of them and see if the issue arises in those games as well 😀

Thank you! I will try to update ya on the situation if you can help anymore! Its just a guess, but I think that the issue will still be the same. Thank ya for your help, be back in a day or two!

 

[DrSandwich]

Yes of course. My reasoning was just playing more demanding modern games would allow you to see where the fluctuations occur.
I would avoid stress tests like Heaven as they only stress the GPU, so they won't be that helpful.
The games you have listed are definitely a good selection - uncapping the fps on CS:GO will make it pretty intensive, so that can be a good test.
I would recommend you have some fun and play some of them and see if the issue arises in those games as well 😀

Ok, I went back and played some Insurgency (tried rust, but afterburner didn't wanna open for me on that game) and again the GPU usage was crazy. It would go from 0 to 60 a lot. Temperature was fine, CPU usage was only 50. Another thing I noticed was that If I look around fast my PC will drop fps crazy. Sound like anyway to fix this or am I Just boned?

 

[Eximo]

If you want a good F2P benchmarking game: Unreal Tournament on Unreal engine 4.

Fairly large download, but the fully textured maps at 1080p with the settings maxed out will be a very good test.

70% CPU usage is getting up there. Have you verified the temperature of the CPU during this time? Could be throttling.

 

[DrSandwich]

If you want a good F2P benchmarking game: Unreal Tournament on Unreal engine 4.

Fairly large download, but the fully textured maps at 1080p with the settings maxed out will be a very good test.

70% CPU usage is getting up there. Have you verified the temperature of the CPU during this time? Could be throttling.

Not really, but I assumed it was a okey since a month ago I applied new thermal paste and installed a new CPU Cooler. Will monitor that next time!